How to Start in Landscape Photography: A Practical Training Guide
Updated: Jul 16
Check out an elementary roadmap for training the landscape photographer and learn how to master open scenery.
Landscape Photography for Beginners: Framing Techniques
Nikon D850 | Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8
46mm | f/5.0 | 30s | ISO 64 | +2 EV
Explore the features and resources of your phone at every opportunity. The first step is to study and improve on the most important commandment of landscape photography for beginners: framing and composition techniques, which are essential to confer the aesthetic beauty that enhances the image.
The main techniques you must master are:
Rule of Thirds: A simplification of the secular and mystical Golden Ratio — observed in nature since Ancient Greece and reproduced in Art. It divides the composition into nine equal quadrants using two horizontal and two vertical lines. The four intersection points are where you should position the main element of the image, making the look more balanced and attractive.
Leading Lines: Use elements of the scenery to direct the gaze of whoever sees the photo. They can be the vertical lines of buildings, the straight line of the horizon, or converging paths that guide attention to the most important point, enhancing the depth of field.
But above all, train your creative eye, even if it means breaking rules.
Keep in mind that photographing is framing a portion of the whole. Therefore, move around the scenery around the main object looking for the best composition and the best light angle. Whenever possible, use natural frames available on-site, such as tree branches, plants, rivers, mountains, or even buildings.
In addition, explore manual adjustments for light, shadow, contrast, and colors that mobile technology is continuously improving to highlight the details of each scenery.
How to Choose and Use Digital Cameras for Landscapes
Nikon D750 | Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8
42mm | f/11 | 1/200s | ISO 250 | -1 2/3 EV
The next step in your journey is to acquire your first digital camera, whether it is a DSLR or Mirrorless. To start, an entry-level camera with a 24 MP APS-C sensor and the kit lens (usually an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) is more than enough.
To extract the maximum potential from your equipment, focus on these four pillars:
Master the Exposure Triangle: Understand how shutter speed, aperture, and ISO work. Leave automatic mode aside and take creative control using semi-automatic modes (such as aperture or shutter priority) or fully manual mode.
Control Focus Modes: Learn to alternate between manual focus and sophisticated autofocus (AF) systems. Ensure maximum sharpness on your main point of interest or explore creative blur to isolate elements in the scene.
Invest in a Tripo: This accessory is indispensable for stabilizing the camera and starting in long exposure photography. The tripod allows you to photograph landscapes in low-light settings without generating the digital noise caused by high ISOs, in addition to creating the famous "silk effect" on the movement of seas, rivers, and waterfalls.
Shoot in RAW Format: Forget the JPEG format pre-processed by the camera. The RAW file is a raw file that preserves an infinity of details in highlights and shadows. This will give you total freedom to do image editing and post-processing in professional software like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
Advanced Techniques for High-Quality Landscape Photography
Nikon D850 | Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8
28mm | f/6.3 | 20s | ISO 64 | 0 EV
At the right time for you, the desire to upgrade to a professional Full Frame camera will be born. With a larger sensor and more features, it will raise your photos to another level and drastically expand the capture area of landscapes.
To accompany this body, you will need a set of fast lenses with a constant aperture of f/2.8 that cover the focal range from 14mm to 200mm, ideally divided into a "holy trinity":
A wide-angle (14-24mm)
An intermediate distance (24-70mm)
A telephoto zoom (70-200mm)
This set can be expanded in several ways. In my case, I preferred to add a 1.4x teleconverter to increase the telephoto range and a 14mm f/1.8 prime lens, which is indispensable for astrophotography and night photos. It is capable of capturing lights, colors, and shapes that our eyes cannot see!
In this advanced phase, the search for technical improvement has no limits. You will master features such as:
Exposure Compensation (EV): The use of Exposure Value (usually ranging between -2 and +2 stops) serves to adjust photometry in difficult situations. We use negative values to darken the scene and avoid blowing out highlights in bright places (like snow or bright skies), and positive values to brighten predominantly dark scenes.
Multi-exposure and Stacking: You will begin to explore techniques such as Exposure Bracketing (to capture the entire dynamic range of the scene) and Focus Stacking, combining multiple photos in Lightroom or Photoshop to create a perfectly sharp image from edge to edge. The process can be refined with specialized post-processing plugins.
Good journey and have fun. After all, you will have about 15kg of equipment to carry in your backpack!
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