5 BEGINNER Landscape Photography MISTAKES To AVOID

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In this week’s episode, I discuss the five biggest landscape photography mistakes I made when I was a beginner and how you can avoid them. I've been interested in photography for the majority of my life, but it wasn't until about six years ago, that I discovered my love for landscape photography. When I was first starting out, I didn't have anyone to tell me when I was making mistakes, I just had to learn the hard way - lots of trial and error. This caused me to progress at a slower pace than I would have liked as I ended up making the same photographic mistakes over and over until I eventually realized what I was doing wrong. These mistakes ranged from basic camera usage issues to fundamental composition errors and even mistakes related to how I was holding my camera.

In this video, I review the five beginner landscape photography mistakes I made in hopes that you'll recognize at least one of these and will be able to correct it much sooner than I did. Making mistakes when you’re first starting out in anything is part of the process, but the sooner you can identify and fix them the quicker you'll progress - and that’s the purpose of this week’s video.

If you enjoyed this video, please consider giving it a thumbs up and let me know what you think in the comments below - I guarantee I'll get back to ya.

Thanks for watching everyone!

-Mark D.

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[diyimprover]

I got a lot of good attitude adjustments here. In return, I'll offer up one of my own. Early morning and late in the day provide the best light, but what do you do with the late morning to mid-afternoon hours when the light is harsh, or if the sky is overcast creating flat, gray light? These are the times to switch from grand vistas to small subjects. Think and shoot close-up and even macro. It could also be a good time to seek out textures and abstract patterns either for their own sake or to use later as overlays in post. Mid-day is a good time to be in deep forests. It's easier to manipulate ambient light if you keep your field of view restricted. It's also a good time to try urban locations. Again, just focus on more intimate compositions. I often find urban images lend themselves to black and white images and sometimes the harsh mid-day light can accentuate the urban or industrial subject. So if you snooze your way through the golden hour, look for settings and compositions that will work in stark or overcast lighting and you can still be very productive that day.

A quick anecdote. I was shooting in southern coastal Maine one morning. Got some really nice shots in the very early morning hours, just as one would hope for having some golden light to work with. By 8 or 9 AM, the gold was gone and the scenes I had shot earlier just weren't working at all anymore. As I walked along the beach, I noticed that there were some very colorful beach houses and that the strong, bright light was causing them to reflect very nicely in the very slight amount of water that had been left behind when the tide went out. The inconsistency of the water created stripes of reflection and I got many very satisfying abstracts of these reflections. The buildings were not reflecting in the golden hour at all when the sun was lower to the horizon, but in the late morning, they lit up nicely. Golden hour is great, but try to learn to work with the light you have available and find the masterpieces hiding in the bright light.

[fredwilsenack]

Thank you for sharing images that don’t work and explaining why they lack punch. That’s how we learn. It gives us a reference from which to improve. Appreciate the time and effort it took to compile this video.

[GoBrushYourTeeth]

Thank you for confirming I’m not the only one who suffered from gear hoarding syndrome. I bought T7i and sold it in 2 weeks without using almost at all. Bought the latest canon mirrorless and spend 2 months searching for the best lenses. After spending $10K+ I’m still a beginner. When I saw people taking better photos than me on their phones, I realized my mistake. 😞

[nightmareaccomplice]

Even the photos with NO subject matter can be more beautiful than the ones that do!!!!😊

[antoniofagarto]

Yes... My main problem was with the point about equipment.
I bough cheap but new, Olympus E510 and after two weeks I was looking for new cameras over and over again.
And it really bothers me because instead of learning photography I focused more on the equipment and wasted a lot of time.
Fortunatelly I controlled myself and stayed with my Olympus, which started to give results.
It's cheap, heavy, quite difficult to control, but I'm getting better every day.

[StephenHolst]

I started with the D3200. Since I didn't have the money to immediately upgrade I was forced to live with it for about 2 years. It was really much easier to live with than I thought hahaha. The way I avoided falling into your mistake, other than being poor, was that I always asked myself if the camera or my skills was limiting the quality of my images. 99% of the time the answer was my skill. Once that dropped to about 97% I felt compelled to upgrade my camera ;-)

[CadreFighter]

I love how as soon as you said "I researched other cameras" and the video zoomed out. I knew right away where you were going with it, lol. Low-key full-frame hint.

[scottheppel]

Of the 5 mistakes you discussed, the two most impactful to me were shooting at times of best light and trying different camera positions. I am a bird photographer. On a recent trip to Iceland to photograph birds, I tried to photograph the birds at their eye level as much as possible. For shorebirds, that usually means getting in a prone position which is uncomfortable for me. But that produced the best photos of my trip. The interesting landscape in Iceland reawakened my interest in landscape photography, so that led me to start watching some landscape YouTube videos, including many older ones. This one really hit home. Thank you for producing it.

[andreen]

Mark, you're a humble photography teacher. Like your tutorials and style. Thanks

[JeffWalshPhotography]

The fact that you only have 18k subs is sad. Your content is top notch, and frankly, so many people could benefit from your channel. Great stuff here.

[cattymionepotter]

In my opinion, not all flat photos are bad photos. They are just of a different style. Especially the one that you have shown of the tree actually looked great, it doesn't have depth, but that is the reason why it looks kinda special. :) Both are looking good, you just have to recognize when to use what

[kpritch]

When u we’re talking about different perspectives I was reminded of a time I spent half an hour squatting in a stream to get the camera at water level😂 couldn’t walk the next day

[danlightened]

As a semi-professional, I thought I would watch it anyway since I might still be making these mistakes.
Fortunately, I'm not. But this is everything that I would suggest to a beginner as well. Very well explained.

[TeKnoVKNG]

4 is probably the most important tip here. I started with a Nikon D3400 and shot with it for a few weeks and immediately wished I had at least bought a 5000 series for some additional features like the timelapse ability, etc., but instead of spending more money, I spent the next 2-3 months watching youtube videos on how to get the most of my camera and just went out and shot thousands of shots at local parks and hiking trails with my 18-55 kit. I got a 70-300 AF-P off of KEH.com for like $40 and then spent quite a bit of time shooting that lens before picking up a 35mm prime. I wound up shooting with the D3400 for almost a year as the additional lenses really unlocked a lot of potential even with the entry level DSLR. After I felt like I had really picked it up, that's when I pulled the trigger on the upgrade and instead of going for a 5000 series, I found a lightly used D7100 which I had decided I wanted for the weather sealing and focus motor so I could add a few other lenses to my collection. Best decision I ever made was waiting to upgrade bodies. I've been tempted by the Z6 this year, but I'm going to try to wait until around Christmas time to see if they go on sale. It's so important to stick to a piece of gear and just learn all its ins and outs. Even today when I get a new lens, I probably go out and shoot several hundred photos with it before I even feel like I'm picking up on its nuances.

[victorfine]

Just started and my tutors basically told me all of this. Glad to know I’m on the right track! This is really fun. Only problem is that I love gear and also a musician 😩

[calebsteuer]

Thanks Mark! Having a clear subject is something I never really thought about before!

[lcador]

Excellent, I too shoot golden hour landscape but spend the time in between shooting everything else when given wonderful diffused light from overcast skies and black and white when given wonderfully shadowy vistas from harsh contrasty light. I would add a number 6 to your list, that being overly rigid and restricted. .

[johnkaper]

Mark I was just scrolling through the YouTube videos and happened to this particular Landscape video, mistakes to avoid and your suggestions and shooting tips are so basic and logical, it made me really go back and review my photos that I have taken over the years. I can some of the exact same mistakes that you discussed in your video. As a result of the suggestions that you make, mistakes to avoid, I feel that my future photographs will be much better, thanks to you. I also want thank you for saving me some big money, I have a number of great cameras and I am constantly looking to update my gear, instead of really learning the features that I have on my current camera. Your example of the Nikon 3200 to the Sony camera really hit home. I have a number of really good cameras, but haven't properly taken the time as you suggest to get to know better and take advantage of their features and setting. Sounds pretty basic.... Thank you for your clear, easy to follow and very helpful videos.

[mooncap]

Thanks Mark, I just had complete shoulder replacement surgery so while sitting around moaning I figured I try to tighten up my landscape photo skills so I stumbled on you. I couldn’t be any more grateful. Your prospectives are spot on. Looking forward to following you on Instagram.

[tahirrazzaq]

Am I the only one who loves that Moab Photo at 3:50? I mean I get what you mean about the distractions but that's the beauty of nature. I think my idea of photography is capturing nature in it's purest form and that's what you have at 3:50.