Shooting Landscapes with Intention
- drwhite75
- Jun 2
- 8 min read
This blog is intended to help those who may be new to landscape photography or want some friendly reminders to help move them in the right direction.
I recently came back from an overnight photshoot and while looking at the images I began to think about the compositions, the how's and the why's of that particular image. I've also been talking to somone who has recently decided to rekindle their photography. I've always liked helping people improve and I hope this blog gives you a little bit of useful info along your journey.

For most of us who shoot on a very regular basis, approaching a scene, setting up and shooting come automatically without much thought. In our brains a lot is going on. We are looking for a good composition, looking at the light, the shadows, thinking about our settings and what lens we want to use for this scene. Some scenes, like the one above, will work well for single exposures as long as your lens choice is correct and your able to adjust your settings correctly. I wouldn't call this a snapshot because, after all, it was a 30 second exposure on a tripod. The sun was just starting to illuminate the snow and barn but had not yet come up over the horizon. The light was very soft and painterly. I wanted a wide angle lens to incorporate the snow, wood fence & barn without having to focus stack. At 14mm I know this lens will be sharp front to back at F9 - F16. I used F/11 because that gave me the 30 seconds I wanted for this scene at the low ISO to make sure it was as sharp and noise free as possible.

Water is my favorite subject to shoot and one thing we all need to realize is that water doesn't move at the same speed. The speed of water can adjust just like a car can speed up or slow down... Imagine you're at NASCAR and you are shooting the cars as they come around the bend at 175mph but the next lap they are only doing 40mph, you're settings and speed of your pan may be much different. Same is true for water. I enjoy getting to the beach, finding some nice areas where water is flowing (usually over rocks) and then as I'm setting up my gear I'm watching the water to see what it does, the path it takes when it goes back out to the ocean. This helps me set up a compositon that I may find pleasing to the eye. By doing this, we can create leading lines so that the viewer's eye has a place to follow as they move through the scene. Once you pick your f/stop to ensure your image will be sharp where you want it, then you can start playing with your shutter speed and ISO. Had I shot this at a half second and 200 ISO the water would have had a lot more detail. Insted of trying to time the shot perfectly, I always recommend (when shooting a scene like this) is to shoot in continious mode as the water is coming up and going back out. That will increase your chances of getting just the right moment captured.

When shooting wide angle landscapes it's possible to just think that if you set your f stop to 20 or 22 that the whole scene will be in focus. While F20 will give you greater depth of field, that doesn't mean that the end result will be pleasing. Often times anthing above F/16 will start to soften the overall image a bit. This all depends on your camera and lens combo, it's just a general rule of thumb. Let's talk about distance from lens to subject and the limitations we have. The seastar in the foreground is only about a foot away from my lens, maybe closer. I went extremely wide with this one. There are 3 ways I could have done this as a single exposure.
focus on the starfish and let the rest of the image fall soft
focus on the tree coming out of the rock and let the foreground fall soft.
Hyper-focal. I could have focused on the rocks by the edge of the pool of water and shot at F/16 and that would have given me my best shot at an all around good image.
I didn't just want an OK image, I wanted an image that was sharp front to back while still bringing the seastar front and center. The only way to do that is to focus stack several images. I also could have raised the camera back up a few feet away from the starfish and then took my shot but the image wouldn't have the same impact it does by being down low. If my camera were up at normal eye level, I would have been far enough away from my subject that I could have shot the scene in one shot at F/11-16. However, that isn't want I wanted here. Distance from camera to subject plays an important role in how your images look. All lenses are different with various focusing distances. Focus stacking is how I overcome these limiations our gear has. This allowed me to have the entire image sharp, even the subjects in the tide pool. Focus stacking is much easier now then it's been in the past. Some cameras do it automaticlly. I find it super easy to do manually just by touching the focus points on the back of my camera. I can then blend them all together when I'm back home.

Composition is one thing I recommend eveyone studty. It's 90% responsible for why an image is appealing. Giving your viewer a sense of being there. Using the elements in your image to guide the viewer through the scene. Composition is important. This is an image that took me 2 tries to get. I visited this location that I found on Google Maps to scout it out and I soon realized that the only decent compositions were from IN the water. The scene is dramatically different if you're just standing on the shoreline. I went back a couple days later with my waders and boots and into the water I went.. I'm glad I had full waders on because the water was much deeper than I thought. For this shot above, I'm standing in a pool of water thats almost waist deep, camera about 18 inches from the water, pointed down. I loved the lines th water was creating. Because there was ONLY water in the bottom half of my frame, I wasn't too focused (pun intended) on getting the water super sharp. I focused on the edge of the large rock on the left and by using F/16 that was enough to bring the distance into focus and still keep my foreground looking good. Focus stacking moving water like this is impossible. Let's say there were some exposed rocks in the foreground water, then you take a few shots at different focus points, blend them together and then pick one image with good water to blend in with the focus stacked image.
Framing your subject ties very closely with composition. It's a great way to keep the viewers eye where you want it. Composition and leading lines help guide the viewer while the framing of the scene can keep them where you want them to look
The rainbow and water keep the viewers eyes going around the Crystal mill. The water and rainbow worked perfectly together to frame the Mill.
The crashing waves provide a natural frame around the lighthouse and the dark stormy skies help keep the viewers attention down near the water.
While the sky was nice, the dark element of the tree keeps the viewers eyes on the sunlit mountain.
The fence posts and barbed wire work perfectly to frame the old school.
Union Station awning provides a natural framing element for the train station sign.
The Milky Way can be used to frame images too. Working with the old fence post to form a natural V Shape to keep the viewer from leaving the right side of the frame.

Things to think about when you approach a scene -
Which lens? Remember that the wider your lens, the greater depth of field you can get. Subject to lens distance, how close will the closest part of the scene be to the camea.
Composition - look for leading lines, potential elements to frame the subject
F stop - do I need to focus stack. Shoot a shot you think is good and review. Tweak settings from there. Try to keep your Fstop at 16 or wider for the best sharpness and details. Most lenses will have a sweet spot between 6.3-13 Once you learn the best setting on your lens, it will make your time in the field more enjoyable.
ISO - Unless I'm shooting at night, I try and keep my ISO at the native setting, usually 64 or 100 depending on the camera maker. I'll adjust as needed to get the shot but I don't over-do it.
Is it a single image or will you need to focus stack? What are the limiations of my lens?
Blending - I didn't go ver this but it's very effective for skys and reflections. If you're shooting and your sky is blown out while your foreground is too dark, you may need to blend. Simply shoot one image with a proper exposure for the sky, another with proper exposure for the foreground and then you'll have them when you get back home.
Don't put the Horizon in the center of your frame. It should be in the top or bottom 3rd of most landscape images.
If you've got a gorgous scene in front of you, be intentional, shoot with a purpose and bring home a masterpeice.
When you take it step by step it can be a lot to think about at first. As you practice out in the field it will get easier and easier to quiclky set up and shoot so you don't miss some fleeting light. If you go back up and look at image #6 of the milky way and fence post, that image is a combo of everything. The school and fencepost were focus stacked into one image and the sky blended in from later that night. The fence post was simply too close to the camera to get this in one shot. The sky would have been super blurry as blobs of light. Sometimes that can work out well as an artistic way of seeing.
I hope this helps to bring some items to the front of your mind when you're out there shooting. I know I can get overwhelmed sometimes when I see something amazing in front of my camera. I forget things and make mistakes all the time. That's how i've leaned over the years.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Darren
My main gallery of work - https://darrenwhitephotography.com/
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