Nature Photography How To

Photography, like most artistic endeavors, is all about experimentation and practice. Put another way, the best photographers have the courage to try new things, make mistakes, and learn how to avoid them in the future.

The tutorial below from one of our favorite landscape photographers will help shorten your learning curve by explaining what to do, and habits to avoid, when shooting in the great outdoors. The topic of this episode is improving your compositional skills with simple techniques.

British pro Nigel Danson says he created this episode for outdoor photographers who are unhappy with their landscape photos. And even if  “unhappy” is too strong a word, and you’re pretty “satisfied” with your work, that’s not enough for Danson—who wants you to be really pleased with the images you make.

The impetus for this lesson occurred when Danson reviewed some of his early work with a critical eye. In so doing he discovered a number of repeated mistakes in the way he composed images. As you’ll see, he then determined how the photos could be significantly improved—simply by framing them differently.

By watching the tutorial carefully you’ll derive two big benefits: 1) after leaning about Danson’s mistakes you won’t have to make them yourself, and 2) you’ll pick up a variety of pro-level composition tricks that will elevate your landscape photography to the next level.

Some of the common framing errors illustrated by Danson may reverberate in your own work. But there’s no shame in that, as long as you correct them in the future. Like we mentioned above, this is part of the process as you improve your skills.

Even more to the point are the pro-level techniques you’ll learn. And they’re all very straightforward and easy to put into practice. In a way, it’s simply a matter of seeing things differently and applying your newly acquired vision in the future. Once you do that you won’t have to settle for “satisfied” again.

Danson’s popular YouTube channel is full of helpful videos like this one, so be sure to pay a visit.

We also recommend watching the tutorial we posted recently, demonstrating another pro’s unique method for composing landscape photos with drama and depth.