Nature Photography, or Natural Landscape photography, can be a challenge for an inexperienced photographer. This is due to the fact that when shooting natural landscapes you do not have control over your lighting, subject, or any other aspect aside from your location and camera settings. Because of this many people who try to take part in this form of photography produce mediocre results at best. While it is admittedly a difficult task, there are plenty of tricks of the trade to produce professional natural landscape photographs.
Take your time....
I do not think it is possible to emphasize how important this trait is, and how many photographers fail in it. Natural landscape photography is not a quick shoot, and should not be treated with the same standards as model photography. Most likely you are shooting a landscape that has been there for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, if you run out of time or light, you can rest assured that the same landscape will be there tomorrow, and if it’s not then relish in the fact you will be the first to shoot the new landscape. Give yourself adequate time to set up each shot, carefully position your camera to capture exactly what you want. If your lighting changes then come back the next day at the same time and try again, mountains are not to picky about rescheduling.
Change your settings...
I do not mean to simply use this setting in this instance and this in that instance, rather play around with your settings more than you usually would. If you remember what trait your aperture has on the images you capture, then you should remember that a lower aperture will create sharper images with greater depth. When shooting natural landscapes this is important because you want to shoot on the highest aperture possible to capture the most detail. To compensate for this you should set your shutter speed pretty low. These two adjustments coupled with a low ISO and tripod, will allow you to capture high detail natural image.
Another advantage of these setting is that you will keep any motion in the image. This is how waterfalls, rivers, and other moving objects retain there beauty in most nature landscape photos. Also, as I mentioned in a previous article, it will allow you to capture late night landscapes and scenarios such as lightning and stars.
Changing the angle and vantage point....
This is probably the one of the most prominent tricks to capturing amazing natural landscapes. Take into account that the average person stands between 5’5″ and 5’10″, if you are shooting a landscape from within this range no matter what tilt or angle you shoot at you are going to create a mundane image. Crouching down low can help, but if you really want to create an amazing shot, you will need to shoot at an extreme angle.
Trying shooting upwards from ground level focusing on a mid point between the back- and foreground. This will create a sprawling effect, that emulates a vast distance between the camera and the background. If you can manage to shoot at a 45 degree angle downwards and capture not only the subject you want but a fair portion of the surrounding area you can create an amazing image that emphasizes the feeling of grandeur that natural landscape photography encapsulates. If you are unable to use either of these method then try shooting at an interesting angle but focus on composing the image well.
Image Composition,,,
This is where the amateurs are separated from the professionals. Composing a good natural landscape image is not as easy as many believe, in fact the difference between an amazing natural landscape photo and a plain tourist style image can be as little as a few inches. To truly compose an amazing image you will need to apply all of the previous tips and your own artistic styling to the subject you want to capture.
Make sure that you have surveyed the entire area, planning out exactly what and how you want to capture your intended subject. This include deciding what should or shouldn’t be in the image and where subjects in the image should be. For example if you are shooting a field with a mountain in the background, and there is an old fence that runs through the field. Try a few different methods with this. You can shoot the field from ground level ignoring the fence and capturing the mountain in the background just off to the left or right, or you could shoot down the fence creating a leading line through the field to the mountain. This is where there is no right or wrong answer only experiment and talent.
post was coppied from http://thedreamwithinpictures.com/blog/landscape-photography-guide-how-to-shoot-nature-photography
