When you look at landscape photography on Flicker, 500px, and Instagram, you might think: “All I need is a good camera, and then I can capture those images, too.”
Owning the right camera and being in the right place at the right time is just the start of landscape photography. Taking the photos that you envision in your head also means understanding your camera settings, honing your creative vision, and much more.
We can’t transform you into the best landscape photographer you can be in a single article. Only tens of thousands of photos worth of practice can do that. We can give you the tools you need to make the most of your camera and some of the other variables you need to master to get the perfect shot.
Let’s Start with the Gear

We just said that gear isn’t everything but working without it will handicap you.
In addition to a camera you become familiar with, you should also consider:
Tripod
Filters
Remote Shutter
[amazon fields=”B00B6Y8O2K” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center”]
[amazon fields=”B00B6Y8O2K” value=”button”]
Set Up and Adjusting Your Camera’s Settings

Camera settings vary, but the essentials remain the same. By essentials, we mean shutter speed, exposure mode, ISO, aperture, and image format. Focusing on these essentials make landscape reasonably simple.
Start with Aperture (and Try Out Manual)
Shutter Speed
Use Filters to Compensate for Light
Shoot RAW Always
Set Up for Landscape Photography in Six Steps

Even as a new photographer, you know this: there’s no simple setting recipe. If you want to take the best photo possible, you need to adjust your settings precisely to your environment.
Rather than giving you “the best settings,” we thought we’d help you add order the process to make it feel more manageable:
You’ll adjust these usually according to the light.
Play with Style

Landscape photography offers many opportunities to play around with settings and style without missing out on changing conditions. Let’s talk about some the foundations of style in photography that guarantee more compelling photos.
Rule of Thirds
Golden Ratio
Perspective
Learn How to Plan

You can master your camera and composition techniques, but in photography, you need your environment to agree with you. You can’t change nature, but you can change how you encounter it.
Before heading out on an expedition, plan your trip.
You need to know:
All these conditions change what you need to know about your camera and drive the direction and quality of your photo.
If you’re terrible at geography, try The Photographer’s Ephemeris. It’s a useful mobile app that gets rid of topographic maps and compiles everything into a web app that’s easy to read even if you don’t know north from south.
Remember, an overcast day may not make for a great beach day, but it does give you a full day of shooting by keeping consistent conditions. Don’t neglect these days because you won’t get a golden or blue hour of them. Enjoy each landscape in any state to get to know it more intimately.
[amazon fields="B00B6Y8O2K" value="thumb" image_size="large" image_align="center"]
[amazon fields="B00B6Y8O2K" value="button"]
Spend Time on Your Creative Vision

Just as a good camera on its own won’t produce the photos you envision, neither will technical skill alone.
Creative vision is a massive part of landscape photography, and it is what sets apart photographers like Ansel Adams from the rest of us.
So, give as many hours to developing your vision as you do to playing with your settings or working in Lightroom.
Vision doesn’t come at a cost. It is part preparation and part serendipity; open yourself up to the possibilities and then study them carefully and intimately.
Practice Makes Perfect
Your least favorite photos will be the first 10,000 you take, so don’t give up. Even the most legendary landscape photographers took pictures that they didn’t feel were worth the film captured on.
Our brief guide to landscape photography is enough to help you confidently take your first few pictures. Only practice and continuing your education will help you achieve your goals.
Do you have any tips for budding landscape photographers? Share them in the comments below.
Leave a Reply