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Landscape Photo Tips
One of the favorite subjects of most photographers
is outdoor landscapes. There's so much beauty
and majesty in nature, and many of us want
to capture the moment and take it with us
forever in the form of a snapshot or photograph.
Unfortunately, the photo often doesn't live
up to our memory of the actual landscape
scene. Here then are a few tips on how to
take better landscape photographs in the
future.
1. If your landscape scene includes the
horizon or distant mountains, try to look
around for something of interest that you
can put into the photograph in the foreground
that will bring better balance to the composition.
There are lots of things that can work to
accomplish this goal, including fences,
flowers, tree branches and much more. The
key is to be on the lookout for foreground
subjects of interest, and not just focus
all of your time on the distant horizon
instead.
2. A favorite trick of professional photographers
to greatly improve the appearance value
of their photographs, is to look for ways
to lead the eye of the beholder into the
photograph and especially toward the main
subject of the photo. Again, this is something
that you have to generally look around for
to find when you are outdoors. But look
for things like a road, a fence, a river,
or anything else that has a directional
line to it that can be used to point the
way to the main subject of your photo. This
greatly enhances the overall appearance
value and provides one of those simple but
meaningful professional touches.
3. When photographing distant landscapes
such as mountains, lakes, forests and so
on, it's very easy to lose a sense of scale
in the photo. So what was huge and impressive
in real life becomes compressed and uninteresting
in a snapshot if you aren't careful. A good
way to avoid this is to place something
in the photograph that gives a point of
reference for scale. For instance, just
including a person in the photograph of
a large landscape can help you begin to
get a feel for the size of the area that
you are viewing.
4. Try to place the main subject of your
landscape scene slightly off-center rather
than in the dead middle of the photograph.
Many photographers have a tendency to want
to naturally place their main subject in
the center, but actually the best photographs
are those that have the subject slightly
off center either vertically or horizontally
in the photo. So a good way to remind yourself
to do this, is to divide the scene up into
thirds both up and down and across and then
place the main subject on one of the spots
where the imaginary lines converge. That
should help ensure that your photos have
more drama and interest in the composition.
5. The very best landscape photographs
are taken when the light from the sun is
at its best. This is usually very early
in the day or very late in the day, when
the sun's rays are longer and shadows provide
more detail. The harsh midday sun can flatten
and wash out many landscape photographs
making them uninteresting and bland. So
most landscape photography is best done
in early morning or late afternoon.
In addition to the tips provided above,
digital photography presents its own set
of challenges for landscape photographers.
Film cameras simply required that you bring
along enough film for the trip. Digital
cameras require that you bring enough media
storage to make sure that you have enough
for all of the photos that you want to take.
Remember there are most likely not going
to be any stores close around, so plan accordingly
and use the tips provided above to be able
to take better landscape photographs with
your digital camera.
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