Landscapes in Perspective

Landscapes can often be breathtaking and bring real pleasure, whether you're on vacation and stopping at a special vista off the highway or just walking through a park in your home town. But too often when we try to capture these views on our cameras the results are less than awe-inspiring. Placing an object into the foreground is often all that's needed to bring the shot together and recapture that great feeling.

To do this, look for a point of view that allows you to capture your landscape as the background for a flower, large rock, tree, lamppost or other appropriate object. Usually, you wouldn't use a person or object that draws too much attention as this will take away from the landscape feeling.

Then: frame your shot, so you won't have to crop it later; make sure you get the horizon above the centerline to enhance the landscape; and, choose how you'll focus - focusing on the landscape itself and putting the object in the foreground out of focus can be an nice touch.

Here are some examples of landscape shots. The first image on the left is a poorly composed shot without an object in the foreground and with the sky below the centerline. The other two photos follow this tip with admirable results. Good luck!