5 Rookie Mistakes Made by Landscape Photographers

[Jeffbridge]

If you are interested in landscape photography I’m sure you have read lots of “how to improve…” type articles, which are all useful in their own way. But often to get things right you need to analyse what you are doing wrong. With this in mind here are 5 common mistakes that can spoil a landscape.

http://www.photographytalk.com/4343-...-photographers

[Shadowman]

How about cleaning up the scene before you take the shot. So often I just take the shot and find out later that someone left litter at the scene. If only I had scanned the scene prior I could have picked up that potato chip bag..

[John Morton]

How about cleaning up the scene before you take the shot. So often I just take the shot and find out later that someone left litter at the scene. If only I had scanned the scene prior I could have picked up that potato chip bag..

Absolutely. Not just human litter; doesn't hurt to take a moment and move distracting, dead twigs and branches lying on the ground, either.

Not the ones that are half buried in leaf litter, though: the scene will look disturbed and unnatural afterward.

Number one on my list of no-so-rookie mistakes: paying so much attention to the scene in front of you that you miss that twig or leaf sticking up in front of the camera; you know, the one that appears in your photograph as a huge blur that you don't notice until you've downloaded your images to a computer...

[jcuknz]

I am glad at the start of my carear I was told by the head tutor that landscape photography was the hardest form and would not be discussed or taught.... which meant that except when feeling a great urge to record something I thought wonderful I have resisted the urge to shoot landscapes and the more I see of them the less inclined I am to spend time on them.

The opening para of the linked article puts it rather well though I have found there is a huge mass of subject material that doesn't move or needs to be talked to as it talks to me without speech.

[Manfred M]

I have a love / hate view of many photography websites because they seem to excel at spewing such drivel at the unsuspecting public. Unfortunately, because it is posted on the internet it must be true? As others have pointed out, landscape photography is such a broad genre, pretty well anything goes.

Having an empty foreground – thankfully Ansel Adams and others (including the landscape photographers posting here on CiC) have ignored this suggestion in creating some absolutely magnificent images.

Neglecting composition – this is the only “rule” given in this posting that I can wholeheartedly agree with, but then, this one applies to ALL photography, not just landscape work. In fact, composition is really what the artistic side of photography is all about. It’s every bit as important as the technical execution of the shot (I guess the author missed that one).

Shooting in dull light – really, those landscapes done with the fog rolling in or the rain falling absolute don’t work, right? Sorry, I’ll have to shoot at high noon on a sunny day….

Lack of detail – I guess there’s no room for shallow DoF in landscape work. No beautiful bokeh effects allowed; keep that background absolutely 100% sharp. Sure, right…

Weird horizons – while I have some sympathy for this comment, it also implies that Dutch tilting should never be used in landscape work. Yes, weird horizons done by photographers that don’t know when and how to tilt the camera, yes, this is true, On the other hand I’ve seen some great landscape with tilted fences that worked out beautifully.

[wmoore]

Personally I think it's a badly written article. Why do you always need something in the foreground, does a branch or a tree add to the photo or does it get in the way. Only put something in the foreground if it's going to lead your eye into the photo. Roads and rivers are good examples.
Remember to shoot in the golden hours of light. Not 1pm when the sun is at it's highest.
(In fact the article is badly worded about light. Is the person saying they should get up at 5am or not)

My final bit of advice.

Know the rules, then break them.

[Shadowman]

I have a love / hate view of many photography websites because they seem to excel at spewing such drivel at the unsuspecting public. Unfortunately, because it is posted on the internet it must be true? As others have pointed out, landscape photography is such a broad genre, pretty well anything goes.

Having an empty foreground – thankfully Ansel Adams and others (including the landscape photographers posting here on CiC) have ignored this suggestion in creating some absolutely magnificent images.

Neglecting composition – this is the only “rule” given in this posting that I can wholeheartedly agree with, but then, this one applies to ALL photography, not just landscape work. In fact, composition is really what the artistic side of photography is all about. It’s every bit as important as the technical execution of the shot (I guess the author missed that one).

Shooting in dull light – really, those landscapes done with the fog rolling in or the rain falling absolute don’t work, right? Sorry, I’ll have to shoot at high noon on a sunny day….

Lack of detail – I guess there’s no room for shallow DoF in landscape work. No beautiful bokeh effects allowed; keep that background absolutely 100% sharp. Sure, right…

Weird horizons – while I have some sympathy for this comment, it also implies that Dutch tilting should never be used in landscape work. Yes, weird horizons done by photographers that don’t know when and how to tilt the camera, yes, this is true, On the other hand I’ve seen some great landscape with tilted fences that worked out beautifully.

I guess if you are starting a blog, you want to include controversial statements otherwise you don't get any traffic. Of course, if you include only statements that are criticized by your viewers, your followers will remain very small.