Frame & adjust

MASTER LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION WITH THESE ESSENTIAL PIECES OF KIT

1 Tripod

A sturdy tripod is an essential tool for landscapes. It will help you refine your framing to get the perfect composition, eliminate camera shake, and make it possible to shoot super-long exposures with ND filters. It will also allow you to practise more advanced techniques, like bracketing and focus stacking.

2 Camera

You can shoot landscapes on any Nikon, but both APS-C and full-frame DSLR or mirrorless cameras work best. The ability to fully control your camera settings, change lenses and access a huge variety of filters provides you with the ability to capture almost any kind of landscape imaginable.

3 Lens choice

Landscapes are most commonly captured using wide-angle lenses, but you can get great results with other focal lengths (even telephoto lenses), so be sure to experiment. The wide-angle ballpark sits between 14mm and 35mm. If you’re an APS-C user, remember to account for your DX Nikon’s 1.5x crop factor.

4 Location

A location with a clear and obvious focal point, like a lone tree, lighthouse, mountain or building, will make your scene easier to compose. Smartphone apps, like Photopills and The Photographer’s Ephemeris, can help you work with the sunlight’s direction, allowing you to pick the best position for the golden hour.

5 Filters

Filters are hugely beneficial for landscape photography, as some of their effects can’t be replicated in post-production. Neutral density (ND) filters can block out light allowing longer shutter speeds, graduated NDS help balance bright skies and polarizers can boost blue skies and subdue reflections in water.

6 Tripod head

A three-way tripod head can be useful for landscapes as it allows you to fine-tune your composition via all three axes independently. Some photographers prefer the fluidity of a ball head, which can be totally locked off with a single knob, although this offers less precision. It all comes down to personal preference.