My area of study during my time with the New York Institute of Photography was landscape photography. After receiving my certificate from them, I went full bore into landscape photography. I took trips across the state, hiked hours in the mountains whether it rained or snowed, and bought several annual memberships to Mount Rainier. My prints were available through multiple galleries, several were on display at local businesses, and my first book published. I loved creating landscape photographs!
If you are new to the world of landscape photography, you will quickly discover you can create a beautiful landscape from just about anywhere. You can even use a cell phone, which you likely already own and is super easy to carry with you. A great place to start is often your local park or pond. Maybe you live near mountains or cities or the ocean. You can even create different photographs during anytime of the day.
When composing your photo, keep a lookout for interesting objects that can be placed in the foreground (the area closest to you) of your photo. Humans like perspective. Consider changing your position to include an interesting log that washed up on shore or a rock. Look for something that will anchor the image while your eyes gaze into the distance, possibly landing on an island or a boat across the ocean.
Here are two photographs to show how differently the same place can look. This one of course, is black and white, which gives it a totally different feel than the next image, shot in color. Sometimes scenes lend themselves better to one style over another.
Same pond, but color. For visual interest, I added the reflection of the sun and the backlit tree blossoms.
Note sunflowers in foreground to help anchor the image and sunburst for increased visual interest. This image was handheld.
Landscapes can be created any time of the year. For many of my winter scenes, I used to pack snowshoes, a tripod, and camera gear onto my snowmobile.
If you plan on printing your photos (believe me, they will look better on your walls than on your phone), then you might enjoy stepping up to a DSLR or mirrorless style camera. The camera will provide a picture with enough quality that it will look quite spectacular framed on your wall. You can even start out somewhat inexpensively by purchasing older used DSLR cameras and lenses.
Just about every camera you encounter will have some method of stabilizing the image so you can hand-hold the camera. I often take advantage of the stabilizing feature on my camera. That said, I highly recommend using a tripod, as the benefits will often outweigh the additional weight. For me, the most important reason I use a tripod is that it slows me down. The tripod causes me to really zero in on the composition-- to block out all the surrounding noise to make that composition my priority.
Once you click the shutter button, don't just pack up and leave quite yet. Take a look around. An acquaintance of mine always said, "Where there's one photo, there are likely three more." You might find by moving or turning left or right, or positioning yourself lower to the ground, that an entirely new image appears!
In this photograph I incorporated the sun, its rays, and the orange glow that strikes the tops of the trees for visual interest. Bright areas of a photograph often catch the viewers eye first, so by taking advantage of the sun, the viewers eye is drawn from the right of the photograph towards the sun. Then, natural curiosity to explore the scene takes the viewer back to the right and up the mountain.
This is a vintage hay loader I found during early Spring, a few years ago. Unfortunately, a fire swept through the area, leaving only a few metal fragments of the loader. In this photo, I used it as a foreground object and to lead your eye to the sky, ultimately leading out to the back of the scene.
Sunsets at the ocean can be pretty spectacular! I photographed this sunset at Titlow Park in Tacoma, WA. Note the use of foreground objects to lead the views eye to the sunset and creating a different 'feel' to the image by positioning my camera below eye level, closer to the ground. Read more about the park here.
If you would like to see more of my landscape work, please click here. If you would like to contact me or schedule a session, please click this link.
