Picture Perfect - Tips for Landscape Photography

We all like to think we're amateur photographers at heart, we find that perfect shot, aim the camera and click away, only to get back later in the day, peruse the snaps and find that that beautiful tree you stopped to take a photo of had turned into a blurry mess or you'd somehow managed to obscure that fantastic horizon with your thumb.

Not that long a go a couple of the guys in the office went for a walk out in the lovely Chilterns to test out the new Brasher Fellmaster Boot. Along with 3 of us from the ODK team there were a good other 10 or so walkers out with us, all walking at different speeds. Which is fine of course, going at your own pace is to be recommended, except when you have never been out on that particular route before and you lose sight of the group ahead. We did manage to stop and get a few decent shots in though, so it was worth lagging behind a tad!

Bluebells outside Old Amersham

The long and winding...muddy track

I always seem to think of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" when I look at the above picture, although this path certainly wasn't the road less traveled by! More of a muddy overload, but the plethora of Bluebells either side were a sight to behold.

Anyway I digress...with the above photos being far from perfect, it's always intriguing to look into ways you can improve your photography, especially when out walking around the UK, there's so much to see and so much you want to capture. And thanks to photographer Joe Cornish and as seen in Country Walking, here's a few tips to try out next time you fancy taking the camera on a trip...

Orientation is key - Have a go at taking a naturally landscape shot on the vertical. The portrait shaped frame gets you considering the depth of your shot.

Picture Balance - Try to avoid 'half sky, half land' shots, the sky can appear too bright in the picture and the detail on the land can become dark and groggy. Instead, decide which area you'd rather put the focus on, lowering or lifting the frame to take in more sky or more land.

Utilizing negative space - You don't need to cluster your shot, a lot of the time these emptier spaces or 'negative spaces' define the main focus of your picture and draw the eye in.

Colours - Black can repel the eye, so try to avoid chunkier spaces of darkness in your frame, however black broken up on a smaller scale as smaller shadows or foliage can add depth and texture. On the flip side White attracts the eye, so if you spot a shimmering lake in your view, get it in the shot!

Horizon - Taking a breathtaking shot of the horizon from a vantage point? Try and put it nice and high in the frame, letting the colours below in the landscape stand out and shine.

The thing to remember too is to enjoy your photography, essentially there are no rules, one mans perfect shot may not be someone else's. Find your space, relax and click away, it's often the more instinctive shots that turn out to be the keepers!