Improving your landscape photography isn’t just about finding a stunning scene—it’s about how you approach that scene with your camera. Whether you’re a beginner or someone looking to refine your skills, these three essential tips will elevate your work.
Coming to you from Ian Worth, this insightful video addresses one of the biggest challenges in landscape photography: capturing the feeling and depth of a location. Worth explains how being physically present in a scene means experiencing it with all your senses—the air, the sounds, and the light all play a role. But when you take a photo, it reduces that experience to a two-dimensional image. The challenge, he says, is translating that immersive feeling into a flat photo. Worth’s first tip is to focus on adding mood, story, or a sense of three-dimensionality through your composition. This advice is key if you’ve ever felt like your photos don’t quite capture the essence of a place.
Another crucial point Worth makes is that not every striking scene automatically results in a great photo. Just because you’re standing in front of something breathtaking doesn’t mean it will translate well in a picture. Worth demonstrates this using some of his own early shots, explaining that they lacked a clear point of interest, which led to flat compositions. He recommends honing in on the key element that caught your eye and eliminating distractions. This could mean zooming in to highlight one aspect or using a panoramic framing to crop out unnecessary elements. By doing this, you can guide the viewer’s attention and make your image feel more dynamic and focused.
Worth also emphasizes the importance of composition. He suggests paying attention to where you place your subjects and your own position in relation to the scene. Even small adjustments in angle, height, or focal length can make a huge difference. For example, when shooting a wide-angle scene, you might struggle to piece together all the elements. But if you shift your perspective or crop the frame tighter, you can remove distracting areas and create a cleaner, more powerful image. This step is often overlooked but can be the difference between a photo that works and one that doesn’t. That's jsut the beginning, so check out the video above for the full rundown from Worth.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out our new tutorial, "Photographing the World: Japan With Elia Locardi!"
