5 Common Mistakes in Landscape Photography (and how to avoid them)

Just discovered your channel and your photography tips, and gear reviews etc, and the videos content is a goldmine! You mentioned you started photography about 12yrs ago. Is there a video where you talk about the beginnings of of your journey into photography? There probably is one. I will watch more of your videos and search for one. Thank you for the content.

You are great! Thank you very much for your reviews and advice!

Great tips Andy. Thanks!

Really great video and I agree the examples makes the video so much more valuable. Chances joining you on a trip in 2024 are very high, just need to find the exit door from working life.

One of the most useful videos I've seen on this subject - thank you

An absolute master class. Thank you.

😢 when you realize his losers are 10x better than your keepers

You are the best landscape photographer I have come across so far,

Very good tips on landscapes, thanks for backing up with examples, made it clear. Am now going to try these on next outing to the coast. 👏

Great

Thanks Andy, your tips are always so meaningful and relevant, as well as thought provoking. The examples and labelling are superb too. Thanks again.

Great video, Andy. Something I find helpful for ETTR photography is adjusting the JPEG settings if your camera has them. That way, the histogram is closer to the RAW range. For Fujifilm, I use Eterna, Highlights -2, Live View Highlight Alert: On. You'll still have some recovery range in the RAW just after the highlight warnings show up! And DR 200/400 if shooting above base ISO (tells the camera to use base ISO for the highlights for maximum range - and DOES affect the RAW file).

Interesting and helpful video Andy. I was particularly interested in your suggestion to 'expose to the right' on the histogram. Someone advised me to generally shoot 0.5-0.75 stops to the left. His argument was that correcting such images would enhance the colours/saturation. In practice I have found that if you happen to go 1+ stops to the left you inevitably introduce noise, particularly colour noise that can be impossible to effectively remove. My response has been to generally aim for the target exposure (ie. no offset).

Thank you!

Another helpful video. The need to take time evaluating a scene and moving around for different perspectives is well made.

Nice video. I love wide angles but it's difficult to use them to create compelling compositions. My widest lens is 12mm (APS-C format) and it's sometimes a challenge.

Very useful. Thank you.

Great video and really interesting. When you said to expose to the right, you meant instead to look at the image in the LCD, rather look at the histogram and make sure the information is on the rightmost, without clipping it, correct?

ETTR for Fujifilm cameras is not the best joice. They cameras are not know to best highlight recovery, but shadows are

I just went out this weekend and had come to my own conclusion to try and expose more to the right. Although I keep wanting to dial it back so it looks good to me in the screen. It's still hard to fight that and expose more to the right. Thanks for the confirmation that I should be exposing more to the right and that will clean up the images more on the computer.

Thanks again Andy for another amazing video

I consider you one of the best landscape photographers and I admire your pictures. Thank you for the interesting video.

Lots I recognise from my own 'learning from my mistakes', especially the 'take time to look around' before setting up the tripod. One thing I have tried to get better at is knowing my own gear. Going out to shoot a variety of images with the same lens and taking note of sweet spots, depth of field etc at different zoom lengths and apertures. If you have any tips on doing that in a more systematic way, I would find it useful and I am sure others will too. Thanks for sharing Andy.

Really nice video, I can find myself doing some of those mistakes. The whole ETTR thing kinds bugs me tho. With an iso invariant sensor knowing your base iso values isnt exposing to the right an already outdated technique? Example: Underexposing an image by 1 stop on a dark day (dark day = using the 2nd base iso value like 640 on my s5). I can pull up the image by 1 stop digital in lightroom without loosing quality right? Maybe i am wrong here, if so im glad to learn something 👍

Can you do one wideo about XT30 everything about settings best for landscape photography btw i love your picture and your content !

What a great video that puts a lot of errors in perspective. Thanks!

Excellent video, Andy! As always, I learned a ton. Definitely going to practice these five major tips when I go out! Thank you.

👏👏👏👏🙂

Thank you Andy for yet again another incredible video filled with very valuable information!

its quite funny when we already know the mistake but keep repeating the same 🤣🤣🤣 and yes when we go home failed photos are the most.. thank you for the tips and info, subscribed right away.. looking forward for more videos from you.. keep it up!

Great video. Discussed very important points with clear examples. On the other side, sometimes looking at nature make us lost in the moment and we forget technical approach that's why exploring is important (as mentioned in video).

Good tips and presentation. Cheers, Andy👌

Looking at these pictures, which are REALLY great, and still be able to find ways to improve on your work. I really respect a mindset like that!

Excellent excellent advice!

Hello, I have a question with what program to process photos because I noticed the lack of worms on the photos of the gallery ;D

for Sony shooters, you can turn DRO auto off and it will better reflect the raw on the LCD

As always, such a helpful video. Thanks. I look forward to hearing and seeing your images from your latest trip to Namibia

It was really useful, thank you

Will start implementing those great tips! Thanks a lot

Thanks so much, Andy. Such a good video. I would greatly appreciate more tips on telephoto landscape photography. it’s so hard to not get flat, depthless images. Thanks for the tips on using contrast and color to add depth. Any other tips would be amazing. Thanks again!

Totally agree with setting up the tripod too soon. I'm guilty of doing that all the time. It's like lead weight as soon as it's set up lol

Thanks again for another educational video - I often wonder how many mistakes I make when composing shots. As I dont specialize in any one genre I guess I probably make more mistakes than a seasoned pro. In any event I really enjoy your videos.

Nice video Andy as always, see you on IG my friend 🙌

In your first picture, the only point I can agree with is the dark side, and it could be improved a lot in the post. Regarding the river leading out of the frame, I think it works perfectly. Rules in my opinion are nothing more than a set of tools, just like the camera or tripod we use, never be enslaved by the rollers, I always tell myself. But breaking or bending the rules unknowingly can be just as harmful as following them blindly.
In your second image from Lofoten, the large white snow-covered areas in the foreground actually help enormously to balance the picture, it would have been too crowded picture without the calm foreground which also leads the eye nicely into the landscape. harmoniously beautiful picture, in my opinion.
I completely agree with you on the choice of lenses, it of course depends entirely on the narrative and what story you want to tell. In your example for the use of wide angle, when I see myself in that landscape, the feeling of how insignificant I am compared to that immense beauty I find myself in is overwhelming. The massiveness and the size of the mountain does not disappear even though the wide angle has seen it far away and made it small, but it would of course be completely wrong to use a wide angle if the goal was to emphasize the mountain's greatness. So, in my humble opinion, what determines the right or wrong choice of lens is the story one has in mind.
I love your works! Thank you for that!
cheers

Thanks, Andy. I usually bring home many regretful shots - for all the reasons you mention - but your advice will help me improve the keeper rate. As far as finding a good perspective before setting up the tripod, I find that it's a challenge when with a group of photographers intent on the same goal. But a little patience can come in handy.

I love your videos and your photography. I have learned a whole lot from following your technical inputs. I would only add this: I don’t believe everything in good landscape photography is about “perfect” compositions. Emotions and other feelings all play a very large part in overriding average or even mediocre compositions more times than not in my opinion. Conversely, some photographs have great technicalities (good foregrounds, focal points, depth and all that) but lack emotion, not just colorful moods but actual feelings about them. I believe lack of emotion in landscape photography should also count as a “mistake”.

Phenomenal photos and great tips. Thank You

Great tips! Thank you!