How to Master Mood in Landscape Photography in Under 5 Minutes

Landscape photography isn't just about photographing beautiful landscapes. It's about creating a connection with your viewer, and one of the best ways to do that is through mood. See how you can master mood in your landscape images in less than five minutes.

Have you ever been to a stunning landscape location only to come away with a feeling that something's not quite right with your image? You check the composition and find that all the elements in your frame are exactly where you want them to be. Then you check for any unnecessary distractions, or elements that aren't enhancing your subject, and find that everything's fine there, too. Often, when you can't put your finger on just what's missing from an image when it seems too technically perfect, it's the mood of the image. Mood isn't a setting on your camera dial, but there is a lot you can to enhance it and make a more impactful connection with your viewers.

And that brings us to this great video by Alistair Benn, from Expressive Photography, in which he walks you through some simple steps in Lightroom to really intensify the mood of an image. And the best part about it is that the whole process takes less than five minutes. Along the way, you'll learn about the importance of adjusting midtones because of their role in affecting mood, as well as a quick and easy method for giving your highlights far more energy. If you constantly find that your landscape images lack a real emotional wallop, then give this video a look and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Iain Stanley's picture

Iain Stanley is an Associate Professor teaching photography and composition in Japan. Fstoppers is where he writes about photography, but he's also a 5x Top Writer on Medium, where he writes about his expat (mis)adventures in Japan and other things not related to photography. To view his writing, click the link above.

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1 Comment

This was really good đź‘Ť thx