Using Diagonals for More Powerful Landscape Photo Compositions

Given the fact that you have no control over the placement of the elements of a scene, composition can be a uniquely tricky aspect of landscape photography. And while there are some tried and true methods like the rule of thirds, sometimes, you want to push your compositions a bit further. This excellent video tutorial will show you the power of diagonals in the frame and how you can harness them to create more compelling landscape images. 

Coming to you from Nigel Danson, this great video tutorial will show you the power of diagonals for landscape photo compositions. I think exploring concepts like these is really crucial to growing as a photographer. There is nothing wrong with the rule of thirds; in fact, it is a fantastic heuristic for creating effectively balanced photos, but if it is all you rely on, your portfolio might end up looking a bit monotonous and you will probably end up feeling a bit unsatisfied creatively. Branching out can lead to stronger images and make the experience more enjoyable. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Danson.

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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10 Comments

These are the kind of videos that caused me to stop watching Nigel Danson. He now seems to only be interested in the "newbie" market.

Yeah same, all those clickbait '7 reasons' titles got tiresome, wish he would just go out and take photos like Heaton, Adam Karnacz etc.

I liked his videos when he did just that. But, as his channel has gotten more popular he seems to have decided that "I'm the master photographer and everyone needs to learn from me". I imagine the more seasoned photographers have quit watching him. There are very few that I watch anymore, Adam Gibbs, Gavin Hardcastle (his humor is contagious), Simon Baxter. There's a new guy Bayou Josh who has an interesting channel.

I like to watch photographers who are saying "this is what interested me in this scene", not those who are saying "do this, do that".

Being a Fuji shooter, there are a couple of awesome Fuji channels i watch, Ian Worth, Roman Fox and a new guy called James Parsons who only has a small following but has excellent content.

Being a Yorkshireman i do watch Gavin but ive gone off him a little bit, still enjoy it in the main though.

If you like those photographers, check out Steve O'Nions and Craig Roverts (e6 vlogs). I bet you'll like them both.

It's interesting that as an American, living in Texas, I find that most of the photographers I watch are from the UK. Perhaps, I got used to seeing the beauty of the country from being a Joe Cornish fan for many years.

Joe Cornish' art gallery and tearooms are based in my hometown, and I pretty much shoot in the same area as him too, he is brilliant at showcasing the beauty of the North East, and its an often overlooked part of the country too.

Yeah I like Craig, often enjoy his videos, ill check the other guy out too.

I shoot both Nikon (Z7) and Fuji (GFX 100S).

Funnily enough my preferred system outside of Fujifilm would be the Nikon Z... not that I plan on changing, or moving away from APS-C at all.