Landscape photography tips

Landscape photography is on one level an easy craft to learn. Unlike studio photographers, landscape photographers don't need to light the shot. The sun will do that for free. And landscapes don't move, pick their noses, or look the wrong way.

But getting the most effective landscape shot is a real science. You'll need to study the work of great landscape photographers like Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz or Fay Godwin. Notice the photographic and compositional techniques they're using and try to make your own versions. But don't just copy - they each have their own photographic style and 'voice', and you'll develop your own as you get more experienced.

However if you're just starting out, a few landscape photography tips can help.

• Look for patterns in the landscape. For instance, the pattern of light and shade when a low sun falls on a ploughed field, or the pattern of fence posts receding into the distance. An effective landscape photograph can sometimes be created when you find a break in the pattern - the end of a fence, a tiny patch of unploughed greenery surrounded by ploughed field.
• Go out early and stay out late to get the best shots. When the light is falling directly from above, it flattens out the landscape. Sunrise and sunset have more directional light that brings out the shape of the landscape with shadows. Sunrise and sunset light is also mellower, giving your colours more life.
• Use the 'rule of thirds' to create an effective composition. Place the centre of interest one third or two thirds of the way across and up the photo. (Of course there are exceptions. Sometimes, a photo that is exactly divided in two can be very effective. But usually, the 'rule of thirds' will give you the best results.)
• Look for spots of vivid colour. A field of red poppies. Bluebells in a wood. A single red painted shed in a prairie. All these can make for a great landscape photo.
• One of the best landscape photography tips I've ever been given is to look for discontinuity. Two people walking in a desert landscape. A single big hoarding by a road that runs straight into the distance. One tree in an otherwise barren landscape. Look for the unexpected.
• Use foreground elements to complement the landscape behind. For instance, you can use the boughs of a tree to 'frame' your image of a lake, or focus on a tree stump in front of fields and hills. To do that you'll need to use the maximum depth of field - landscape stop on point-and-shoot camera, f16 to f22 aperture on SLRs.
• Look for dramatic skies. Use a polarising filter if you have one to make the clouds emerge strongly from the background. If a sky is more interesting than the landscape under it, then why not take a skyscape instead, using the landscape as if it's just a foreground?
• A very simple landscape photography tip but not to be overlooked - make sure your horizon is straight! (Unless of course you want a diagonal photo, in which case it's obvious that this is an artistic decision, not a mistake.)
• Change your point of view. Hug the ground for a worm's eye view, capturing the feel of the terrain. Find a higher vantage point to shoot from - even just climbing up to the top of a wall can make a huge difference. Wander around the site to find different views - don't just take the obvious shot.

The best tip for landscape photography, though, is that you're trying to capture the spirit of a place, the patterns and textures of the landscape. The most important part of taking a landscape photo is not what kind of camera you have or what technique you're using - it's what's going on in your mind before you take the camera out of its case.