HOW TO SHOOT CLASSIC LANDSCAPES

Arm yourself with the skills and techniques you need to become a master of shooting the great outdoors

- Jon Adams and Andrew James

The landscape provides a rich, varied and everchanging subject for the keen photographer. A typical approach to capturing the natural beauty of the great outdoors is to frame up with a wide-angle lens – anything from 16mm to 35mm is generally regarded as the focal length zone for shooting classic landscapes. But while a wide-angle lens means you fit more of a scene into your frame, this often causes extra compositional headaches that need to be overcome.

Over the next 12 pages, we’ll delve deep into the best approaches for shooting stunning landscapes. We’ll show how bringing together the art of designing your image, shooting at the optimum time, and using tried-and trusted techniques to make sure your scenics technically hit the mark will ensure you’re never disappointed with your efforts. And we’ll touch on the other essential part of modern digital photography – polishing up those raw files to give every landscape photo you take maximum quality and visual impact.

While landscapes can be taken all year round, as autumn turns to winter, the shapes, structures and textures of the countryside become even more apparent. With the daylight hours shortening, too, sunrise and sunset also happen at a more civilised hour; so if you’re feeling inspired, grab your kit bag, put on your walking boots and waterproofs, and head for the hills.

1 Building blocks

The basics of classic scenics

Now you know what a classic landscape is, discover how to ‘work’ the scene and successfully combine the elements