As clever as modern cameras are they do not know what it is that you are pointing it at or how you want to show the scene. By switching to manual you set both the aperture and the shutter speed and it is the cameras light meter that you will use to base your decisions around.

I was having a thought to myself the other day about the types of lenses, or more specifically, the focal length of lenses that every Landscape photographer would think about having in their bag. So I’m going to briefly run through the things you might want to consider when packing your gear for a particular location. Also, this is not going to be about zooms vs primes, merely focal lengths and their effect on a scene.

We all love to go out and get those pin sharp, beautifully lit shots of our countrysides and cities, but for today’s post we are going to ignore all of what we have learned about how to make great landscape photographs and look at another way of shooting…Impressionistic photography.

Landscape photography in colour is a truly beautiful thing, the pink and purple hues of dawn, a red sunset or a blue sky above a golden sandy beach, colour can really make an image pop. However, sometimes colour can become a bit of a distraction or perhaps it may be that there isn’t enough colour in the scene to make it exciting for the viewer. In this article we’re going to talk about presenting your images in monochrome.

What with one thing and another I’ve not had as much time over recent weeks to get out with the camera, but on this particular December weekend I have an empty slot on a Sunday morning.

Get out of bed early! It’s one of the best bits of advise any landscape photographer can be given.

It doesn’t seem like that long since I did my autumn post but here we are getting into December and the winter months. For a lot of people winter means cold and wet and staying at home all snug and cosy with the fire roaring. Ignore your desire for comfort because if you do you’ll be missing a wealth of opportunity that awaits in the great outdoors.

Landscape photography is about seeing things within the landscape, looking for objects, patterns and colour that you could pick out and show off. Sometimes this can referred to as ‘Macro landscapes’, but it doesn’t necessarily mean taking shot with a macro lens.

This week we are going to look at another two options to help balance the scene that use the same basic idea of taking multiple exposures with the intention of blending them together at the post processing stage.

As a landscape photographer one of the big difficulties you’ll face will be trying to achieve a balance between the land and the sky. To overcome this there are a few ways in which we can tackle this problem and the one we are going to look at today is by the use of filtration.

The way you set your white balance depends very much on the situation you are in and the artistic interpretation you may wish to present.

If I’ve timed this right then Autumn/Fall should be upon us, at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere. If summertime didn’t quite grab you enough to get you out of bed at ridiculous times of the day then autumn sure will.

When out in the field and faced with a fabulous scene in front of you, there are three choices to consider when it comes to where you should place your horizon; Top, middle, bottom. Positioning the horizon in one of these three places will dramatically effect the perspective of the picture and will help to give your photographs a more dynamic edge.

When it comes to landscape photography it may seem perfectly logical that you should keep your camera in a horizontal/landscape position, usually we are confronted by sweeping vistas and sometimes even the widest of lenses just doesn’t seem to be enough to fit it all in. However, turning your camera to a vertical/portrait position can be equally rewarding and in fact may help to improve your pictures in certain situations.

So you’ve seen all these amazing landscape shots from various photographers and you think to yourself, ‘I’d like to do that, but what do I need to get started?’. So what I’m going to do is compile a short list of things that you might want to consider getting hold of at some point or another, though there is no need to go out and get it all at once.

What is it that makes great Landscape pictures? Good camera craft, an understanding of composition? Both of these are incredibly important but they’re not the only thing. Great landscape photos come from a love and dedication to get out there and enjoy your surroundings and to see the wonderful low light bring definition and shape to the landscape; which means getting out of bed early.

I hope to cover a wide range of things, some of it a bit more tech based such as learning about your camera and different ways to process your images, but also how to look at things when you’re out in the field. To me, landscape or scenic photography isn’t just about slapping on the widest lens you have, it’s also about learning to see things within the landscape (sometimes referred to as macro landscapes), and looking at how light shapes the world and its ability to create different moods and atmosphere. There’s nothing quite like those early autumn and winter mornings with a splash of golden sunlight raking over the land.