How to Create Remarkable Landscape Photographs

If you love nature like I do, you know what it's like to come across a beautiful scene that you want to capture with your camera. You just want to freeze it in time so that you can come back and revisit it. When you get home the pictures just don't measure up to your memory of the photo. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us. There are tips and techniques you can learn to capture the perfect landscape photographs.

I must have been about 16 years old when I got my first camera. I remember it was Christmas and I immediately rushed outside in my slippers and started taking pictures. We lived next to a Christmas tree farm so I had plenty of subject matter to work with. I was a natural with the camera. My very first pictures came out great but it wasn't always this way.

Over the years I learned to use the natural shadows and highlights that nature offers. There are many things that go into making a landscape photograph memorable. Great photographs just don't happen, they are created. Learn to focus on the composition of your photographs as well as lighting, and lens choice.

Composition

Composition is not something that comes natural to everyone. Composition takes time and patience. Knowing how to organize nature will help you get better photographs. First, look around and just be amazed. Look through your camera lens exploring up, down, and all around. Begin by trying to figure out what the focus is in the scene. The focus should be something that emotionally moves you.

We have all heard the phrase "a picture is worth one thousand words". Try to incorporate this in your photograph. There are not many photographers whom observe this notion in their landscape photography. Begin by starting with a large area in your lens. Move in tightening around the focus. Chip away what you don't need until there isn't anything else to chip away.

Use the horizon line at different heights. Don't be afraid to play with it. Using the horizon at the top of the frame will help emphasize the foreground. If the horizon is located near the bottom of the frame the sky will seem large and great. Verticals with a lot of sky at the top can be very remarkable.