William Patino 

10 Tips For Aspiring Landscape Photographers 

 

Introduction 

After almost a decade of being a photographer, I’ve learned quite a few things about 
myself, nature and pointing a camera at a landscape. Looking back, there’s a few key things 
that have helped me get to where I am today. 

So, in this document, I’m passing on some advice. Hopefully you can take some of these on 
board as you continue your own unique photography journey.   

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1. Just Do It 
Don’t just read or think 
about it, get out there with 
your camera and into the 
landscape, as much as 
possible.  

One thing that I feel greatly 

helped my learning was the 
amount of time I was 
willing to invest in being 
outdoors, playing with my 
camera and observing light 
and the land. Initially I 
didn’t really know or overly 
care about what made for 
good photography 
conditions. Ignorance was 
bliss and I learned a lot 
from my mistakes and the 
many hours each week 
spent behind the lens. 

With the amount of 

information and images 
available online, it’s easy to 
become overly critical and selective about the conditions and locations you want to 
photograph. But, there’s much to be gained from going out and trying anyway, learning to 
deal with a variety of conditions and how to get creative when things are challenging. 
Memory is cheap, so get out there and fill up some memory cards. You’ll learn a lot more 
doing things yourself then simply watching someone else do it on instagram or Youtube.  

 
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2.Connect With Your Subjects  

Growing up in Australia, I really took for granted living on the coast. Photography opened 
my eyes and helped me appreciate the beauty right at my doorstep. At first, it took me 
some time to develop an eye for detail and read the conditions to predict what may prevail.  

The way light interacts with your subject varies greatly each day and at different times of 
the year. Front light, back light, side light, moon light, diffused light, harsh light, colorful 
light - there’s an unlimited combination of ways you can combine your subject with natural 
light. As a photographer, light is what you're capturing, it is your main subject. Once you 
understand light better, the creative process becomes much more enjoyable, as things 
become more intentional and less accidental. The best way to do this? Watch and observe 
as frequently as possible. Even without the camera. Expose yourself to a variety of 
conditions and varying locations nearby and you’ll start to see in a whole new way. Taking 
the time to connect with your subject will benefit your photography in so many ways. 

This can also help with your processing skills as you learn how to work with a variety of 
tones and colors. 

 
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3. Less Is More 
Particularly when it comes to 
gear. Unfortunately it’s very 
easy to get GAS (gear 
acquisition syndrome) when 
you first start out, leaving you 
always wanting more instead of 
utilising and making the most 
of what you already have.   

 
It often surprises people when I 
tell them I only carry a camera 
and three lenses and that’s it. 
No filters, no tripod, no remote 
controls and there’s no other 
lenses or equipment I have at 
home for special occasions.  

The most modern equipment 

can certainly assist in some 
aspects of the creative process, 
but really, any equipment you 
have is most likely going to be 
enough to give you a start and 
opportunity to progress. The 
main ingredients with image 
making are subject matter, 
composition and lighting. As your photography progresses, you’ll eventually reach a point 
where your gear may be limiting your workflow and you’ll organically recognise when this is 
the case. Just remember, the latest equipment isn’t going to make great images, it’s the 
experienced photographer that does.  

 
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4. Start Reading 
The image above was captured at Milford Sound, about a 90 minute drive from my home. 
I’d wanted to create a new image here, particularly with a vibrant sky. In fact, that was the 
biggest factor in creating this, it had to be extra special, especially for somewhere so 
popular. After a few months of monitoring conditions, this photo was from my first and 
only attempt when I decided to drive in one afternoon, leaving home just 2 hours before 
sunset. How did I know? Thankfully sunrises and sunsets like this can be quite easy to 
predict, when you learn to read the skies.  

Cloud types are everything when it comes to the texture and potential color in your sky. 
The key is a clear opening close to the horizon to allow for the sunlight to strike the cloud. 
Sunsets are easiest because you can observe the sky throughout the day and if you’re able 
to view the horizon, you can assess if there’s a gap for the sun to shine through. Sites like 
Windy.com are great for cloud overlay models and satellite imagery, not to mention 
weather webcams. For a sunrise, I’m typically looking for a high and medium cloud base 
with an opening somewhere out to the east. Keep in mind strong winds in mountain 
regions can create fantastic cloud structures (like leticulars), and some of the best light can 
be at the clearing or arrival of a storm.   

 
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5. Be Over, Not Under 

Prepared 
This is some advice that I need 
to keep reminding myself of, 
because I’ve had way too 
many occasions where I’ve 
been caught out without a 
specific lens, not enough 
warm clothing, a lack of food 
and the list goes on.  

When it comes to 

photography equipment, if 
space and weight allows on 
your trip, definitely bring a 
variety of lenses, so you’re not 
limited in any way creatively 
and to allow for any 
unforeseen moments. It’s not 
fun having just a wide angle 
lens and then seeing an ideal 
telephoto scene unfold before 
your eyes.  

Being prepared for weather 

changes, particularly in 
mountainous or remote regions, is a serious matter and should never be taken lightly. 
Food, appropriate clothing, emergency procedure and informing people of your plans 
should always be considered. Let’s face it, there’s nothing more distracting than gnawing 
hunger pains while you’re trying to shoot.   

 
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6. Invest In Your Processing  

In my early days of photography I wasn’t at all 
interested in learning about post-processing. I 
just wanted to be a photographer and spend my 
time out with the camera. The result was having 
images that were lacking in depth, flat tones and 
an overall unrefined look.  

Although I still prefer to be away from the 

computer, over the years I’ve learned the 
importance of investing time into the skill of 
post-processing. Similar to shooting film, raw 
files need to be correctly ‘developed’ to reveal 
detail and balance tones. At the very least you 
should be aiming to get the file to look like the 
scene you captured and saw with your eyes.  

Of course there is also the artistic aspect of 

processing where we can apply various 
techniques of brightening, darkening, softener 
blurring etc to help transition the eye through a 
scene.  

Although getting desired results in the digital darkroom takes time to learn, the results are 
certainly worth it. Whether it’s Photoshop. Lightroom, Capture One or any other raw 
developing programs out there, I really encourage you to invest some time in learning 
processing alongside your photography. As your editing skills progress, you’ll actually be 
able to overcome many issues in the field and you’ll see how this part of the trade 
complements the work you do behind the lens. I have quite a few online courses to help 
people fast track their post processing learning and it’s been encouraging hearing how 
these have really helped so many people take their work to another level.  

 
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7. Ditch The Tripod  

OK, you don’t need to completely get rid of your tripod but I want to encourage you to try 
and compose and capture your scene without using one. Why? Well in the past couple of 
years I’ve organically stopped using a tripod for anything that’s not a night image and it’s 
completely changed my workflow. In the field I have way more freedom and creatively I feel 
unrestricted like I was when using a tripod. Have you ever used a tripod to align a sunstar 
within a complex forest scene on an uneven, soft surface? I can tell you now that you 
probably don’t want to. Exploring an environment without the hindrance and limitations of 
a tripod will expand your creative freedom and compositional options. Now that I’ve gone 
down this road I can’t see myself ever going back.  

To do this you’ll need a camera with in-built stabilisation and steady hands to shoot at 
slower shutters. At the very least it’s worth exploring your compositions handheld without 
being bound by a tripods limitations. 

 
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8. Don’t Think About 

Business   
One of the biggest factors 
that I feel helped me grow 
and expand my skills as a 
photographer was that I 
never set out with an 
intention to monetise my 
photography and make a 
career out of it. For me, my 
photography started out as 
an outlet for creativity and 
self expression, a means of 
escape from the rush of the 
world and to this day, it still 
is.  

Occasionally I’ll receive 

emails or DM’s from people 
who want to know how to 
make a career out of 
photography, and it’s clear 
when I see their work that 
they’ve barely put any time in 
behind the lens. If your aim is 
to profit from photography 
before you’ve even mastered the craft, then you’re selling yourself short and being 
deprived of the true freedom that landscape photography provides. And it will show in your 
work. Don’t let social media numbers and online popularity distract you, stay true to 
yourself and your art and good things will come in time.   

 
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9. Keep Moving 
In regards to composing a scene 
and creating images, I highly 
encourage you to keep moving 
and not remain static capturing 
the exact same scene over and 
over. I was certainly guilty of this 
when I first started out, setting up 
the tripod, framing everything up 
and dialling in the settings, then 
just shooting exposure after 
exposure. When I’d get home, I’d 
have over 100 very similar files 
that I’d have to sort through.  
 
The downside to stationary 
shooting like this is that you’re 
not maximising your time and the 
potential of a location. Once I 
started moving around more, I’ve 
had countless scenarios where I 
truly felt like I had the best 
possible framing at first, but then 
I was able to find something even 
better, despite having confidence 
that I had it right the first time.  

Of course, you can always move back to the original composition, especially if the 
conditions improve but if you go home with a variety of different images, then you’re more 
likely to have something that you really like. Be confident in what you’ve captured and if the 
exposure and focus is on point, move on and give something else a try.  

 
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10. Just Be You 

There are certain locations and compositions at specific places that have been done 
countless times, and for good reason - because it works. When you’re starting out, you’ll 
naturally learn a lot from replicating other people's work. You’ll see why the popular 
compositions work and hopefully see why other options may not necessarily be as 
effective. But eventually, you’ll reach a point where you need to break away and start to see 
and capture places through your own unique vision.  

Of course, this can be hard at certain locations, but you’ll be surprised how many other 
good compositions exist outside of the ‘famous’ ones. Or, that there might be somewhere 
just as good, or even better, just around the corner. Arriving at a famous place, most 
people get tunnel vision and are drawn into doing what’s been done before, which is 
completely normal. But if you can make an effort to consciously not do this, or even better, 
explore and photograph areas that you haven’t seen captured much, your creativity will 
really flourish.  

 
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