Learn Landscape Photography

Storm clouds still roil, but gaps open and shafts of sunlight streak through the turbulent sky. Below, in the bottom third of this panorama is a vast plain in front with background mountains disappearing into the clouds. On the left side of the image, a white church with a red roof sits at distance, facing right, to the west, as is the custom in Iceland. It's alone, on the otherwise empty plain. — Rif Church, Iceland

The primary purpose of the lessons, handouts and videos on this page is to help our participants prepare for our workshops. However, everyone is welcome to access this landscape photography instruction and learn how to improve.

Fall leaves litter the stream as it cascades over shelves of red sandstone in this deep canyon of the Left Fork of North Creek in Zion National Park, Utah. Above, at the top of the cascades autumn trees frame the spill over point. — Left Fork, Zion

Lessons

Seven PDFs

1. Composition: Lengthy discussion, large file; 168 mb.

2. Camera Settings: Camera settings for landscape photography.

New to our workshops or landscape photography? The next five lessons may be helpful.

View the next three lessons in order.
3. Exposure
4. Manual Metering
5. Histogram

View the next two lessons in order.
6. Depth-of-Field / Hyperfocal
7. Landscape Photography Focus Settings

The sun is setting beneath beautiful clouds and over wavy water in the left side of the image. In the upper right, on a cliff above the water, the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse receives the last few sun rays of the day. Below, waves break on rocks at the foot of the cliff. — Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse

Handouts

Seven PDFs

1. CFDER: Landscape photography field workflow.

2. Andy's Camera Settings

3. Tripod Tips & Techniques

4. Steps to Photograph a Panorama

5. How to Test for Lens Sharpness: Practical guide for everyone, no math.

6. Night Photography Instruction

7. Night Photography Rule of 400: Gives a guideline for shutter speed. NPF Rule often better.

Night photo of Second Beach in Olympic National Park. The Milky Way rises up, at a left angle, into the clear night sky. The bright, galactic core hovers just above the horizon. In the mid-ground, left and right of the core, tree capped islands jut into the night sky. In the foreground, reflecting the Milky Way, is a large pool of calm water with a scattering of rocks. — Olympic National Park

Landscape Photography Videos

Three Videos

1. Learn CFDER: Learn a field workflow for how to take landscape photographs. Six minutes.

2. How to Photograph Panoramas: Learn the steps to photograph fine art panoramas with a tripod. Six minutes.

3. Auto Exposure Bracketing: Do we still need to use AEB to capture high dynamic range images with our cameras?