Outdoor Photography How To

Pro photographer Toma Bonciu (AKA Photo Tom) teaches landscape photography to beginners through his photo workshops. And during these tutorial sessions, he witnesses the many mistakes beginner landscape photographers often make.

In the below video, Bonciu shares seven of the most common photography mistakes he sees beginner landscape photographers make. The tutorial is not to simply point out their errors but to, hopefully, prevent you from making these mistakes in the future.

"During my workshops or when I look on the web, I see some mistakes that beginner landscape photographers are making over and over again," he says. "So here is a video to help you identify these photography mistakes and how to correct them."

Mistake #1: The Lack of a Clear Subject

"The lack of a proper subject is something that I see so often it couldn't be on another spot than number one on this list," Bonciu says. "The photo that is technically correct but expressing nothing. I can't say if there is one subject or multiple subjects. I don't know exactly what the photographer wanted to do."

Mistake #2: Every Photo Needs a Foreground Element

"The second mistake I see a lot that every landscape photo should have a foreground element. That is why a lot of photographers when they come to my workshops, they're working so hard to find a foreground element to include in their photos. And if they don’t find something interesting, they go ahead and include a foreground element even if it's not interesting."

Mistake #3: The Subject Is Too Close to the Edges of the Photo

"Why is this a mistake? Because the edges of the photo almost become lines in a composition. The attention is so focused only on the subject."

Mistake #4: Including Elements that Compete with the Subject

"This is happening because you're not fully aware of what your subject is. If, in your mind, you say that's my point of interest, then it's impossible for you to have other elements in the shot that will compete with your point of focus."

Mistake #5: The Wrong Use of the CPL Filter

"There are two ways of using the Circular Polarizer (CPL) wrong: the first way is to make the sky completely black. The second mistake is when you're using really wide focal lengths like 17mm, 24mm, the lens is so wide that it captures an area of the sky that is affected by the circular polarizer and then an area of the sky that's not affected. "

Mistake #6: Not Using/Understanding the Histogram

"People are either not using the histogram to check that their photos are ok exposed or they're not understanding what the histogram is. My advice is to have the histogram set to see the three color channels – red, green, and blue – and not the gray version, which is an average of these three channels."

Mistake #7: Thinking How to Photography: Overexposed or Underexposed

"People keep asking: 'What is the correct way to photograph, to photograph unexposed or overexposed?' And, for me, that's the wrong question."