What makes a great Landscape Photograph?
In this article, I want to share with you guys some information about why I think my sample images work and why I like them. There is a specific “rule” I want to apply to all of my photos before creating them. I always look for composition, light, and contrast. It sounds quite simple, but the tough part is to find it in every single scene which you want to photograph.
I’m going to show you three sample images. I will explain what I like about them and will let you know my thoughts about my general rule of thumb.
A spring morning in the Italian Dolomites
I’m sure you guys are already familiar with this location. It’s the wonderful Alpe di Siusi in the Italian Dolomites. It was a calm spring morning back in 2019. As I mentioned in the intro I try to find three key elements before taking a photograph.
Composition
This is a popular spot and the composition is nothing groundbreaking but I absolutely love the small huts in the alpine landscape. They are a wonderful contrast to the lush green grass and the dramatic mountains. They kinda lead your eye like an s-curve towards the background and that’s what I love about this image. The trees are a natural framing so your eyes don’t walk out of the frame. It helps the viewer to concentrate on the middle part of the picture.
Contrast
As I already mentioned I love the contrast in this shot. Contrast can be many things. It’s not just the difference between light and dark tones. It can also be the difference between cold and warm colors, soft and hard textures, or unusual subjects in a landscape, like those huts. For me, it’s a mixture of everything in this shot. I like the warm and cool color tones the most but I also tried to keep the shadows dark and the highlights bright. If you balance the tones too much in post-processing then the image loses its charm in my opinion.
Light
The sun made all the difference in this scene. I was waiting for almost two hours at the same spot until the light finally managed to shine through the clouds. The golden sun rays cast a wonderful 3d-effect to the hills in the valley. The light also added a bonus to the composition because of the little hill in the foreground. The golden spot is a perfect balance to the hut on the right side of the frame.
A Frozen night in Iceland
The second photo is one of my favorite ones in my entire portfolio. Everything works perfectly here. I shot it in the west of Iceland back in March 2018 during a cold winter evening with some beautiful aurora borealis dancing in the sky. There wasn’t much snow during my trip, but this can also be an advantage sometimes. All the beautiful ice structures were still visible without the white winter blanket. I love ice as a foreground element because it offers so many fantastic compositional opportunities in your frame. Whether it's a frozen creek, waterfall, or a lake, it always looks interesting and absolutely unique. So let's talk about my little photography rule of thumb again.
Composition
I think it quite obvious what I was looking for in this shot. I scrambled across the rocks in the frozen creek, trying not to break my neck and without destroying the beautiful ice patterns. After some minutes, I found those little rocks without ice on them, and I immediately fell in love with the composition. The "rocks" were quite small, so I had to get close with my lens to make them prominent in the frame. To get enough depth of field, I had to focus on the foreground, middle ground, and background separately. I focus stacked on the different images later on in Adobe Photoshop. I especially love the pointy look of the ice in the immediate foreground and also the reflection of the aurora in the water.
Another critical thought was to balance the top part of the frame. Since the waterfall ran down right next to a little mountain, it was necessary for me to balance out the left side. If I would have included to much sky, then the composition would be unbalanced with too much blank space on the top left and too much mountain on the top right. I like how the aurora is framed above the waterfall and how the foreground has almost the same shape as the sky part.
Contrast
As I mentioned in the description of the first image, contrast can be a lot of things. In this case, I loved the look of the rocks in the foreground compared to the blue ice around it. It created some fantastic points of interest. The color contrast between blue and green is very prominent as well. I like to edit my aurora images a little bit brighter so the viewer can see the landscape which I was facing in the field.
Light
I don't have to talk much about the light here, I guess. The aurora is the main point of interest in this regard. The reflection in the foreground is the second key element in the photograph. Without the greens, in the front, the shot would be less impressive in my eyes. Always try to search for light reflections somewhere in your images, whether it's on the surface of the water, on wet rocks, or on beautiful ice patterns. That’s the difference between a normal and a good image.
Full moon in northern Norway
The last shot was taken on the Lofoten islands in northern Norway. I drove by this beautiful little scene next to the road in Reine at the almost very south end of the archipelago. We were there in October 2019, and we got some nice weather during our trip. This photo is one of the favorites of my entire Lofoten portfolio. I love the mood and the magnificent red houses which are all around the islands. Norway is well known for them. So let's talk about my three key elements again.
Composition
This scene is all about the remarkable reflection in the calm fjord and the moon between the three huts. I was fortunate that it perfectly aligned when I came across this composition. I had to stop the car immediately, get my tripod and camera ready so I don't lose the moon behind a bank of clouds. What did I learn from this picture? Always pay attention to your surroundings, whether you're driving or hiking. It can always happen that something suddenly surprises you.
Contrast
It's about the contrast in this shot. The dark blue, together with the bright red of the huts, is just awesome to look at. I tried to increase the contrast in Photoshop by darkening the blues even more so the reds stand out. I love to shoot during blue hour because the light is still bright enough to use quite average shutter speeds, but at the same time, you get this mysterious night feeling.
Light
Talking about a mysterious feeling, the light is the main point of interest in this photograph. The blue hour helps the artificial light to create this magical yet cozy feeling. Luckily the moon was in the right position to enhance the mood even more. If you struggle to find beautiful light during the day or at sunset, sunrise, wait for the blue hour. You will be amazed by how much the landscape changes and how many possibilities you get even with a blank sky without any clouds.
That’s it, guys! Thanks a lot for reading my first ever blog post in 2020. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you don’t want to miss any future posts, sign up for my newsletter and get a free tutorial. I’m going to publish many more articles in the future.
So what about you? What are your key elements in your own landscape photography? Let me know in the comments down below. And if you have any questions, I’m always there to help.
Best wishes
Daniel Gastager