Saturday, June 14, 2014

Taking a better landscape photograph

Heres some basic advice on making your landscape photos look better.

1.  If there's a horizon in the photo try and get it level, especially if the sea is involved, there's nothing worse than seeing the sea sloping downhill.

2.  Try not to have the horizon on the halfway point in the picture, it usually looks better either a third or two thirds of the way up in a pic. (there are exceptions)

3.  Noon isn't the best time of day for landscapes, most of the serious landscape shooter prefer the light first thing in the morning or late in the day.

4.  The 'rule' of the thirds. Divide your image up into 9 squares with two lines across vertically and two  horizontally the four points where the line cross (red dots in pic) are the strongest parts of the scene, so compose your image with an important point on one of these if you can.



5.  It's ok to move things to make the pic look better, so if theres an empty coke can in the foreground shift it unless you want it there.

6.  For most landscapes try to have more than one element, ideally have a background, a mid ground and foreground interest, if nothing else try and get the foreground and background objects, an old log or rock in the foreground perhaps and the mountain range for a background will look much more interesting than just the mountains.

Remember these are not RULES! they are just guidance, if you like the way something looks then you take it that way, something these so called rules just don't work in the real world, and besides your photos are for you.

And most important of all have fun..



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