10 mistakes I made as a Landscape Photographer which you should avoid
When I started my landscape photography journey back in 2013, I had no clue at all what I was doing and how I should improve in this genre, but I totally fell in love with it.
There has not been a single day in my life since then, where it's not about photography or anything related to it.
Whether it's in the field surrounded by beautiful mother nature or in front of my computer editing my images in Adobe Photoshop.
Photography brought me to so many fabulous places where I would not have gone to without it.
The journey of becoming better as a photographer is full of mistakes which you will make at one point, and the essential part is to learn from them.
Some mistakes are quite painful, and others are expensive!
That's the reason why I decided to write this article to share with you guys my biggest mistakes, which I made and still make sometimes so you can avoid them and learn from my experiences.
Let's get started with my ten mistakes now.
I have to say that I made much more than these - Oh boy, yes I did, but that's maybe something for another article in the future. :)
There is no specific order I just wrote them down how they went through my head.
No proper planning
In my early days as a landscape photographer, it was totally normal for me to just go to a place and shoot it for sunrise. It has to be good because it's sunrise, right?
Oh no, that wasn't always the case…
I still remembered what I learned in school that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but I didn't keep in mind that it's moving across the year so you won't always have a sunrise straight in the east, it can also rise in the southeast.
Such a change in angles can have a significant impact on your landscape, especially when you're in the mountains!
I highly recommend reading my article about "how to plan and find photography locations" to find more information regarding this topic.
So just to give you a quick example again. I was in the mountains at a beautiful lake and waited for the sun to cast its fantastic golden light on the peaks in front of me.
It never happened guys, because it rose in the southeast instead of the east and so the angle was wrong to see the wonderful alpenglow.
Proper planning is essential if you don't want to experience what I did in my early days as a photographer!
Buying cheap
I'm going to buy this 10$ polarizer because I need one now. It will be enough for me since I'm only a beginner, why should I spend 50 bucks on that fancy thing which has better coating?
That's what I thought about almost all my gear when I started back in 2013. I bought super cheap lenses, tripods, and ball-heads only to end up replacing them a couple weeks/months later because they weren't any good at all!
Okay, guys, I'm not saying that you have to buy super expensive stuff when starting as a photographer but trust me, it's not a cheap hobby.
You will have to spend a decent amount of money to get good stuff which helps you to get better with your photography.
If you buy super cheap at the beginning only to find out that those plastic tripod legs wobble like crazy in the wind, it will cost you even more money because you had to buy twice or even more times!
Look for stuff that is priced in the medium-high range and do some research about it. Read some unbiased reviews and try to find out if it fits your needs.
That's a lot of work at the beginning and will probably cause some headaches, but it will be worth it in the long run!
I have a written guide about the gear which I use for my landscape photography. You can find it here! Make sure to check it out.
Ignoring waves
When you're shooting seascapes, it's crucial to check the tides and watch out for big waves to save your gear and your own life!
That's something which I didn't spend much attention to in the past.
I'm not an ocean guy at all. I live close to the mountains in Bavaria/Germany, and I had no experience with tides, waves, and so on.
It happened to me a couple of times that a big wave hit me and completely drenched my gear and myself.
You might think that's not too bad since it's only water, but when you're in northern Norway during winter, and the ice-cold arctic ocean hits you, it's not fun at all!
Make sure to check out my "how to plan and find photography locations" article because there I talk about the right tool, which helps you to plan your seascape photography.
I often recommend getting close to the wave action to shoot exciting perspectives, and that's true, but don't do that no matter what!
Stand at a safe place for at least 15 minutes (arrive early enough) and watch what the waves are doing.
There is always one which is bigger than all the others, and that's usually the wave that hits you when you're not prepared.
This, of course, only applies to small wave action at the shore.
Don't go close to cliff edges where giant waves are crashing against it! Don't risk your life for a photograph, never!
Always the same Photoshop adjustments on every single image
Every single image is unique, and so it needs different adjustments! If you apply the same color/contrast adjustment all the time, you will have problems with the tonal values and the look of your shots.
I mentioned it in other articles already and also in my premium photoshop tutorials.
Make sure to check them out to learn more about the "right" adjustments to improve your landscape images!
For instance, a burning sunset needs different adjustments than a moody grey day with dark clouds in the sky.
When you add lots of red to the sky just because you always do it, you will quickly mess up your image!
That's something I did a lot in my early Photoshop days. I only knew two or three steps to work on my images, and I used them on every single one I had on my harddrive.
That's something which you should avoid from the beginning on guys!
It's important to add as many techniques as possible to your toolbox to be prepared for every single situation.
Overthinking
It's totally normal to make mistakes when starting out! I had to learn that as well, but of course, it wasn't easy.
When I looked at all those amazing images on the internet, I was so overwhelmed and afraid that I will never be able to create something like that.
When I was in the field trying to find compositions that looked like the ones I saw on the web, I got frustrated many times. I just couldn't get what others were photographing.
I didn't keep in mind that it was at a totally different location, though. I was thinking about it so much why I'm not able to take images like that.
Don't overthink things and just use what the landscape has to offer!
Just because you saw someone taking a dramatic wide-angle shot of an alpine lake, it doesn't mean that you will be able to do the same just because you're standing at an alpine lake as well.
Don't overthink things and do your thing! Simply photograph what you like and what you think looks good.
Learn from your compositional mistakes and come back to do it better the next time.
Too many locations at once
I still make this "mistake" when I'm traveling even when it almost always proves that I should have done it differently.
It's understandable that someone wants to shoot as much as possible while being in a foreign country.
You spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to get there, and you only have a certain amount of vacation in one year. I understand you guys, and I still make the same mistake as I said.
A good example was my trip to Iceland back in March 2018, where I stayed in a small hotel right between Stokksnes and Jökulsarlon.
It's only a 1.5-hour drive from one to the other location, and so I planned to shoot the Glacier Lagoon during golden hour and drive the way to Stokksnes to be there for sunset.
If you've never been far up in the north, it's important to know that the good light during winter can last for hours, so there was plenty of time for me.
While I was walking around at the diamond beach to find some epic ice chunks, I also thought about making it to Stokksnes in time.
This caused a lot of stress, and the longer it took me to find a good composition on the beach, the more I got nervous about my sunset shooting at Stokksnes.
I ended up leaving the beach even when the light was nice so that I can drive to Stokksnes.
After I arrived at the spot, a layer of clouds showed up on the horizon, and it blocked all the light for sunset.
I ended up with no image even when I visited two locations in one evening.
If I had stayed at the ice beach to find a good composition while the light was still nice, I would have ended up with maybe one portfolio shot instead of zero!
So I'm sure you get the idea, guys. Rather spend more time at one single place to get a good shot instead of getting two mediocre ones from different locations because of time problems.
Doing Photography only while traveling
Personally, I'm at a point in my photography career where I don’t go out to take pictures on every single weekend anymore.
I also have to do the business stuff behind it, and my passion for teaching other photographers needs a lot of time as well.
I also don't want to cancel the contact with my friends and family. It's not easy at all to balance your time since the days only have 24 hours.
Now I only do landscape photography when I'm traveling, and this just happens like 3-4 times a year. It was completely different in the past, though.
That's a huge mistake, and I encourage you not to do that. I'm working on getting better at it as well.
It's essential to explore your own backyard to evolve as a landscape photographer!
Coming back to the same spot to practice compositions over and over again is a big part of getting better!
I’m so lucky that I live close to that lake but I haven’t been there since 2017!
Please check out my article about "how to get better in landscape photography" to read more about the importance of shooting in your backyard.
No cable release
I shoot with a Canon 5d Mark IV, and I absolutely love that camera. I use the live view almost all the time because the touch to focus option is simply perfect!
With a 2 second timer, I don't have to use a cable release to get sharp images.
That's what I thought in the past…
I still use this method when shooting wide-angle compositions as those focal lengths are much more forgiving to small camera shake, but it doesn't apply to telephoto shots at all!
I captured many blurry photos because there was still some tiny little movement after touching the display.
This mostly happened when using longer focal lengths of 250mm +, though.
You could, of course, use a 10sec timer to overcome this effect, but it will feel like ages until it's over, and you might miss a moment, which only lasted for a couple of seconds.
I highly recommend using a cable release when shooting with a telephoto lens to overcome this issue! In that case, a cheap one is enough to do the job.
Putting everything into one frame
I still remember the days when I bought my first wide-angle lens. Man, was I excited to be able to capture everything in one image finally!
I went to my local mountain lake and used the widest focal length possible to have everything in my image.
Back then, I didn't think much about focal points, points of interest, or composition in general.
Everything appeared super small in the frame, and there was no depth at all. Distracting branches were hanging in on the edges, and too much dull sky was in there as well.
Back at my computer, I looked at the images, and I was wondering why they didn't look awesome at all?
I used a wide-angle lens, so they have to be right? Of course, not guys!
Don't make the same mistakes as I did, okay maybe make them but only in your backyard where you can come back to practice again easily.
Your image needs a clear focal point to attract the viewers eye. A natural leading line is helpful as well.
Check out my article "how to use a wide-angle lens" to find more about this topic.
No tripod cleaning
I want to mention one more thing, and that's how important it is to clean your tripod after you were shooting at the coast.
I was always too lazy to do that, but that's something which I did regret fast.
When you're at a fantastic place, and suddenly you can't extend your tripod legs anymore because of too much sand in them.
You will ask yourself how stupid you've been. I did that many times!
So clean your tripod after you've been on the coast. Sand and saltwater are nothing good for your expensive gear!
Alright guys, so that's it with the ten mistakes I made and sometimes still make in my photography career.
As I mentioned in the intro, it's essential to make some of them to evolve as a photographer, but it's also okay if you can avoid them at least a little bit.
So what are your mistakes which you made or maybe still make? Is there something you regret the most?
Feel free to let me know down in the comments!
Cheers,
Daniel