What makes landscape photography easy to start
Landscapes are patient subjects. Mountains, coastlines and fields do not move quickly, so you have time to think about settings and composition. You can also begin with almost any camera, including a phone. Most beginner problems come from a handful of repeatable habits, not from missing equipment.
This guide gives you a short set of starting points. Treat the numbers as defaults to adjust, not rules.
A simple set of starting settings
A common approach is to use a small, consistent setup and change one thing at a time:
- Mode: Aperture priority (A or Av) is a comfortable start. Manual mode is also fine once you are used to it.
- Aperture: Many photographers begin around f/8 to f/11, which tends to give good depth of field and good sharpness on many lenses. Very small apertures such as f/22 can soften detail through diffraction.
- ISO: Keep it at your camera’s base value (often ISO 100 or 200) when the camera is steady.
- Shutter speed: The camera picks it in aperture priority. If it gets slow, use a tripod or raise ISO.
- File format: RAW gives more room to recover highlights and shadows later.
- White balance: Auto is usually acceptable, and RAW lets you change it afterwards.
Use a tripod when light is low
At base ISO and f/8 or smaller, shutter speeds in dim light can become long enough to blur handheld shots. A tripod lets you keep ISO low and aperture where you want it. Using a two-second timer or a remote release avoids shaking the camera when you press the shutter.
Handheld is perfectly fine in bright daylight. A rough guide is that your shutter speed should be at least the reciprocal of your focal length, for example around 1/50 s or faster at 50mm, though stabilization and your own steadiness change that.
Get the focus right
For a scene stretching into the distance, focus roughly one third of the way into the frame, or on a point in the middle distance, and use a moderately small aperture. If you have a strong foreground very close to the lens, take extra care: a nearby rock and a distant mountain may not both be sharp at f/8, and some photographers combine several frames focused at different distances.
Use single-point autofocus or magnified live view to confirm focus rather than trusting the whole frame to be right.
Choose a lens that suits the scene
A wide-angle zoom is the classic choice because it shows more of the scene and exaggerates foreground. A standard zoom is more versatile than people expect, and a short telephoto can isolate distant layers. Our guide to what lens to use for landscape photography compares these options in more detail.
Compose with a few simple ideas
You do not need complicated theory. These habits improve many beginner images:
- Find a subject. Decide what the picture is about, whether that is a peak, a tree or a stream.
- Add a foreground. Rocks, flowers or a path give depth and lead the eye in.
- Place the horizon deliberately. Put it in the upper third if the ground is interesting, the lower third if the sky is, and avoid cutting the frame in half unless you are using a reflection.
- Keep the horizon level. Use the in-camera grid or electronic level.
- Remove clutter. Take a step left or right and check the edges of the frame.
- Use leading lines. Roads, fences, rivers and shorelines guide attention.
Pay attention to light
Light matters more than most settings. Early morning and late afternoon often give lower, warmer, more directional light than midday, and the time around sunrise and sunset can add colour to the sky. Harsh midday sun is usually harder to work with, though overcast skies suit forests and waterfalls because they soften contrast.
Check the weather and sunrise or sunset times in advance, and arrive early. Conditions sometimes improve just after rain or as clouds break.
Handle bright skies and dark ground
Skies are often much brighter than the land. Options include:
- Slightly underexposing to keep sky detail, then lifting shadows from a RAW file.
- Using a graduated neutral density filter, or blending several exposures (bracketing) later.
- Waiting for a time of day when the contrast is lower.
A polarizing filter can deepen blue skies and reduce glare on water and leaves, with the strongest effect when the sun is roughly at right angles to your direction of view.
Go wider than a single frame
If a scene feels too big for one image, you can stitch several overlapping frames. See our guide to panorama photography for how to shoot and plan one. Special locations can also demand specific preparation, as in our article on camera settings for Antelope Canyon.
Turning a landscape picture into portrait orientation
You cannot add real scene content that was not captured. The usual options are to shoot a vertical frame in the first place, crop a horizontal image to a vertical shape (losing width), or stitch vertical frames into a taller or wider composition. Some editing software can extend edges with generated fill, but results vary and are best checked closely.
Can you make a living from landscape photography?
It is possible but usually difficult. Income often comes from a mix of print sales, licensing, workshops, tours, writing and teaching, and it generally takes years to build an audience. Most people start by treating it as a hobby and adding income streams gradually.
Common beginner mistakes
- Shooting everything at the widest aperture and finding the background soft.
- Tilted horizons.
- Leaving the camera on a high ISO from the previous outing.
- Skipping the foreground.
- Shooting only at midday.
- Not checking focus and the histogram on the rear screen.
A short checklist before you go
- Charge batteries and clear memory cards.
- Check the weather and light times.
- Pack a tripod, a microfiber cloth and, if you have them, a polarizer.
- Set base ISO, RAW and aperture around f/8 to f/11.
- Arrive early and walk the location before settling on a composition.
Improvement comes from repetition. Review your images, notice what worked, and change one variable at a time on your next outing.