The art of landscape photography

“A good photograph is knowing where to stand”, said Ansel Adams (1902-1984), one of the world’s greatest landscape photographers. Time of day is equally important. Get these two right and the picture will almost take itself. So how do you make a great landscape photograph?

Find the perfect vantage point
What makes a perfect vantage point? Composition certainly plays a part, but following a set of rules will only give you good pictures, not great ones. In the end, it comes down to that elusive ‘eye for a picture’ which can’t be taught, but which may improve with experience. And, using a digital camera, you can shoot dozens of images from different viewpoints and sort out the best when you look at them on a computer screen.

The right light
Nothing affects a landscape more than the lighting. Even if you manage to find the perfect vantage point, your picture will suffer if you shoot at the wrong time of the year, or the wrong time of the day.

The best time to photograph landscapes is sunrise and for a couple of hours after, or sunset and for a couple of hours before. At these times of day the sun is relatively low in the sky. The light from the sun travels through more of the earth’s atmosphere than when the sun is overhead, giving rays of warmth which are lacking at midday. A low sun gives long shadows which improve the three-dimensional impression of your photos.