Landscape Photography Tips

Seeing the land, not just recording it

Landscape photographers have long known that shooting landscapes can be one of the most rewarding parts of photography—personally, creatively, and, if you do it well, financially. But there’s a quiet line that separates a photograph people glance at from one they actually enter. The trap is easy: you document a place instead of translating how it felt to stand there. An incredible landscape doesn’t just show where I was. It pulls the viewer inside and leaves them with something that lingers.

I’ve spent decades chasing that feeling—across deserts, coastlines, forests, cities, and empty highways. I don’t go out to collect postcards. I go out to make images that hold weight on a wall, images that slow people down. These are the landscape photography tips that have shaped how I work and how I see.

Introduction to Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is one of the most seductive genres in photography. It promises space, silence, drama, and scale. Landscape photos of mountains, oceans, storms, light breaking through clouds—these things speak to something ancient in us. But great landscape photography isn’t about standing in front of something beautiful and pressing a button. Beauty is common. Meaning is not.

What separates a strong landscape image from a forgettable one is intention. Composition. Light. Patience. Understanding how the land, the weather, and the camera all speak different languages—and learning to translate between them.

You don’t need the most expensive camera in the world. You need time, curiosity, and the willingness to look harder than the average passer-by.

Improve Your Landscape Photography with Practice, Not Purchases

A “sharp eye” for landscapes isn’t something most of us are born with. Many photographers struggle with issues such as capturing sharp landscape photos and using the correct camera settings. Still, these challenges are common and can be overcome with the proper techniques and knowledge. It’s built slowly, image by image, mistake by mistake.

The most significant improvement in my own work never came from buying new gear. Learning from an expert can significantly accelerate your photography skills and understanding. It came from learning how light behaves, how composition guides emotion, and how patience changes everything. Understanding when and why to apply specific techniques matters far more than owning them.

Hardware: What Actually Helps Landscape Photographers

Camera

Modern mirrorless cameras are extraordinary tools. Focus aids, live histograms, level indicators, thirds overlays—all of it helps. Most cameras, especially mirrorless models, include a rule-of-thirds overlay to help with composition. Many cameras also offer features such as multiple autofocus points and level displays to help capture well-composed landscape photos. But none of it replaces vision. Settings matter more than brands. Knowing how your camera behaves in low light, high contrast, and long exposures matters more than megapixels.

Tripod

If there’s one non-negotiable in landscape photography, it’s a sturdy tripod. Full stop. Most of the landscape work that actually matters happens when the light is fragile—dawn, dusk, storms rolling through, mist lifting, night settling in. Those moments demand long exposures, and long exposures demand stability. A sturdy tripod doesn’t just hold the camera up. It settles everything down and helps prevent camera shake, which can result in blurry images. It turns chaos into something deliberate.

Carbon fiber tripods are lightweight and sturdy, making them ideal for hiking and travel.

If I don’t have a tripod, I improvise. I’ve rested cameras on rocks, bridge railings, walls, and even flat on the ground. Stillness is the goal, however you get there.

I’ve owned more tripods than I care to admit. This is one area where I stopped cutting corners a long time ago. I buy the best once and move on. I use two Gitzo tripods—one larger, heavier model and one travel tripod. Both are rock solid. Both are built to take abuse. And just as important as the legs is the head. Cheap tripod heads are where frustration lives. Smooth movement, proper locking, and confidence under load matter more than people realise.

My travel tripod is the one I use about 95% of the time. It’s light. It’s sturdy. It actually comes with me. When the weather turns ugly—strong wind, sideways rain, real conditions—I switch to the larger Gitzo. There was one day on a bridge in Lofoten when the wind was so intense I had to physically grab the tripod and push it into the ground to hold it steady for a two-minute exposure. Not elegant. Effective.

And then there’s the quiet hero: my Platypod. It’s always in my bag. Always. Flat, small, indestructible. It’s saved more shots than I can count—especially in places where tripods aren’t allowed, space is tight, or the ground is uneven. Railings, rocks, bridge decks, ledges—if there’s a surface, the Platypod gives me options.

Most of the time, conditions are calm. And having support that’s small, light, and adaptable has made all the difference. The best support system isn’t the biggest or the most expensive—it’s the one you actually use, the one that lets you slow down and commit when the light finally shows up.

Using a remote shutter release or the camera’s timer can further minimize camera shake and ensure sharper images.

Remote Shutter or Self-Timer

Even pressing the shutter button can blur a long exposure. That last, almost invisible movement is enough to soften an image. Using a remote shutter release is an effective way to prevent camera shake and vibrations, helping you achieve sharper images. Alternatively, a two-second self-timer or mirror lockup can also minimize vibrations caused by pressing the shutter button.

I own remote triggers (remote shutter releases). I rarely use them anymore.

These days, I rely entirely on the self-timer on my Sony A7R V, set to five seconds. It’s simple, reliable, and it works every single time. I frame the shot, lock everything down, press the shutter button halfway to activate autofocus and lock focus for precise composition, then fully press the shutter button, step back, and let the camera settle into stillness—no extra gear. No cables. No fuss.

The only situation where a remote trigger still makes sense is when you’re bracketing—taking multiple exposures back-to-back. Even then, I let the camera handle it. I have my camera set to bracket automatically, so once the timer finishes, it runs through the sequence without me touching a thing. Clean. Efficient. Done.

One minor but essential tip if you’re using the self-timer: turn off the countdown sound. That beeping drives me crazy. More importantly, it’s brutal if other photographers are nearby. Nothing breaks the mood of a quiet sunrise or a long exposure at dusk faster than a camera loudly announcing its intentions.

Landscape photography already asks for patience. Your camera doesn’t need to narrate the process.

Landscape Lenses

Wide lenses let the world breathe. They exaggerate space, pull the viewer forward, and create depth. Wide-angle lenses are ideal for capturing expansive scenes, but not every shot requires a wide field of view—sometimes a more focused composition is best. Using a wide lens can also maximize your field of view, especially in pre-dawn or sunrise conditions.

Standard zoom lenses, such as the Canon RF 24-105mm, offer great versatility for landscape photography. Their broad focal range makes them suitable for beginners and allows you to easily switch between expansive and telephoto views, capturing both sweeping vistas and more detailed scenes.

Telephoto lenses (200mm or longer) help capture distant details and compress perspective, making them excellent for isolating patterns or photographing far-off subjects. The key is knowing why you’re choosing one, not just what’s in your bag. Choosing the right focal length is essential for enhancing the composition and detail of your landscape images.

Filters

A polarizing filter (also called a circular polarizer) can be a powerful tool, especially for landscape photography. It’s not a default filter for me—it’s situational. I’ll reach for a polarizer almost exclusively when the environment is wet: rain-soaked roads, leaves after a storm, or water surfaces where reflections are fighting the scene. In those moments, a polarizing filter earns its place by reducing glare on water and enhancing sky colors, revealing texture that would otherwise be lost. Used casually or under the wrong light, it can just as easily make a scene feel heavy or uneven.

What I use far more often is a 10-stop nd filter (neutral density filter).

That filter changes how time behaves. An nd filter enables longer exposures for creative effects in landscape photography. It lets water slow down and smooth out, and turns moving clouds into shape and direction instead of a distraction. It allows me to work in daylight while still committing to long exposures that feel intentional rather than rushed. With a 10-stop ND, motion becomes part of the composition rather than something I’m trying to freeze or fight.

To achieve sharp images, always use a sturdy tripod and the right filters for the scene. As an extra tip, try using white balance creatively to enhance the mood and colors in your landscape photos.

I like tools that simplify my decisions in the field. The polarizer comes out when reflections are the problem to solve. The 10-stop ND comes out when I want to stretch time and let the landscape breathe. Everything else is just noise.

Understanding Camera Settings for Better Landscape Photos

Landscape photography lives at the intersection of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and patience. Using manual mode is essential for complete control over your camera's parameters and for achieving precise exposures. Understanding the exposure triangle—how shutter speed, aperture, and ISO work together—is crucial for achieving the desired results in landscape photography. Miss any one of those and the image never quite settles into place.

Most of the time, I live in the middle apertures—f/8 to f/16. That’s where depth of field is generous and where good lenses are at their sharpest. Using a narrow aperture (high f-number, such as f/16 or f/22) helps achieve maximum depth of field, keeping both the foreground and background sharp. Smaller apertures increase depth, but traditionally they came with a warning label: diffraction, softness, and a general loss of clarity. Everything in landscape photography is a balance. On the other hand, a wide aperture (low f-number) creates a shallow depth of field with a blurred background, which can be used to isolate subjects or achieve a specific artistic effect.

This is also where lens quality actually matters.

When I’m doing urban work, I’m almost always between f/8 and f/11. Clean geometry, controlled distance, predictable planes. Landscapes are different. I want foreground interest—rocks, texture, water, grass—and that means stopping down hard. f/22 is a regular setting for me when the scene demands front-to-back sharpness and maximum depth of field. Hyperfocal distance focusing—placing focus roughly one-third into the scene—ensures both the foreground and background are in focus for visually compelling landscape images.

With modern lenses, I’m simply not seeing the penalties that used to come with stopping all the way down. The newest glass holds together remarkably well. No visible distortion. No softness that matters at print sizes. Technology has moved on, and I take full advantage of it.

Tripods give me the freedom to work this way. Long exposures become easy instead of risky. Using slower shutter speeds is especially helpful for capturing well-exposed and artistic landscape shots in low-light conditions, such as pre-dawn or sunrise. I can slow everything down and make deliberate decisions. Manual focus, when used carefully, often beats autofocus in low-contrast or low-light scenes. And when precision matters, I’ll use hyperfocal focusing—placing the focus roughly one-third into the scene—to keep both the foreground and the distance sharp.

Setting the base ISO to 100 is ideal for optimal image quality in landscape photography. Using the correct camera settings—shutter speed, aperture, and ISO—is essential for capturing sharp, well-exposed photos tailored to the scene.

Composition tools like the thirds grid still have their place. I think of them as training wheels. They help you understand balance and flow. Learn them properly, rely on them early, and then—once your eye develops—start breaking them on purpose.

Light: The Real Subject

Light is the proper subject of every landscape photograph.

Not mountains. Not trees. Not oceans.

Light.

Most people underestimate the importance of shooting in the best light, but fantastic landscapes are often captured during optimal lighting conditions. This is the backbone of all my work—especially landscape photography. Everything I care about in an image traces back to light. If the light isn’t right, I don’t care how famous the location is or how far I travelled to get there. The photograph won’t last.

The best landscapes happen when light is gentle, directional, and layered. Early morning. Late evening. Storm edges. Fog lifting off the land. The golden hour and the blue hour aren’t clichés to me—they’re opportunities. The "Golden Hour" refers to the hour after sunrise or before sunset, when warm, soft light prevails.

In contrast, the "Blue Hour," which occurs after sunset, offers unique lighting often considered an excellent time for landscape photography. These are the best times to shoot landscapes because the light is softer and more flattering. In contrast, shooting in direct sunlight can lead to harsh shadows and high contrast, which may detract from the image. Windows where the land briefly reveals depth, texture, and mood.

Light has character, and understanding that character is everything.

Power

Harsh midday sun flattens form. It kills texture. It turns depth into a diagram. Overcast skies, on the other hand, sculpt softly. They wrap light around the land instead of punching holes through it.

Direction

Side light reveals texture and shape. Backlight introduces drama and atmosphere. Front light simplifies and can work, but usually only when the light itself is weak, like dawn or dusk.

Color

Early and late light brings warmth and subtlety. Storm light brings steel, blue, and tension. Both are valid. Both are expressive.

When I was younger, I made the classic mistake. I’d arrive somewhere incredible—canyons in the American Southwest, for example. I’d shoot sunrise. I’d shoot sunset. And then I’d spend the entire middle of the day hunting for more images, convincing myself there had to be something worth photographing.

There rarely was.

Bright, overhead light rarely produces images that hold up over time. They might look fine on a screen. They don’t survive as photographs. I learned that the hard way, frame by frame.

Now, if the light isn’t working, I wait—or I leave.

Bad weather, though? That’s different. Bad weather is not a problem. It’s an invitation. Fog simplifies a scene down to its bones. Rain deepens tone and saturation. Snow cleans the frame of clutter. Storm light turns ordinary places into something electric.

If you want to go deeper, I write regularly in the photography blog about real-world experiences in the field—covering everything from technique and light to the decisions that actually shape photographs once you’re out there.

Mood is part of light. Just as much as a perfect sunrise or sunset.

Once you understand that—and start chasing light instead of locations—landscape photography changes completely.

Composition: How the Eye Travels

Composition is how you guide the viewer’s journey through the frame. Experimenting with different compositions and camera angles can create more interesting landscape photographs. When taking pictures, pay close attention to the edges of the frame to avoid distractions that can detract from your image. Finding a unique foreground element can also enhance the composition and add depth. Taking photographs with intention and attention to composition leads to stronger, more compelling images.

Leading Lines

Use leading lines such as paths, rivers, fences, shadows, or waves to guide the viewer's eye through the image and toward the main subject. Foreground interest can also act as a leading line, enhancing the composition by drawing the viewer into the scene. Let the viewer walk into the photograph.

Foreground Detail / Interest

A landscape without a foreground floats. Rocks, grasses, water, textures—these anchor the viewer and create depth. They don’t shout. They whisper the first sentence of the visual story.

Framing

Trees, doorways, cliffs—natural frames focus attention and add layers.

Focal Point

Every strong image has a place to rest. A tree, a structure, a peak, a shaft of light. Without it, the eye wanders and leaves.

Odd numbers often feel more natural than even. Three stones feel better than two. It’s subtle, but it works.

Horizon Placement

Rarely centre it. Let the sky dominate when the sky is the story. Let the land dominate when the land is speaking. The thirds overlay exists for a reason.

Scale

A human figure, a car, a cabin—something familiar tells the viewer how vast the scene truly is.

Motion

Waterfalls, waves, clouds, and grass in the wind. Use slow shutter speeds to capture motion in landscape photography, turning movement into emotion. Stillness becomes poetry.

Perspective: Use Your Feet

The most common mistake in landscape photography is the laziness of position.

Stand. Shoot. Move on.

Instead, I walk. I crouch. I climb. I circle. I wait. I look for the angle no one else bothered to find. Perspective changes everything. Scouting locations beforehand is essential to finding the best vantage points for photography. Using Google Image Search can help you quickly discover the best photography vantage points. At the same time, tools like Google Earth allow you to scout locations and predict sun positions for optimal lighting.

Sometimes the difference between a snapshot and a wall-worthy print is three steps to the left and kneeling in the mud. Finding the best compositions often involves exploring different vantage points and creative camera placements before setting up your tripod.

Scout. Return. Watch how light changes a place across seasons, weather, and time of day. Returning to the exact location multiple times can improve your landscape photography, as familiarity breeds depth. Planning your landscape photography sessions can significantly improve your results.

Train Your Eye

Your camera will not make you a landscape photographer. Your eye will.

Study your own work. Be honest. Which images still hold you weeks later? Why?

Study great photographers—not to copy, but to understand how they see, how they use space, how they place horizons. How do they simplify?

Shoot RAW. Give yourself room in post-processing to shape tone, recover highlights, and honour the light you witnessed.

And most of all: go out often. In bad weather. In boring weather. In places no one photographs. That’s where the eye sharpens.

Why This Matters Beyond the Screen

When I print a landscape, large and quiet on fine paper, it stops being an image and becomes a presence. It becomes something you live with. Something that changes with the light in your room. Something that reminds you of space, silence, distance, and time.

That’s what I’m always chasing—not just a “nice photo,” but a photograph that holds stillness, scale, and memory in a single frame.

Landscape photography isn’t about collecting views. It’s about learning how to see, how to wait, how to listen to light, and how to translate the world into something that lasts.

And when it works—when everything aligns—you don’t just look at the land. You feel like you’re standing in it.