I just returned from a wonderful spring holiday in Iceland (this explains the silence on the blog here). Below is a quick subset of the images I took with my phone (the ones without family members).
These are the raw shots, without cropping or any colour/light adjustment. What is my approach to making these landscape shots:
- I actually do not overthink my photographs: just snap to catch the moment
- I hardly ever use the zoom function on my phone. If needed, I can always crop images later to get a zoom effect. Live zooming reduces the image quality and makes the image more sensitive to an unsteady hand / shaking.
- I tend to look for lines (roads, rock formations, etc.) to force some sort of eye movement in the images
- Where possible, I try to catch a small element in the foreground to create a sense of depth. (Often a family member taking the same photo, pictures of family taking pictures is one of my favorite themes)
- Painters already discovered this, often the sky is one of the most interesting visual elements. Try dropping the horizon in one of your shots.
- Most photos are taken at eye height. Create unexpected perspectives by lowering or lifting your camera
- Pay attention to the sides of your image. Adding a tiny bit of a wall or other structure in your shot can make the image feel “closed” or “trapped”, leaving it out gives a much more open feel.
Very often, it is impossible to capture a vast landscape in an image. The view is stunning, the image looks bland. This is only a problem for your audience though, for you, the image will trigger the memory of the real thing and therefore it is still worth taking.