5 Habits making you a better Landscape Photographer

Over the years I got used to some simple habits, which made me a better landscape photographer. They are easy to use and not big things, but they made really a big difference for my photography.

#1 Getting connected with Mother Nature

I mention this quite often, but it is really that important, to care a tight connection to nature. And so I try to get out as often as it is possible for me. This tip is not all about location scouting. Location scouting is also important, to find new places. But with getting out I mean really to get connected - to understand everything out there.

If you are a portrait photographer, you will not be good, unless you engage with people as much as you can. Landscape photographers photograph landscapes. The better photographs you want to get out, the more you should understand how landscape and nature itself, work.

What I found out is, that it is better to go out multple times for just half an hour, over just one time a week the whole day long. 

#2 Turn off your phone

A phone is a fantastic tool, but it is also the biggest disturbing maching I've ever seen in my whole live. And getting disturbed is poison for your creativity.

Monks found out this already long time ago. This is also one of the reasons, why some of them even decided for a vow of silence. Retiring anywhere on a place, where I am alone, where is no phone, where is no internet, where is nothing that could disturb me - was an amazing boost for my creativity.

#3 Let your camera in your bag

We need a camera to photograph, right? But we only need it for capturing the scene - and this is not more than just the last two percent in photography. Taking the camera out of the bag, before you know what you want to photograph, is like you'd take out your hammer, when you start to plan your new house. But there are lots of things to be thought before you'll need a hammer, right? It is the same with photography. Concentrate on composition and light and when everything is finished - take your tool - the camera, and make the click.

#4 Take a test shot

In analogue photography we saw mistakes in our photographs at home, after our images were processed in the dark room. Digital photography offers us amazing possibilities: We can take a test shot out on location and we can check for all mistakes - to avoid them in the final photograph.

But we can only take advantage through that, if we use it. So what I do is, I check my histogram that I don't blow out highlights, that there are enough details in the shadows, that the depth of field is enough, that there is no motion blur or if I want to have one, that the amount of motion blur is that what I want to have.

#5 Return to make it better

A big mistake I made over the years was - when I failed on a location and I was not happy with the result, I accepted it.

But it is much better to return to the spot and try to fix the mistake. Maybe I have to build up a better composition, maybe I just need better weather or light - but if you are unhappy with the photo, there is always any reason. Returning to the spot improved my photography massively.

Check out my gear, which I use for my landscape photography:

My Landscape Photography Gear

Nice greetings,

Christian