I think the most important thing I do is find landscapes that excite me. The sky can be a blaze of color but if there is nothing to frame it, it doesn't have impact for me.
I find places that have uncluttered framing to shoot and I go there over and over. I know exactly where I want to be when the colors and patters I love appear. I have more than one spot because clouds form in different parts of the sky.
As you might guess, it is the clouds that are my biggest turn-on but it is also the foreground. There are times the foreground can make the skies that much more dramatic. For instance, having longs Peak in the background covered with glowing light is magical.
It is the end and beginning of days that I find to be be magical. The sun throws low shadows across the landscape and the cool colors are filterd out by the atmsophere. This makes contours int he shapes so much more obvious and lends a sense of depth to the entire image.
I don't just want to record a landscape, i want to record the emotions behind it, the passion and excitement in the world around me. The intense colors of sunrises and sunsets are what do it for me.
I also love to shoot reflects. I suggest you find a place where the clouds and colors are ref;ected. That way, you can have soemthing alive and vibrant in the foreground as well as the background.
I've seen so many images with color shot for its own sake but I do not believe that is enough. To be truly memorable, a landscape has to have something of interest and it has to be able to draw the eye in.
To that end, the composition must be part of the expression. Diagonal lines do this, shaddows are usually diagonal and if you can find a parallelogram (a rectangle pushed slightly on it side and to the right) it will cause the eyes to travel from botoom left to uppoer right and back again.
Find something int he foreground to give the viewer a sense of place and grounding. I try to make every image look as if I could walk right in to them.
Whether it is rocks in a stream when i sue a wide angle lense or a tree or line of trees in front of what i am shooting, I try to give my images a feeling of "being there."
A cardinal rule of landscape photography is spot on, level horizons. If the horizon is crooked and slopes down -straighten it in a computer program but it is better to learn to pay attention from the start.
I will continue this but there are 3 things that will improve your photography greratly.
2. A tripod - it will enable you to look and not have to hold - to compose more carefully. Use one even if you have image stabilization. Photography is about seeing.
2. A lens hood - it will improve the clarity of your images - even when the sun is behind you.
3. Cable release or remote. It will keep you from giggling your camera and free you up to see with more concentration.
I ivite all who wish to add their own pointers. Please do it as a separate topic as I wish to continue this as a sort of mini article to which I can add.
