Nine Techniques for Improving Landscape Photography

Lead: It is undeniable that landscape photography is one of the most popular subjects, whether it is a novice or an old hand. Especially for beginners, landscape photos may account for most of the photo library. If most static landscape photos are not taken well, it will greatly affect the confidence and motivation to learn photography. So what skills can we learn when shooting landscapes? Let's take a look at these 9 skills to improve landscape photography!

9 Skills to Improve Landscape Photography (1) Pay attention to the influence of depth of field.

If you have the habit of reading FsBus.com's teaching articles, you will also know that the depth of field will "blur" the objects in the photos (especially the background and foreground). We can make good use of the depth of field when taking landscape photos: if we want all the scenery to be clear and sharp, we should use the depth of field (small aperture, such as f/8, f/ 16, etc. ); If we want to paste the foreground or background to highlight the main body (such as shells on the beach, details of buildings, etc. ), we need to use shallow depth of field (large aperture, such as f/ 1.4, f/2.8, etc. Of course, aperture is only one of the factors that affect the depth of field. Students can refer to this article: 3 skills of shallow depth of field shooting.

(2) Make good use of tripod

Among many equipments, tripod is the most easily overlooked by novices! Tripod. There are many uses, which can let you shoot the star track, long exposure, car track and so on. But don't think that the tripod will only be used at night, and you can also use the nd filter to shoot running water, waterfalls and so on. In the morning, it has a wide range of uses, which can greatly increase the objects you can shoot.

(3) Add an interesting point to the photo.

I don't think your photo is plain! The best photos can tell a story, so each photo also needs a "protagonist". For beginners, it is recommended to follow the following steps:

First, find a simple background (color, texture, shape, content, etc.) for the photo. Also simple);

Add an "interesting" protagonist to this simple background, if this "interesting point" is better than the background (color, size) or meaning.

At this time, photos can easily capture the reader's focus!

(d) Never lose sight of the future.

The author often makes this mistake when he is a beginner in photography, that is, he ignores the importance of "foreground". The background is easy to see, but the prospect is equally important. Foreground can not only effectively set off the main body of a photo, but also be used as a part of composition sometimes. With the prospect, your photos will definitely become different!

(5) Pay attention to the sky

When shooting outdoor scenery, it is inevitable to shoot the sky. For the sky, we can decide according to the following tips:

When the sky is beautiful: you can consider focusing on the sky, sometimes accounting for 2/3 of the photos;

When the sky is dim or bad: don't shoot the sky too much, mainly focus on the scenery.

Clouds in the sky can also be the focus of photos, especially when the wind is strong, and long-term exposure can also shoot flowing and dynamic clouds!

When the sky is clear, the sky will turn golden at sunrise and sunset. If there are clouds, you can take a very imposing "red cloud"!

(6) looking for lines

Nature is full of interesting lines. "Lines" and "textures" can make your photos more interesting and help create "guiding lines" to attract readers' attention. Students may wish to look for these natural lines when taking landscape photos!

(7) shooting dynamics.

Landscape photos don't have to be static! If you have a tripod, try to slow down the shutter and record clouds, running water, car tracks, people's movements, etc. In this way, your photos will have more changes, and you can take photos that are invisible to the naked eye!

Note: If it is a slow shutter when shooting during the day, you may need to add an ND filter to reduce the incoming light, otherwise the photo will be easily overexposed!

(8) Explore the best shooting time

To take beautiful scenery photos, shooting time is a very important element! Generally speaking, in the time commonly known as "magic hour", that is, 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset, it is easy to shoot wonderful moments. At this time, the sky will have a gradual effect from warm to cold. If you add appropriate cloud cover, you can see the phenomenon of "flaming clouds"! There is also a need to pay attention to when the scenic spot is sunny, and the backlight and overhead will also affect the shooting effect. When shooting the starry sky, you should also check the position of the moon, try to avoid the moonlight and make the stars clearer.

Of course, if time permits, you can visit the target scenic spots at different times to see when it is best to take pictures, so that you will be more confident to take good pictures.

(9) Pay attention to the horizontal line

Whether you are photographing the sea, hills or buildings, you'd better pay attention to whether the horizontal line is straight. Unless you want to shoot special effects, an inclined horizontal line can ruin the beauty of the whole photo!

Besides being straight, pay attention to the position of the horizontal line. If you want to fall from the sky, you can lower the horizontal line a little and try not to put it in the middle (except for taking a reflection).