Landscape Photographer Discusses 7 Mistakes to Fix

Landscape Photography  •  Photography Tips

Making progress in photography is not straightforward. Once you get past the initial learning phase, you will very soon realize that it gets even more challenging. Many will feel the struggle to make further progress but don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most of us go through the same phase. As photographer Adam Karnacz discusses in today’s video, this usually happens because most of us end up making the same mistakes–including professionals. Karnacz takes you through seven common mistakes and also shares what you can do to avoid them and fix them:

A basic mistake that most beginner photographers make is that they’re more invested in taking snapshots and not photographs. Don’t just point your camera at something and start capturing whatever you see. Learn to craft your photos. Be mindful of what you’re capturing and this effort will result in better photographs. As Karnacz points out in the video, it’s better to work with different perspectives and not always shoot from eye-level. Different perspectives can make the image more visually appealing. Have fun with different perspectives as the opportunities are endless.

Like with perspective, be very mindful of how the subject is interacting with light. By paying attention to the subject, the light, and the shadows, you can elevate your images to an entirely different level. And in the process of setting up your composition, make sure that you don’t include elements that distract the viewers away from the core subject. If a few things that distract from your subject happen to make it into your photo, do try to crop them out if you can.

Karnacz rightly points out that a major challenge in photography is capturing a three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional photograph. This is why many poorly taken photographs appear flat. However, using certain basic concepts, you can easily add depth to your photos. These include using leading lines, relationships, and foreground-midground-background amongst others.

And lastly, when you’re starting out in photography, be open to what you shoot. If you’re into landscape photography, don’t keep yourself from sometimes shooting portraits or street photography. The concepts that you learn shooting one thing, can help you in other genres of photography as well. Keep in mind that we learn something every time we take a photograph.

Are you guilty of making any of these mistakes?