Great Landscape Photos: 10 Ways To Truly Master The Craft
Sublime landscape photo from above the clouds on Huangshan Mountain, China.
Great landscape photos cover a wide and diverse range of approaches and styles. After many years of research, travel and location based assignments I’ve discovered 10 ways by which you can master the craft and create truly great landscape photos.
Landscape photos can be organized into 10 subcategories to help you understand the subjects, styles and techniques that best suit your own sensibilities, motivations and aspirations. It’s then easier to decide whether to specialize or take more of a generalist approach to taking landscape photos.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Landscape Photos You Make Are Important
The reason the landscape photos you make are important and worthy of attention is because they represent our own, personal experience of being in a particular place at a very specific moment in time.
While such moments are but tiny fragments of your existence on this earth, your photos document these places in a way that preserves your memories and communicates your personal experience and response to these landscapes.
What’s more, your best landscape photos might also explore the connection you felt to a universal experience or truth at the time your camera’s shutter was tripped.
It’s this personal, experiential response to the landscape that’s so important.
Such images rely more on suggestion and interpretation than on a mere factual documentation of the scene in question. It’s this move away from documentation, towards a more subjective response, that makes our very best landscape photos more visually interesting and emotionally compelling to our audience.
“Our photos enable us to speak to the world as much about ourselves, as individual, creative souls, and our relationship with the universe, as they do about the subject or scene depicted.”
Likewise, the landscape photos we make can also be more about the weather than the actual topographic nature of the landscape we're photographing.
Let’s take American photographer Ansel Adams, a recognized master of the landscape photography genre, as a case in point.
Many of Adams’ best photos, including the iconic Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California 1944 are as much about the weather and the season as they are about the location depicted.
Now consider the image at the top of this post. I made it, just after sunrise, looking down upon the clouds while hiking across Huangshan Mountain in China. Actually, this single peak is one of a collection commonly referred to as Huangshan or Yellow Mountain.
It’s possible to hike up, across and down the main mountain trail on Huangshan in a single day. But as a photographer, carrying a hefty backpack for three-days on the mountain in the middle of winter, I chose a more leisurely approach.
And thank goodness for that. The journey across Huangshan Mountain and the photos I made along the way made it one of the greatest experiences of my life.
The photo was made on a Canon full frame camera at a focal length of 24 mm, a favorite focal length of mine when making landscape photos. The camera was set to iso 100, the shutter speed to 1/20 second and the aperture at f/11.
1. Traditional Landscape Photos and How To Take Them
There’s no doubt that a traditional, documentary approach is, by far, the most common way to take landscape photos.
Often straight forward in style, and intentionally representative or descriptive of the scene photographed, traditional landscape photos often seek to showcase the topographic nature of the environment being depicted.
In this way the photographer hopes to showcase the terrain, season and weather at the time the image was created.
To produce a pleasing result, traditional landscape photos often depend upon the following:
Great lighting, often based upon the soft, warm, shape and texture revealing light that rakes across the landscape at sunrise and sunset.
A large depth of field to ensure maximum detail is maintained from the near foreground to the distant background.
Use of a wide angle lens to enhance the illusion of three dimensional space in a two dimensional photo.
Inclusion of compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture to lead the viewer’s eye to important focal points within the frame.
The arrangement of visual elements within the frame via principals of composition such as symmetry, repetition and balance in a way that produces a cohesive and harmonious result.
An important consideration for all aspiring landscape photographers is that a photo of a beautiful landscape cannot compare to the beauty and majesty of the actual location.
So why make the photo?
After all, it’s just a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional reality.
The fact is there’s no depth in a photograph. There is only an impression of depth, created by visual clues, that might include the following:
Light and shade to add a sense of depth and dimension within an image.
Perception of scale, via the juxtaposition of varying sized focal points within the frame.
Definite foreground, mid ground and background elements that draw the eye through the image.
The impression of three dimensional space created through the use of a wide angle focal length.
A viewpoint that’s often significantly lower (worms eye) or higher (birds eye) than you’d achieve with the camera brought up to your normal eye level.
Of course you make photos, primarily, because it pleases you to do so. But, beyond that, you do so because you want to document your memory of being in a particular place at a particular time.
To do so you employ your camera, lens and associated equipment (e.g., filters, tripod) in a way that allows you to respond to and partake in the beauty, unfolding in real time, in front of your camera’s lens.
It’s about preserving a memory for posterity, a memory that you helped shape, and a desire to share your experience with others.
At a deeper level I believe there’a a desire to celebrate the wonder of creation and, through the photos you make, actually participate in the act of creation. It’s a key difference between the artist photographer and the snap shooter.
And I’m not talking about one’s ability to market or sell the landscape photos they create. I’m referring to the motivation that guides you to create pictures in the first place.
The bible speaks of man being created in the image of God. Some folk take that literally, suggesting we must, therefore, look something like God.
That might work for actor/producer Brad Pitt, but not so much for me.
But an alternate view might suggest that mankind has been gifted with the ability to continue the act of creation through the food we grow, prepare and serve; the craft and products we produce and sell; and the art we create.
Such pursuits, in addition to what we think and how we treat others, are central to living a meaning rich, purpose driven life.
This is, to my way of thinking, at the heart of what it is to be godlike.
Sometimes our jobs and the circle of friends that surround us may seem to hold us back from our true purpose in life. I’ve certainly struggled through much of my own working life to balance a diligent work ethic and loyalty to employers, colleagues and customers with the desire to pursue my own creative journey.
But experience has shown me that, by getting out and about and making landscape photos, I’m able to break away from the debilitating effects that result from a negative state of mind.
The act of creating beautiful landscape photos, whether close to home or in spectacular locations around our world, has proven to be the pursuit that, more than any other, sets me back on the path to happiness and creativity.
If you’re interested in knowing more, take a look at the post I wrote titled Follow Your Bliss: How To Be Happy By Living A Creative Life
Pathway through the Wilderness, Huangshan Mountain, China.
2. Landscape Photos of Wildness and Wilderness
The words wildness and wilderness appear similar, but the differences between them are as much political as actual. Take a look at this image of a well-tendered mountain trail on Huangshan Mountain in China as we explore some of the key differences between the notions of wildness and wilderness in landscape photos.
I made this picture with a focal length of 24 mm at iso 100. The shutter speed was set to 1/13 second and the aperture to f/22 as a way of extending the depth of field from the very near foreground to the distant background.
Photos possess their own unique truth and what you decided to exclude from the frame can be just as important as what you include.
By turning your camera in one direction or another, or by zooming in on a particular area within the larger scene, it’s certainly possible to showcase the wildness of a location and, in doing so, suggest you’re photographing a wilderness.
But when a well tendered path shares dominance with the surrounding landscape, as it does in the above image, it’s clear that, despite the harshness of the terrain, you’re in an area that receives a high level of human traffic.
The fact of the matter is that Huangshan Mountain is a spectacularly beautiful area that receives millions of tourists per year.
I visited during January, in the middle of winter, when tourist numbers are low. Yet, despite the cold, the main mountain paths were well maintained and I had little trouble traversing them during my three-day stay.
What’s more, I slept in a different hotel, as I made my way along the trail, on each night of my stay. While the surrounding terrain is certainly wild, the excellent paths, great dinning and cosy accomodation made the daily rigors associated with the weather and the steep trail well worth the effort.
For many folk, hiking the trails of Yellow Mountain would be considered a perfect, though not altogether authentic, wilderness experience.
The terrain is steep and wild, to be sure, but by following the well maintained pathways most folks with a reasonable standard of fitness should have little trouble traversing the main trails on Huangshan Mountain.
However, if you fitness is below par, be sure not to rush or push yourself too hard.
You’ll likely have to travel a long way to get to Yellow Mountain. But your ability to appreciate the beauty and diversity of this vast and imposing landscape could be significantly diminished if you’re unprepared for the physical nature of the adventure, particularly if you try to complete it in too short a time frame.
This will certainly be the case if, like me, you feel the need to regularly stop and take photos.
There are many wild landscapes throughout our world. They may be referred to in that way because of the difficulty of the terrain, the extreme weather conditions common to the area or the dangers posed to humans by local wildlife.
Many parts of Africa would fit this definition yet, with proper supervision, most of us can visit these places and return with quite spectacular images of landscape and wildlife.
But does wilderness cease to exist after we’ve experienced it?
I don’t think so, nor do I feel that mapping or photographing topographical features of a landscape makes it any less of a wilderness. My own travels and photography adventures in Antarctica bear this out.
But what about the effects that the inclusion of roads, buildings and modern forms of communication have on such an environment and upon our relationship with it?
Our experience of the environment is altered, as is our relationship with it, once modernity is introduced into it. And, by implication, that means cameras as well.
In this context the slogan “leave only footprints” is a well meaning, though somewhat naive notion.
Now I wouldn’t want any of this to stop you exploring or making pictures in such places. Landscape photography is one of my life’s great loves and it’s been a tremendous privilege to have had opportunities to create landscape photos in wild and extremely remote regions around our planet.
Frankly, the desire to do so has taken me to the Himalayas, Greenland, South Georgia Island and Antarctica.
Nevertheless, when it comes to describing and presenting our photography or, for that matter, branding our business, it’s good to have thought through what it is we photographers do and why we do it.
Wilderness photography sounds more highly specialized than landscape photography. Right?
If you want to better define the specific type of landscape photos you create, most often, consider the places in which you make your photos.
If Greenland, Antarctica, the more remote regions of Australia, the Himalayas, the Sahara and the Amazon are amongst the places you photograph, then I think it’s fair and reasonable to brand yourself as a wilderness photographer.
You might also find it useful to look at the portfolios of some of our world’s most eminent wilderness photographers to see how the look and feel of your own photography compares.
You see, where and what (subject matter) you photograph is by no means the end of the journey. How you go about making your photos, by which I refer, primarily, to technique and composition, is an important consideration in creating great landscape photos.
However, it’s the stories your photos tell and how they connect with your audience that matters most. And the most profound connections, what you could refer to as photography’s Blessed Trinity, can be described as follows:
Connection between the photographer and the subject
Connection between the subject and the viewer
Connection between the photographer and the viewer
While great photographers are able to form and facilitate these connections it’s worthwhile noting that it’s not the artist’s role to provide solutions, simply to ask questions.
To help you in your own research, here’s a few highly regarded landscape photographers, historic and contemporary, that specialize in wilderness photography.
Cultivated landscape photo of the famous Tegallalang rice terraces in Bali.
3. Landscape Photos and The Cultivated Landscape
This landscape photo featuring lush, terraced rice fields on the island of Bali, Indonesia seemed the perfect choice to illustrate what’s meant by the term the Cultivated Landscape.
The photo is a great example of how a tropical environment, with plentiful rainfall, can be turned into a highly cultivated landscape able to support a farmer’s family and, potentially, supply a market beyond those living and working on the farm.
The vibrant green color of this lush landscape is peaceful and soothing. It quietens the mind and revitalizes the soul.
I made the image with a focal length of 24 mm at iso 400. The shutter speed was set to 1/20 second and the aperture to f/11. Fortunately, the relatively still conditions made it possible for me to create a sharp and highly detailed image, with the aid of a sturdy tripod, at such a slow shutter speed.
But being on the edge of wild landscapes, such environments are not without danger.
There are snakes and a range of other nasties, including waterborne parasites, that can, so easily, bring a relaxing vacation on a sunny, island paradise to a very unpleasant end.
Having suffered from a severe and prolonged giardia infection, I speak from bitter experience.
My advice to city folk exploring landscapes outside of their normal, everyday experience is to breathe deeply, but tread carefully.
And, remember, how unfit for survival our soft, sanitized bodies are when faced with the reality of surviving in a harsh and wild natural landscape.
While our planet retains small populations of hunters and gatherers, I’m not expecting many of them will be reading this post.
Over the millennia, technological advancements allowed us to move from hunter/gather societies into rural farming communities and then to urban dwellers.
These days many folk find the notion of a rural retreat on a few acres to be attractive. The idea of self sufficient living, off the grid, is enticing. Though the hard work associated with that form of lifestyle may not be so exciting a prospect.
When it comes to photographing the cultivated landscape it’s good to ask yourself why are you doing so.
Is it because it’s visually attractive?
Is the scene enticing at a deeper level?
What is there about that scene that connects with you and how can you better explore and describe that connection through the landscape photos you create?
Mindset is everything and this post titled Basic Photography Vocabulary: Why I Hate These 3 Ugly Words is well worth reading.
Conservation on a high, windy pass on Huangshan Mountain, China.
4. Conservation and the Environment in Landscape Photos
The above landscape photo, made near the top of a particularly high pass on Huangshan Mountain, is interesting to me as it depicts a degree of conservation on the mountain.
I made this picture at a focal length of 28 mm at iso 100. Due to being near the top of an exposed, windy peak I set my camera’s shutter speed to 1/250 second to ensure sharpness and the lens’s aperture to f/11 to ensure a large depth of field.
China is blessed with tremendous natural beauty. Nonetheless, it's true to say that the natural environment has, all too often, suffered with the rapid advancement of the Chinese economy over recent decades.
However, from what I witnessed during my time on Huangshan Mountain, the management of huge amounts of tourists has been done in such a way that maintains protection for much of the natural environment. And that’s to be applauded.
I do hope this image of conservation on Huangshan Mountain can act as a metaphor for a future China where economic prosperity and the natural world can co-exist more harmoniously than has been the case in other parts of China in the recent past.
The three days I spent atop Yellow Mountain in Eastern China are amongst the best of my life. The lack of tourists at that time of year meant that, with the exception of mingling with members of a few small group tours gathered around the buffet table, my days on Yellow Mountain were spent in almost total isolation.
Have no doubt, once you’ve reached a relatively confident stage with your camera technique, your best landscape photos will most likely be made when you’re on your own, free of distraction.
By all means travel with a friend or partner, but do what you have to do to find the space you need to connect with the surroundings when making landscape photos.
And that doesn’t mean walking in the opposite direction to the rest of the group. Clearly, there are many reasons why it’s sensible to stay within eyesight or earshot of others.
But it also makes sense to find that little bit of physical space, between you and others, so that you’re more able to explore your own relationship to the environment through the landscape photos you create.
Standing alongside another photographer and sharing focal length, shutter speed, aperture and iso is going to make it hard for you to do that. But being away from others, when it’s appropriate to do so, can be a godsend for the serious landscape photographer.
And on Yellow Mountain, the middle of winter is probably the only time you’ll achieve that level of isolation.
January is the coldest time of year on Huangshan, with average minimum temperatures of 21°F (-6°C). Thankfully, maximum daytime temperatures are warmer and can reach 34°F (1°C) which, when climbing up and down the steep mountain trails, can seem positively balmy.
It’s often foggy on Huangshan during the month of January, with snow or rain falling on around 14 days of the month at an average precipitation of 79 mm.
As I was out and about before sunrise, and trudging back to the hotel after sunset, I certainly experienced my share of cold and bleak conditions in search of inspirational landscape photos on Huangshan Mountain.
You can imagine that the wind, often prevalent at high altitudes on the mountain, could make conditions difficult for the landscape photographer. And I refer here to difficulties in achieving sharp pictures as much as personal comfort.
Fortunately, for the most part, I experienced very still conditions which, together with the thick blanket of near white clouds that surrounded me, made for fantastic conditions for photography during most of my stay.
While distant views were usually obscured, the huge bank of cloud greatly softened the quality of the light and reduced contrast (i.e., dynamic range) to an acceptable level, making it easier to create classic mountain landscape photos.
But it did get windy, and one early morning photo session was particularly challenging. Still, I persisted and was glad to have done so.
There’s no doubt just how alive you feel when you’re on the edge of a precipice, being battered by high winds and snow.
Rusted oil drums at Port Foster off Whalers Bay, Deception Island, Antarctica.
Antarctic Environmental Destruction and the Human Condition
Let’s continue our discussion of conservation and the environment with this photo of a group of rusted oil drums at Port Foster on Deception Island. The island is part of the South Shetland Island group in Antarctica and I visited, together with a colleague, as a photography tour leader.
I made this picture at a focal length of 24 mm at iso 400. My camera’s shutter speed was set to 1/250 second and the lens’s aperture to f/11 to ensure as much fine detail as possible was recorded.
It’s hardly blissful subject matter. Nonetheless, these remnants of a now abandoned whaling station are a sad yet, somehow, heroic testament to the workers stationed at this bleak outpost in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Perhaps this is a good time to ask if you’ve considered using your own landscape photos to make a political statement concerning environmental issues or, perhaps, to explore the notion of the human condition?
Or course, it’s completely your choice how you approach your own landscape photography and what issues, themes or concepts you explore along the way.
In my case it could be argued that some of my own landscape photos, such as this image from Port Foster on Deception Island, interlink the two themes of environmental destruction and the human condition quite successfully.
There’s no doubt that the presence of these oil drums and the nearby ruined buildings, constructed to house the whalers, pollutes what would otherwise be a pristine Antarctic wilderness.
But the story these remains tell about the folly of human endeavor is both fascinating and, some might say, apocalyptic. No doubt that’s why they’ve remained on-site and one of the reasons why Deception Island is a stopover point on the Antarctic Peninsula tourist trail.
It’s a warning to all of us!
How to Photograph Environmental Destruction
I understand and accept that certain types of environmental landscape photos may, on occasions, need to rely on a straightforward documentary approach to uncover destruction of landscape and associated habitat.
It seems like an obvious and direct way to raise concern and, as a consequence, help to prevent such wanton destruction in the future.
In saying that I also believe that, even photos dealing with environmental destruction can be made with care and sensitivity.
Photographing a newly logged area of rainforest at sunrise is a case in point. Such images can be captivating as they juxtapose dualities of beauty and destruction in very compelling ways.
Some of the best war photos share the same approach. After all, your message will resonate more profoundly if the viewer is encouraged to look more closely at the image.
And the best way to show a devastated landscape or, for that matter, a historical city devastated by a natural disaster, is to ensure your photo includes remnants of the beauty that existed before the catastrophe occurred.
Alternate landscape photo of plastic autumn leaves near Huangshan Mountain, China.
5. Landscape Photos: Alternate Approaches to Photographing Our Natural World
I'm a huge fan of traditional, picturesque landscape photos. But I'm also fascinated by alternate views of beauty. Kitsch, for example, provides the creative photographer with wonderful opportunities to explore notions of taste and beauty.
Take a look at this image made from inside a small cafe at a guest house I was staying at while traveling in the Huangshan region of Eastern China. I remember being fascinated by the fall colored plastic leaves, placed on the inside of the window, backed by a bleak winter landscape on the other side of the glass.
I can only assume they're placed there as a reminder of how beautiful the location is during the fall (autumn).
I remember being attracted by the vibrancy and strong shapes of the foreground leaves juxtaposed against the subtly of the muted background.
The crack in the window adds yet another element of unconventional beauty to the image. Perhaps that’s because the light reflecting off the crack transforms it into a visual element akin to a luminous wave or ribbon-shaped line.
The photo was made at a focal length of 24 mm at iso 100. My camera’s shutter speed was set to 1/50 second and the lens’s aperture to f/16 to ensure maximum detail retention in those vibrant, plastic foreground leaves.
Experimental by nature, the alternate landscape is often cheekily disrespectful to the notion of traditional landscape photos.
In the world of the alternate landscape you’ll find potted plants, ceramic garden flamingos and plastic flowers are all worthy of attention and consideration.
As much as anything else, alternate landscape photos explore our relationship with the natural landscape in our contemporary world.
“The garden’s full of furniture, the house is full of plants”
It’s worth noting that, while most of us no longer live within and as a part of the landscape, many need pleasant and safe memories of it to remind us of the once vital connection we maintained with the natural world.
Urban landscape photo of a staircase through an alleyway in Melbourne, Australia.
6. Urban Landscape Photos and Where Most People Live
The Urban Landscape is a pretty broad term that generally relates to photos made in and around a city’s Central Business District (CBD). Urban landscape photos often include buildings but, being more about the environment and the way people interact with it, are different to much of what is commonly referred to as architectural photography.
However, just as in certain kinds of architectural photography, urban landscape photos may include people as elements within the environment that’s being explored.
It might be helpful to consider urban landscape photos to be a kind of merger of architectural and street photography.
In the above photo, of a narrow alleyway in the city of Melbourne, there are no people present. But the staircase suggests it’s a space through which people would pass through.
So, while we can depict people through their presence in a photo, we can also suggest their interaction with a landscape through their absence. I find that to be a particularly interesting concept.
The warm, incandescent interior lighting in the above photo is also interesting as it compliments the otherwise cool color of the shaded areas throughout most of the image.
This color contrast really lifts the image and, together with the tension between the almost straight lines and surfaces within the otherwise angular scene, is what intrigued me to make the photo in the first place.
I must say it was a fun, but difficult image to compose. But spending the time to do so really puts you, as maker, into the image. In doing so you leave a bit of yourself behind, in the environment, but you also become a part of the photo you’ve created, just as it becomes a part of you.
And it’s that combination of location, photographer and final image that makes the landscape photos each of us make unique.
Magnificent 'god rays' illuminate the landscape in the Highlands region of Iceland.
7. Landscape Photos that Explore Weather
Take a look at this photo of light rays, also called god rays, streaming through the clouds onto the landscape in the Highlands region of Central Iceland. It’s a good example of the opportunities that await the patient and prepared photographer on the edges of bad weather.
I remember driving up a steep mountainside, in pretty bleak weather, thinking that I should turn my camper van rental around and get back to the highway. But that voice inside me, the one I call little one, quietly encouraged me to keep going.
Before too much longer I’d reached the top of a rise and was looking down onto a bleak and windswept landscape.
The weather was really starting to close in but, having reached this remote and desolate location, I needed to get out of the car and see if a photo could be made.
After walking a short distance I set up my tripod, formed a decent composition through my camera’s viewfinder and set my camera to iso 100 and an aperture of f/11.
It’s actually a very expansive landscape, but I wanted to create a photo that was more about light and color than depth and space. That meant compressing the three dimensional scene to emphasize the layering of the hills with the distant mountains.
The most powerful lens I had with me was a 70-200 mm f/4 lens, which I set to 200 mm. Actually, it ended up being the perfect focal length for this image as it enabled me to include everything I wanted to into the final composition.
Feeling like I was on the edge of something epic about to unfold, I waited while I rechecked my camera settings and focused my lens.
All of a sudden a break in the clouds appeared and the light rays streamed down onto the landscape.
Fortunately, I was set up and ready. All I had to do was to adjust my camera’s shutter speed to ensure a good exposure and take a few pictures before the light changed and the drama and majesty of the moment disappeared.
Bad weather is, by it's very nature, unpredictable. But great light can appear, either side of a weather front, and transform the landscape in most remarkable ways.
In this case the monochromatic bluish light, associated with storm clouds, is balanced by the transformational light rays and the way they add dimension and separation to the sky and mountain terrain.
Great Landscape Photos Require Effort and Patience
But such moments of serendipity are fleeting. You need to be there, properly attired, with your camera ready. Patience and a willingness to gamble on the result is also necessary.
But, to be in the game, you simply have to be there. And the more often you are, the greater your chance of achieving a successful outcome.
If you don't put yourself out there, on the edges of a weather front, you simply won't get the image. In the world of landscape photography this is a key difference between the armchair traveler and the adventurous, committed artist.
Photography is, after all, a game of compromise. To make great landscape photos you need to put aside the comforts of home for the experience of witnessing and recording such sublime beauty.
Needless to say you don’t want to do anything stupid or put yourself in danger when making landscape photos. Make sure you understand the risks associated with a lighting strike, or becoming stranded by inclement weather or incoming tides.
“In the search for great landscape photos it’s important to accept that comfort and a good meal can wait until tomorrow.”
If there’s a lesson for the aspiring landscape photographer it’s to trust your instincts, be prepared and be patient. Just ensure you stay safe while doing so.
From my point of view, it's certainly worth it.
A great landscape photo that’s made on the edge of bad weather will provide you with a visual record of your experience, which is longer lasting and easier to share than a verbal recounting of the event.
What’s more, one is made more powerful by the other.
If you’re looking to be convinced about the opportunities to make great landscape photos under foul weather, take a look at the post I created titled Rainy Day Pics and Inclement Weather
Landscape photo featuring a porter, loaded with goods, on Huangshan Mountain, China.
8. Including People in Landscape Photos
As a teacher of photography I’m often asked why I photograph people in the landscape. The fact is the human condition is key to the landscape photos I make exploring the relationship between people and the natural world.
Take this photo of a porter, loaded with goods, as he walks a windy and exposed path on Huangshan mountain during the middle of winter. While his colleagues diligently work to keep the path free of ice and snow, they are times during the day when certain sections of the path can become slippery.
More importantly, the trails are steep and the weather can be unforgiving. But the porter has a job to do and a timetable to keep.
With no roads suitable for vehicles up the mountain, food, toiletries and the like would need to be brought up in the cable car and, from there, carried along the mountain paths to the various hotels along the trail.
Notice that he’s not really dressed for the weather.
Nowadays things might be different. But during my stay I didn’t see any sign of fleece, Gore-Tex or waterproof boots worn by any of the sweepers or porters on Yellow Mountain.
This only increases my admiration for these humble Chinese workers who directly contribute to the comfort of tourists, like me, during our time exploring the sublime scenery and landscape photo opportunities on Yellow Mountain.
The photo was made at a focal length of 24 mm at iso 100. As this is a candid image, I set my camera’s shutter speed to 1/400 second to keep the porter sharp as he moved through the landscape. My lens’s aperture was set to f/5.6 to help separate the porter from the background via a relatively shallow depth of field.
Actually, the depiction of people in the landscape has changed over the centuries mirroring attitudes of the time and our relationship with nature. The history of painting allows us to track this changing relationship far beyond the shorter history of photography.
It’s fair to say that, initially, the landscape was little more than a background for portraits. Over time the landscape began to be employed to provide visual clues as to the status and wealth of the individual portrayed.
The land and those that worked it were illustrated to signify the power and prestige of the lord or landowner whom, most likely, had commission the painting.
Later, the landscape provided the setting in which characters would play out important roles, in a highly idealised form, from history or mythology.
The depiction of good and evil, right and wrong, victor and vanquished was dependant, at least in part, on the requirements of those commissioning such works.
As a consequence the painting became a tool of propaganda and, with the message growing in importance, artists strove for a greater sense of realism in their work.
The invention of photography coincided with the industrial revolution. By this stage most of the landscapes of England, and those of competing powers in Western Europe, had been explored and, to a significant degree, tamed.
Photographers, just like painters before them, had originally rendered the American and Australian landscapes in a way that harkened back to the more ordered, safer landscape of the old world.
Later, the indigenous aspects of the landscape and its unique geographic forms were depicted in a more realistic manner.
In America, the landscape offered the promise of a new life, away from the religious persecution of the old world, and the notion of going west offered hope and security for those pilgrims willing to undertake such an arduous adventure.
This notion is central to the American Dream where anyone, regardless of race, creed or color can make a good life for themselves and their family. The landscape offered opportunities through which an individual’s hard work could be rewarded.
In Australia, the initial approach by painters and landscape photographers alike was to render the natural world in line with the more pastoral landscapes of the countries from which they originated.
European settlers were seen to be enjoying the benefits of this wondrous landscape. Indigenous peoples were depicted as friendly natives within an idyllic landscape, somewhat reminiscent of the Garden of Eden.
The implied meaning was that the indigenous peoples were akin to children on the evolutionary scale. Pure and innocent but, seemingly unsophisticated, in need of guidance and culture passed down to them from their superior European overlords.
This helped to justify the righteousness of English settlement and colonisation. By bringing industry and commerce, education, culture, law and religion these natives would be brought into the modern world and, at the same time, their immortal souls would be saved.
With the invention of photography, painters were freed from the constraints of realism and topographic representations of the landscape, to which photography seemed well suited.
As a consequence painters were free to move towards more interpretive and abstract renderings of the landscape. Their work became less about what the artist saw and more about how they felt about what they saw. This approach grew into the Impressionist movement and, from there, into abstraction.
Over recent times painters and photographers alike have chosen to pay attention to the plight of our environment caused by industrialisation, over population and diminishing rainfall.
When faced with nature under stress, my own approach has been to make images that showcase the underlying power and beauty of the landscape.
The idea is to imbue these particular landscape photos with the message that, when treated with the proper respect, the landscape can provide us with all the nourishment, both physical and spiritual, needed for our renewal.
The nature of our existence is, after all, tied to that of the land.
These days we photograph people in the landscape for a variety of reasons and in a variety of ways, including the following:
Scale
By placing a recognisable subject, such as a person, into the image we can better gauge the size of the landscape and its features (e.g., trees, mountains, etc).
Environmental Portrait
The Environmental portrait places the subject in an environment to which they seem to belong. A teenager in their room, a minister in front of their church, an artist in front of one of their paintings, a teacher in front of a whiteboard, etc.
Likewise, a landscape photo can very easily be turned into an environmental portrait. Here’s a few examples:
Surfer standing on a beach, holding their surfboard with surf crashing in the background.
Mountaineer with a tall mountain peak behind them.
A child, standing alongside their pony, with the family farm behind them.
If you’d like my recipe for creating the classic environmental portrait check out my post titled Fantastic Environmental Portraits
Tourist
Of course most folks like to include a picture of themselves and/or their loved ones in front of an iconic landscape. This proves they were there and, in one way or another, that they have prevailed.
Most folks have to save to go on holiday. It follows that any elation evident in their demeanor, while being photographed at a well-known tourist location, is due, at least in part, to the difficulties involved in funding their holiday and actually reaching the destination in question.
During my travels I’ve often noticed certain tourists making the V sign in front of an iconic location, be it natural or man made. It’s worth noting that the V sign has been a symbol for victory, prior to it becoming a sign for peace.
There are numerous images of Winston Churchill, England’s famous WWII leader, making the V for Victory sign. I’m sure that modern day tourists, even young Japanese I’ve observed at various Australian WWII memorials, make the sign with no intention other than that of one enjoying the fruits of their hard work and diligent savings while visiting an iconic overseas location.
And why not, they’ve earned it.
If you’re interested in how I go about photographing people outdoors take a look at the post I wrote titled People Photography: Make It Unique It includes photos from Antarctica, Greenland, China and the Faroe Islands.
Abstract landscape photo showcasing patterns in the water, Prion Island, South Georgia.
9. Abstract Landscape Photos
Creating landscape photos that suggest something beyond the subject depicted will separate the photos you make from the majority of reality based images taken by the average photographer.
In doing so you’ll be well on your way to abstraction, probably the most liberating approach to making landscape photos you’ll experience on your journey as a creative photographer.
I made the above image featuring patterns of light and color forming, on the surface of the water, off the coast of Prion Island, part of the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands group in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
Made at a focal length of 98 mm at iso 800 on my 70-200mm lens. My camera’s shutter speed was set to 1/500 second and my lens’s aperture to f/11.
Moments before I’d climbed back into a zodiac after a shore excursion, during which time I’d photographed southern elephant seals, fur seals, skuas and wandering albatrosses.
But my favorite image from that excursion to Prion Island was this abstract image, conceived and recorded in a moment of transience, between one moment and the next.
This image has been described as painterly, which is ironic as it was through the introduction of photography that many painters were finally able to move away from the rigors of documenting the world around them and embrace abstraction.
There’s no doubt, in my own mind, that blissful landscapes provide opportunities for us to connect with the sublime. But this is also true for the very best landscape photos we create. Frankly, it’s why I do what I do.
Needless to say, it’s not only through the creation of fine detailed, razor sharp landscape photos where spiritual connection is made.
It’s also in subtle nuances of shape and form, and the momentary emergence of sublime light where a connection to something beyond our normal, everyday experience occurs.
“My best photos are underpinned by the transient, transforming and transcendental nature of light.”
Landscape Photos that Move From Realism to Suggestion
The problem with abstract photography is that transient moments are, by their very nature, elusive and difficult to photograph. You need to be ready and to be able to anticipate the moment before it occurs.
Spending time in the landscape, closely observing light, will help you. As will your ability to block out distractions and anticipate the moment, before it actually unfolds.
If that sounds too Zen for you, concentrating more on composition is a great way for the aspiring landscape photographer to move beyond a straight, documentary approach to their photography.
You see, the stronger the composition the quicker your images will move beyond realism towards suggestion. And, while abstract photography might not be something to which you aspire, the concept of suggestion is well worth considering.
That’s because a landscape photo that’s underpinned by great composition will allow photographer and viewer alike to concentrate their attention on compositional elements such as line, shape, color, texture and tonality.
By doing so it’s possible to separate yourself from more obvious and easily formed connections with objects like rocks, trees, mountains and lakes.
Likewise, a more elusive representation of reality can result from an impressionistic approach to creating landscape photos.
In such photos what you’re left with is more about the impression of the landscape, and how light, time and weather interact with it, than a true visual representation of the scene in question.
To make emotionally compelling landscape photos it’s important to progress beyond concerns of technique and subject based reality.
Ultimately, it’s the photographer’s ability to move past the physical nature of the environment and find connection with that which exists on the edge of our understanding that elevates the snapshot into art.
Landscape photo showing a tourist passing through mist on Huangshan Mountain, China.
10. Personal Landscape Photos: a Point of Departure
Personal landscape photos can feature any kind of subject matter. That’s because personal landscapes are more about internal feelings, moods and ideas, given form by the way you create your images, then about what’s actually in front of the camera.
It might help to think about such photography as landscapes of the mind.
I’m reminded of a photo of mine which appeared on a CD cover featuring music from a Swedish group. The music was highly experimental and non-traditional.
It was, exactly as I expected it to be, a soundscape that reminded me of the mournful quiet of polar regions punctuated by the sounds of ice moving and breaking apart.
By listening to such music it’s easy to create landscapes of the mind, unique to your own experience, worldview and imagination.
Personal landscapes often make use of abstraction, which uses individual elements from within the scene as graphical elements, to explore relationships and conjure up imaginings removed from the physical reality of the actual scene.
In this kind of composition, the need to suggest an altered reality or narrative is more important than the need to record a visually accurate representation of the scene unfolding in front of the camera.
Your own photographs become art when they move away from realism and point to ideas, concepts, truths and realities beyond the boundaries of the frame.
To achieve this a visual departure from the reality of the photograph is required. The use of metaphor or abstraction are examples of how to achieve this kind of departure.
For example, does your photograph document a wildfire/bushfire or does it explore the awesome power of nature and our desperate need to survive such a catastrophe?
Whether directly or via the use of metaphor, I believe most great landscape photos explore the Human Condition.
The above photo of a young, Chinese women making her way along a narrow and exposed pathway on Huangshan mountain is a case in point.
I remember composing the image in the hope that someone would enter the frame and walk through the scene, thereby adding a visually dynamic element into the composition. Fortunately, that’s exactly what happened.
While the image was made at a shutter speed of 1/200 second to freeze the subject, the sense of movement in an otherwise still image is maintained.
What’s more the yellow color of her cheap, plastic raincoat contrasts beautifully with her turquoise colored boots, adding splashes of color to an otherwise monochromatic scene.
Made at a focal length of 32 mm, at iso 100, I employed an aperture of f/11 to ensure maximum detail on the snow encrusted tree and boulders.
The photo is, on one hand, a simple picture of a young women walking along a mountain trail in winter. However, notice her size, relative to the tree and boulders surrounding her and her position, framed between one of those boulders and the tree, in the bottom corner of the frame.
Can you see how I’ve utilized compositional elements like scale, balance, color and a frame within a frame to produce a harmonious and cohesive composition.
Much of my photography is based around the notion of Making Something Out Of Nothing. I think this image of a local Chinese tourist on Yellow Mountain is a great example of how I go about doing just that.
When it comes to metaphor all you need is for your photos to suggest something other than what’s immediately obvious.
If you look at this image featuring a young, Chinese tourist and it makes you wonder about her life, or the life of people like her, then you’ve already begun to take the photo out of the reality in which it was made and, through your own worldview, suggested new understandings, possibilities or outcomes.
And that’s exactly as it should be.
I learned, long ago, that it’s often best to let the viewer determine what my photos are about. I know what I photographed, how and why I went about doing so. But the meaning inherent to a photo is fluid and, for the most part, to be determined by the viewer.
And it’s in that ambiguity where most great art resides.
How to Identify Your Best Landscape Photos
It’s quite likely that there’s a dominant style and/or theme underpinning many of your own landscape photos. If you haven’t recognized this fact, it’s quite easy to discover these traits for yourself. Here’s how I’d go about doing so.
This whole process is based around your ability to select your best landscape photos. If you’re a Lightroom user the process is quite straightforward. In fact, I wrote a detailed post titled How To Rate Photos In Lightroom that explains exactly how to do so.
Once you’ve selected your best landscape photos (e.g., those you’ve tagged with a 4 star and above rating) simply spend time scrolling through them to discover the following:
The kind of subject matter that most commonly features in your very best landscape photos.
The approach or style of photography that features most often in your best landscape photos.
The themes that dominant your best landscape photos.
Once you’ve identified your best landscape photos, and taken note of why they work so well, copy them into their own, easily accessible collection within Lightroom.
The next step is to go back to these images, on a regular basis, to remind yourself of what you do well, how you go about doing it and what themes and concepts you’re most often exploring in your best landscape photos.
Return to this collection frequently to remind yourself of what makes your images unique, why it is you create them and how to go about making more compelling images of the same quality into the future.
“By paying attention to your best photos you’ll make more of them, more often than if they were to remain buried amongst thousands of less successful images.”
Landscape photo of a sunset over the Beagle Channel near Ushuaia, Argentina.
Conclusion: The Value of Landscape Photos
The world of landscape photography is a rich and varied one. There’s room for all, just as there’s room for experimentation and individual interpretation, from artist and viewer alike.
I love all manner of landscape photos, just so long as they’re well crafted. However, my preference is for landscape photos that are life-affirming and celebrate the beauty of our world and our place within it.
While I don’t often have the opportunity to photograph from a helicopter, this picture of a spectacular sunset over the Beagle Channel near Ushuaia in Argentina is a good example of the kind of life-affirming landscape photos I work so hard to create.
The image was made at a focal length of 35 mm at iso 400 with my camera’s shutter speed set to 1/250 second and my lens’s aperture at f/4.
This image was made way back in 2010 with a Canon 5D Mark II camera. While a great camera for it’s time, it just doesn’t have the high iso capabilities of my current Sony A1 camera.
As a consequence, and due to the fact that I was photographing under fading light, I wasn’t able to employ a higher iso to achieve a faster shutter speed and a physically narrower aperture.
Fortunately, I was so far away from the clouds, sea and mountains that f/4 was all I needed, at a 35 mm focal length, to produce sufficient depth of field and sharpness for such distant subject matter.
I’d encourage you to think about the 10 ways to approach landscape photos I’ve outlined throughout this post. The next step is to identify how you might be able to expand your frame of reference and the way you approach creating your own landscape photos into the future.
I really hope the images showcased in this post, together with the ideas and tips I’ve provided, will help you along your journey as a photographer.
I still begin many of my own photography adventures with a relatively straightforward documentary approach to the landscape. It helps familiarize my hands with my camera and tripod so that I can quieten my mind and, as a consequence, better connect with the task at hand.
Almost immediately I’ve determined the story, concept or theme I want to explore.
Before too long, as I become more involved in the process of making photos, I begin to more deeply explore composition, weather, notions of time and the transforming, transient and transcendental nature of light.
Photography is an incredibly powerful and accessible form of expression. The democratization of photography that’s come since the arrival of the smartphone has dramatically expanded the reach of photography and the ease with which we all make and share photos.
Have do doubt, we live in a golden age for aspiring photographers.
Yet, despite the best intentions, all the information and camera gear in the world won’t advance your photography. What’s needed now is action and I encourage you to get up and get out into the light and the fresh air so you can explore the beauty of our world with your camera.
I wish you well on your own journey through the pursuit of creative landscape photos and I hope you’ll continue to visit my blog, again and again, into the future.
