landscape photography

nowadays everybody has got a camera, even if it's only the cellphone's one, however, owning a camera doesn't make us a photographer (unfortunately!).

how to take better pictures? well, there is no universal recipe. we only have to pay attention to some minor but crucial details. for example, while photographing landscapes.

keep the horizon line horizontal when photographing at the beach. if necessary, activate the grid on your camera. it makes a great difference. some pics might theoretically gain from diagonal horizon, but in most cases it is better to keep that line straight.

omg here the water is leaking out to the left!

aahhh better this way!

worst case scenario, this can be corrected later with the computer using fine rotation.

the "rule of thirds"

usually it's preferable if the horizon line is either 1/3 from the top or 1/3 from the bottom of the pic. choose between those depending on what you want to show more. if you are showing the clouds, you make it lower, if you are showing the ground - it goes higher. of course this doesn't apply to all pictures, it's just that for MOST pics the 1/3-2/3 relation looks better than 1/2-1/2. there are cases when 1/2 is better (e.g. if you want to show mirror-symmetry of the sky and sea), but they are more rare.

the horizon line isn't so evident when we protograph mountains. we have to pay attention to the photo garbage (this is also valid for beach photos): wire, poles, cables, or whatever doesn't fit to your theme.

mind the pole on the lower right corner

cropped it!

more photo-garbage on the right corner

get rid of it by cropping the picture

there are simple light tricks to make the best out of our photos. check this sunset picture:

colors are stunning, yet one can see the power cable at the upper edge. we can solve this problem by cropping the pic like the examples above, still, the two white tent tops don't look that good.

below you see the picture was taken again, zoomed in, with focus on the sun. that made all the other elements look darker and the pic looks better.

and this time the power cable wasn't on the pic

almost every landscape pic looks better if it shows the volume, multiple layers, so to speak. if you just shoot the sunset or mountains it's ok, but it might appear flat, on the other hand, when you have something in the foreground (a boat; some three leaves; grass blades; etc.) the pic gains this volume because the image gains perspective.

have fun photographing your moments and make them look better than ever!