As camera technology converges ever closer to the complexity of the human eye, LESTER V. LEDESMA explains how best to capture the world all around us

To get a good sense of depth in this Kashmiri countryside shot, I used a wide-angle lens to include foreground rocks and background mountains. Note the lines formed by the riverbanks and the mountainsides leading to the snow-capped peaks in the far distance.

LANDSCAPES ARE A TRUE feast for the eyes, their stunning colours and vistas revealing the beauty of the natural world. It isn’t surprising that people have been trying to capture said beauty on camera ever since photography was invented. At its best, landscape photography is a profound and often humbling view of this living earth we inhabit. Here’s how to take images worthy of that great, grand view.

Tip 1: Go for golden hours

The number one rule in taking good photographs is to be there when it happens. For landscapes this means waiting for the best light, or the so-called golden hours, when sunlight is at its most colourful and when shadows are at their most dramatic. It happens twice daily, from dawn to around 9am, and from 4pm to dusk. Come midday, when the sun is too high and contrast is too harsh, take the opportunity to head indoors and get some rest. Late afternoon, head out once again to those scenic spots to shoot until daylight fades. These are odd working hours, but they’re perfect for this kind of photography.

Tip 2: Find a focal point

Beautiful as that sweeping landscape might seem to the naked eye, it could very well end up as a confusing mass of colours and shapes in the camera frame. That’s because even the prettiest scenes need a touch of composition to arrange their elements into a visually pleasing order. The simplest way to do this is to find a lone focal point in your frame and compose the rest of the picture around it. This can be anything from a colourful rock, to some intriguingly shaped leaves, or even a striking silhouette – the more interesting it is, the better. You can also try placing it off-centre in your frame to maximise the focal point’s effect.

Tip 3: Look for leading lines

Stand by a river and you won’t fail to notice the “lines” that lead all the way to the end of the scene. These lines can be real or imagined, and are formed by anything, from the riverbanks to repeating patterns formed by rocks, trees, or even rows of mountaintops disappearing into the horizon. In photographer-speak, these are called “leading lines”, which can be an effective visual device to pave the way for truly postcard-pretty landscapes. Think of them as “roads” for your eye to follow, to stop them wandering aimlessly around the frame. To do this effectively, try to compose in such a way that the lines all flow in one general direction, with your subjects placed along these lines.

Tip 4: Introduce depth

No matter how beautiful a photograph may be, it can only show a scene in two physical dimensions: length and width.

To introduce depth – or at least a sense of depth – you’ll have to create an illusion by manipulating your foreground and background elements. An easy way to do this is to use a wide-angle lens to juxtapose a dominant object close to you with an equally dominant background setting. The resulting perspective can make a scene virtually ‘pop’ out. You can also create this trick with a longer lens – in the 50-80mm range – to get a different kind of landscape shot.

with your equipment. For DSLR users, this often means shooting at apertures of f8 and smaller, which gives greater depth-of-field and thus better foreground and background sharpness. Because natural light tends to become dim during the golden hours (see Tip 1), a tripod will help keep your camera steady during slow exposures.

As a bonus, you can use long shutter speeds to produce creative blur effects with water and foliage.

Tip 5: Maximise sharpness

To capture all those wonderful landscape details clearly you’ll need to get as much sharpness as you can with your equipment. For DSLR users, this often means shooting at apertures of f8 and smaller, which gives greater depth-of-field and thus better foreground and background sharpness. Because natural light tends to become dim during the golden hours , a tripod will help keep your camera steady during slow exposures.

As a bonus, you can use long shutter speeds to produce creative blur effects with water and foliage.