Tips to improve your landscape photos

Use a polarizing filter

The polarizing filter is an essential item that should never be missing in a landscape photographer's camera bag. Its main quality is to provide a better contrast between the blue of the sky and the white of the clouds, which thus hold the spotlight. The polarizing filter also enhances color saturation, in addition to contrast. Especially on green and blue tones. So try to use it consistently, whenever you want to take impressive landscape photos.

But the usefulness of this filter does not end there. It also helps prevent the formation of reflections. This is especially useful for eliminating these reflections on reflective surfaces that are stagnant water, for the benefit of clear images of what hide and shelter in their bottoms lakes and ponds.

Include water in your frames

Waterfalls, rivers, lakes and coastlines are four elements that greatly benefit landscape photos. As far as possible, ensure that the liquid element is present on your compositions. The lakes, surrounded by forests and mountains, give very attractive reflections which can give very good results if you compose the image using symmetry.

Use a low ISO value

Your landscape photos can very well end up displayed on your living room wall or in a showroom. This supposes extensions which will require greater technical care. To do this, try to always use the lowest ISO value allowed by your camera. This will prevent noise from appearing , and you will also increase the image quality.

Use long exposure times

When photographing waterfalls and rivers, place your camera on a tripod and choose a low shutter speed (one or two seconds). You will thus be able to freeze the movement of water , for a very advantageous effect on your landscapes. Ditto for the coast, where the waves crash against the rocks or stretch out on the beach, for a very suggestive silky effect. Water is always suitable for this technique because even if it is a pond, a prolonged exposure time eliminates the waves formed by the wind, for the benefit of a slightly ethereal appearance.

You can also opt for a low shutter speed to freeze the movement of clouds. You will get a more noticeable effect if these move perpendicular to your device.

Take your tripod

Using a very low ISO value and a sufficiently closed diaphragm will often require you to use rather slow shutter speeds. To avoid a blurry photo, you will need to use a tripod. Keep in mind that pressing the shutter button may produce some image shake. So it is better to use a trigger cable as well.

Carry filters in your backpack

Sometimes the light is so intense that even using the lowest ISO allowed by the camera and with the diaphragm closed, it is not possible to select an exposure time long enough to achieve the effects described above. . You can solve this dilemma by installing an ND filter on your lens, which will remove several stops of light from the scene.

A set of gradient filters will also allow you to resolve the contrast between the brightness of the sky and the foreground of the landscape. This way you will get the right exposure in all areas of the scene.

Enjoy the sunrise and sunset light

Sunrise and sunset tint the horizon with magical, almost dreamlike colors, which can transform a discreet landscape into a work of art. Forget laziness and get up at dawn. Or take your camera outside at sunset to capture that light in your camera's sensor. Before that, check whether your location is suitable for sunrise or sunset. To do this, it is better to locate the place beforehand, equipped with a compass.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Try to frame directly the cardinal point that corresponds to the time and the chosen landscapes. The most beautiful photos are taken when the sun is already no longer in the frame - five or ten minutes before or after its appearance or its complete disappearance. To compensate for the strong contrast in the scene at this time, you must be able to rely on one or two gradient filters. If you plan to include the sun in the frame, then use an inverted gradient filter.

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