The Nikon Guide to landscape photography

How to get started

One of the greatest things about landscape photography is that anyone can do it. You don’t need a willing subject to pose, you don’t have to wait for perfect weather and you don’t even need to travel far. All you really need is yourself, a camera and lens and a landscape that catches your eye. You don’t need dramatic mountains and sweeping coastlines, although they certainly make spectacular subjects. You can get started with your local woodland, a nearby hill or river, or even your closest park will do. With the right gear, a little know-how, and a burst of creativity, almost any landscape can become a compelling subject.

What gear do I need?

Both Nikon full-frame (FX) or crop sensor (DX) cameras are ideal for landscape photography. A wide-angle lens is a classic choice for landscape enthusiasts, as it captures more of the scene and emphasises space, scale and depth, while longer focal lengths are great for isolating details and simplifying busy landscapes, which is why a versatile zoom is a great choice. A tripod is invaluable for slower shutter speeds, while a polarising filter can reduce glare and enrich colours, and an ND filter allows you to use longer exposures in brighter conditions. 

Chasing the light

Even the most spectacular subject and compelling composition can fall flat in poor light, because light can completely transform a landscape, changing its colour, contrast, texture and mood from one moment to the next. That’s why seasoned pros will often talk about “chasing the light”, which means watching how the light evolves and moves across the landscape, and being ready to respond, move positions or follow it as conditions change.

Before setting up your frame, look at where the light is coming from. What is it illuminating and where are the shadows falling? When the sun is lower in the sky, particularly around sunrise and sunset, the light is often warmer and less harsh, with longer shadows that reveal texture and shape, depending on atmospheric conditions. Around midday, particularly in summer, a higher sun can create stronger contrast and shorter, harder edged shadows, but even this can work if it suits the scene, while also making colours appear brighter and more vivid, especially in clear conditions. Backlighting, where the light comes from behind your subject towards the camera, can make mist, foliage or translucent details glow. And when sunlight suddenly breaks through heavy cloud, even the most ordinary scene can be transformed into something special, right before your eyes.

Some settings to get you started

There’s no foolproof recipe for landscape settings, as these will vary depending on your subject, the light you’re working with and the effect you want to create. However, for still landscapes, beginners will find Aperture Priority a great place to start: you choose the aperture and the camera selects the shutter speed. If Auto ISO is enabled, it can also adjust ISO when needed, leaving you free to concentrate on composition.

Begin with around f/8 to f/11 for plenty of depth of field, which means keeping much of the scene sharp from foreground to background. Use a wider aperture, such as f/4 to f/6.3, if your aim is to isolate just part of the scene, rendering other areas softly out of focus, or stop down to around to f/11 to f/16 when you want even more of the landscape to appear sharp. Use AF-S with Single point AF so you can choose exactly where in the scene the camera focuses. 

For landscapes that feature moving elements, such as waterfalls, waves, grasses or clouds, try Shutter Priority and choose the shutter speed according to the effect you want. As a starting point, try around 1/500 sec to freeze movement, or slow things down to around 1/2 sec to 2 seconds to blur moving water and create a sense of motion. Clouds may need exposures of several seconds or longer to create noticeable blur. Keep your ISO low where possible and, if conditions are too bright to achieve the slower shutter speed you want, use an ND filter to reduce the amount of light entering the lens. For longer exposures, mount the camera on a tripod and use a two-second self-timer, remote release or Nikon’s SnapBridge app to avoid introducing movement when you press the shutter.

Once you’re more confident, Manual mode gives you complete control over the exposure, but, for now, whatever mode you use, just ensure you photograph in RAW rather than JPEG as RAW files retain more image information, giving you greater flexibility when editing later.

Classic compositions

Good landscape composition is about guiding the viewer’s eye through the frame. With a wide-angle lens, it’s especially important to think carefully about what you include and how the elements relate to one another. A clear foreground, mid-ground and background can create a strong sense of depth, while leading lines, shapes and patterns can draw the eye through the scene or towards your main subject.

Once you’ve found a composition that interests you, don’t settle for the first viewpoint. Move around and experiment with camera height, as even a small change can alter the relationship between different parts of the scene.

To help you get started, here are a few classic composition techniques to create landscape images with impact.

Layered compositions

Building depth can make any landscape more engaging and three-dimensional, rather than flat. To do this, think of the scene in three parts: the foreground closest to you, such as rocks or flowers, the mid-ground in the middle of the frame, such as a church in a valley, and the background furthest away, such as distant hills or the sky beyond. A strong foreground can draw the viewer in, while mid-ground elements help lead the eye deeper into the scene before it reaches the background.

Rule of thirds

Divide the frame into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, using two horizontal and two vertical lines. Place the elements you deem to be important along these lines, for example positioning the horizon on the lower line to give more space to a dramatic sky, or on the upper line to emphasise an interesting foreground. For added impact, try placing a key point of interest, such as a tree, building or mountain peak, close to one of the four points where the lines intersect. To help here, use the rule of thirds grid on your Nikon Z mirrorless camera. Simply head into the Custom Menu (pencil icon) and select d for Shooting/Display, and choose Grid Type, followed by 3x3, and away you go!

Leading lines

Leading lines help guide the viewer’s eye towards your main focal point or deeper into the scene. They can be obvious, such as a road, fence, river or path, or more subtle, such as those formed by ridges, shadows or changes in colour and texture. What’s more, they can be curved or zigzag, as well as straight. Just keep an eye out for any strong lines in your landscape and use them to connect different parts of your composition, ideally leading the eye in and around the image, rather than out of the frame.

Framing

A creative way to add impact to a simple scene is to use elements within the scene to create a natural frame around your main subject. It needn’t completely surround the subject, but things such as overhanging branches, brightly coloured leaves, rock formations, rivers, archways or even a manmade structure can all help direct attention towards your chosen focal point. Framing also adds depth and context, making the viewer feel as though they are looking into the landscape rather than simply at it.

Reflections and symmetry

Reflections bring a wonderful sense of balance, but also drama, to a landscape, particularly because symmetrical compositions are naturally pleasing to the eye. A classic example is a mountain mirrored in a still lake. For this technique, place the horizon centrally so the subject and its reflection are given equal space above and below, and for a crisp, mirror like reflection, calm water is key. A longer exposure can smooth small ripples, but it won’t recreate a true mirror reflection if the water is being disturbed by wind.

But symmetry doesn’t have to always come from reflections: a straight path, river or line of trees running through the centre of the frame can create equally striking vertical symmetry. Just be sure to position yourself so the central line runs straight through the frame and both sides feel balanced.

So, you’ve got the basics down and now you’re ready to have some fun! Grab your camera, get outside and let’s put everything you’ve learned into practice with these creative landscape challenges.

Projects to try

One landscape, multiple looks

Pick your favourite local landscape and return to it at different points throughout the day, such as sunrise, midday, sunset and after dark to witness how the changing light affects the landscape. You could even visit once every four months to capture the scene at its seasonal best. Then edit, print and frame your four favourites as a collection.

Bad weather? Great landscapes!

Don’t wait for blue skies. Fog, rain, snow, heavy cloud and even approaching storms can completely transform a landscape for the better. Challenge yourself to capture that change in different ways: start with a wide view that shows the weather moving through the scene, then look closer for details such as mist weaving between trees, rain intensifying colours, snow clinging to branches or shafts of sunlight breaking through cloud. Together, this portfolio of images will narrate a much richer story than a single frame will.

Go slow

Ready to level up? Then it’s time to slow down, literally. Capturing a scene with movement, such as a cascading waterfall, or the wind moving tall meadow grass like waves conveys so much atmosphere, but there is a skill to it. Start around 1/2 sec, then try 1 sec, 2 secs and longer exposures to compare the amount of blur you create. Use a tripod to keep the rest of the scene sharp and, if it’s too bright to achieve a slow enough shutter speed, add an ND filter.

Follow the rules, then break them!

Once you understand compositional techniques such as the rule of thirds, leading lines and framing, give yourself permission to ignore them! For example, you could place a solitary subject dead centre, leave lots of negative space one side, or create an intentionally unbalanced frame. You might even like to take one photograph following the ‘rules’, then another that deliberately breaks them, before deciding yourself which has more impact.

Landscapes after dark

Don’t pack your camera away when the sun goes down, night landscapes can reveal a completely different side to a familiar scene, from glowing city lights and moonlit hills to star-filled, inky skies or, if you’re lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, maybe even the Milky Way or the aurora borealis. For illuminated landscapes and cityscapes, experiment with longer exposures to keep ISO low and retain plenty of detail. If stars are your focus, choose a clear night, then use a wide aperture and keep the exposure short enough to prevent them turning into trails. Or if you want star trails, use a much longer exposure to capture their movement across the sky. Use a tripod and a remote release or self-timer to avoid camera shake, don’t forget a head torch and always put safety first.

Ready for more? Discover all there is to know about landscape photography in Nikon Magazine…

• Improve your landscapes with your Nikon Quickstart cheat sheet
• 8 creative compositions for landscapes
• How to photograph flora this spring
• Photographing autumnal landscapes – a beginner’s guide
• Photographing winter landscapes — an advanced guide
• These four methods will elevate your landscape photography
• So you think you know long exposure? Take our challenges to find out