The Psychology of Shooting Landscapes eBook

Is shooting a landscape image that hard?

Does it really require any great amount of skill? 

I mean the scene is there, all you have to do is point your camera in the general direction and you’ll have the winning shot right?

Like anything in life, the easier it looks, the harder it is. I mean, if shooting landscapes was really that easy, we’d all be opening galleries, a la Peter Lik, and watching the money roll in.

But I must confess, I’m often amazed when people comment favourably on my work and then make this statement: “I wish I could take landscapes. Mine just always seem to not work.” On the one hand I do find shooting landscapes relatively easy (that’s what 10 years of practice is good for).

But I can also see where they are coming from. Identifying the right landscape to capture in itself is important, framing the subject can be challenging, and capturing the right light can mean waiting for hours (which most people aren’t prepared to do).

So I sat down recently and prepare a presentation for my workshops titled “My Thought Processes when shooting a landscape image.” Here are the thoughts that I have when coming to take a landscape image. This series of ten steps often happens subconsciously and in a matter of seconds, however it’s not something that I skip over.

I would say that for every image I take, I go through this process to give me the best chance in capturing that winning landscape image. 

Cheers Tom