Good Landscape Photographs

Good Landscape Photographs

by William Lulow

Photographs of landscapes need to have some compelling elements to make viewers want to look at them. There need to be some interesting colors or perhaps contrasty Black&White shots. The subject matter needs to be interesting as well. They have to make the viewer want to spend some time looking at all the elements.

Here, it was an interesting sky.

There are many elements that make for interesting landscape images. One is unusual lighting conditions. Another is some activity that lends itself to the overall impression left by the photograph. Here, I have managed to capture two pelicans in flight.

Here, a foreground treatment.

Here, reflections and clouds make for a strong composition. 

Here a subject in a light that one wouldn’t find on just any day. Horizons are not in the exact middle of the frame.

All of these elements contribute to making strong compositions and should be followed whenever you are making any landscape image.

Here are some of the elements that make for good landscape images:

1. Composition: The image needs to appeal to my sense of what a good composition entails. It has to draw the viewer into the frame and have enough information to keep someone’s attention.
2. Tonal Values:  The image has to follow basic requirements of good Black&White images. There has to be detail in the highlights as well as in the shadows and has to have one spot of pure white and one of pure black.
3. Subject matter:  The image has to be visually interesting. Either the action or the subject matter needs to have qualities that would make people interested in viewing it.
4. Visual interest:  The image, because of all the above aspects, really needs to be interesting to look at. 
5. Lighting: It almost goes without saying that light is a major factor in the making of photographs. By definition, they are “light images,” so the lighting is of paramount importance.

The trick is to find an appropriate spot for the camera, then decide on what kind of photograph you want to take. If it’s a sunset, you need to wait until the light is right. If it’s a skyline, you need to be aware of all the highlights and shadows there are. Most of my scenic images are made with my Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens with focus on the foreground. I then add some filtration to increase the contrast of the sky. If it’s a Black &White shot, I usually use a red #25A filter to darken the clouds or just render a blue sky black for a dramatic look. If the shot is in color, I use a gradient neutral density filter to give the sky more contrast than the land.

These are just some of the “tricks” I use to get some of the images above.