7 Things Professional Landscape Photographers Do

Landscape photography is a challenging genre that takes a combination of good technique, creative vision, strong editing skills, and the ability to plan ahead. If you are just starting out and looking to improve your work, check out this great video tutorial that features an experienced landscape photographer discussing seven things professionals do to ensure they consistently produce worthwhile images. 

Coming to you from Mark Denney, this excellent video tutorial discusses seven good habits to get into as a landscape photographer. One thing you will probably notice is a strong through-line of planning. There is certainly nothing wrong with grabbing your camera and taking shots wherever you happen to wander that day, but because landscape photography leaves you at the mercy of the light and elements, if you have a specific image in mind, it will do you a lot of good to understand how conditions will evolve and when to time your shot. Similarly, when it comes to the editing stage, we can often improvise our way to something great, but having a preconceived idea in mind can often help you develop a stronger, more consistent creative voice. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Denney.

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out "Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi." 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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About working a scene. There is a place Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island Ga. I like for Milky Ways and every big storm or super moon most driftwood moves around but some stay in place. So every year in Feb., Mar., Apr. I head there. It faces sorta east but to the right is SE and the pegasus is in that direction. But as the MW rises you can get several hours of beach time with a outgoing tide and in June from sunset to sunrise. 90 present of the time you are the only one there. But you have more than 100 yds that you can cover and so many driftwoods. So you start and go 100 yards backward the come back as the tide goes out getting clean beach. but every capture above the different driftwoods are all different for 8 years no two the same. As two bonuses after you get sunrises with contrails of air traffic from south to north and north to south and golden hour, Next you walk back through a swamp full of birds getting breakfast. I never carry a backpack of gear, I wear a photo vest with two cameras one for the milky way wide view and a telephoto for sunrise then for birds a 24-240 (36-360 in APS-C) now also the 200-600 on a binocular harness on by chest under the vest. the fun is doing 200 degree panos arcs and no one else around. A bicycle with a trailer can help getting there and back. Never change a lens on the beach - salt and sand on the sensor hardest to clean - reason for the many rigs. But sometimes 12 to 15 hrs just walking to and fro by myself working the scene. The best thing software is soooo much better over the many years and faster and a gold mine of images never touched yet.