Landscape Photos - How to Take Good Pictures
Posted: Wednesday, February 03, 2010
by Autumn Lockwood
YourPictureFrames.com
If you're like most camera owners and have a digital compact, this is your camera's time to shine. For most serious photographers, an SLR or DSLR is the obvious camera choice, but when it comes to landscapes, compact cameras rule because they offer a much better depth of field. All you need to do to get some great landscape photos is to set your compact to landscape mode and follow these tips.
- For lighting that is soft, even and has a touch of warmth, take your landscape photos during the Golden Hours: the first hour after dawn and the last hour before sunset (unless you're taking sunset pictures.
- For subdued highlights and intensified colors, take pictures under an overcast sky.
- For dramatic shadows, shoot under a cloudy sky.
- Enhance the qualify of your image and add drama by photographing a landscape scene with contrast; for example, red and gold autumn leafed trees against a strong blue sky.
- To get an ethereal or ultra soft effect, shoot on a foggy day.
The next most important component of any good photo is composition. Here are some composition tips for perfect landscape photos.
- Compose your landscape picture so that the horizon appears straight. Creative, fun angles have their place in photography, but not when you're taking a horizon.
- Fill two-thirds of your frame with the subject of most interest, whether it be a dramatic sky or an interesting foreground.
- Look for lines. These could be anything from the obvious road or river to a shadow running along sand dunes. If your picture has lines, try framing your image so that the major lines draw the eye toward the main point of interest like a road winding its way to the mountains as the main subject of the photo.
- Compose the photo with a point of interest in the foreground. This focal point could be a road or other line as mentioned above, a tree, person, animal, house, etc. The focal point won't be the main subject (the landscape is),but it adds depth, draws the viewer into the image and gives the eyes a place to rest, thus engaging the viewer longer with your photograph. In short, a focal point makes your landscape picture more enjoyable and interesting to view.
- Look out for clutter. In a landscape photograph, clutter could be something like an airplane or power line overhead or a pile of branches or rubbish can on the ground. If you can't get the shot you want without the clutter, use a decent photo editor like Photoshop to remove it.
That's it! There is always more to learn about photography but just by following the steps you can start taking really great pictures of your favorite landscapes.
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Autumn Lockwood is a writer for YourPictureFrames.com and loves photography. Your Picture Frames offers a large selection of photo frames so you'll always find exactly what you want quickly and easily. We offer frames in a wide variety of sizes and shapes like our panoramic photo frames. Shop online or call us at 1-800-780-0699.
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