Wow factor landscapes

You see a stunning landscape, one that really blows you away. You're really excited at seeing it in print, only to discover you've failed to capture the magic. Sound familiar? If so, find out where you've been going wrong with these helpful hints and tips courtesy of PhotoBox, the photo printing and publishing specialist.

Get the light right

Good lighting is everything in photography. A scene that looks nothing on a dreary day can be transformed by a little sunshine and will look great as digital photo prints. Revisit favourite locations to see how they look depending on the season and time of day. Early morning and late afternoon light are always the most flattering in photos. Getting up early to witness a cold misty morning, or dew sparkling on a wet lawn, will make all the difference.

Pause for thought

When you see a picturesque scene it's instinctive to just start snapping. That's fine, but once you've bagged the obvious photos, pause and look around you. Consider whether you're standing in the best place. Could you add another element that would enhance the image? Is there a more unusual composition that might work well?

Landscape lenses

It's usually the vastness of a landscape that makes it so awesome. To get a similar feel on paper you'll need a suitably wide angle lens to capture what your eyes see. While a telephoto lens is useful for giving the impression of everything being closer together, or for isolating individual areas within a landscape.

Hold steady

Keeping everything sharp across long distances requires a small aperture. This gives a slow shutter speed, even on a reasonably bright day, making you liable to camera shake. A tripod will prevent this by holding your camera steady, especially if it's used with the auto timer or a cable release and will help you to produce more impressive photos

Add some interest

Look out for exciting colours, shapes, and textures. As a general rule you want something to hold your interest in the foreground, middle and background. Paths, roads and lines of trees are all good at drawing your eye into an image. Including people can add a sense of scale and emotion.

Begin bracketing

Spot on exposure is essential to distinguish your photos from simple snapshots. If you're struggling try exposure bracketing. That means taking exactly the same photo at different exposures. Many cameras have a function to set the bracketing automatically. You can then print the best ones and put them in your photo albums. Or combine images with photo editing software to give the best exposure of every part of the image - great for high contrast pictures.

Cheat a little

Photo editing software can also rescue disappointing photos. Use it to re-crop, enrich colours and cut out unwanted elements. You can even add something that wasn't in the original landscape. Suddenly you've got that really special shot that's been eluding you, and a great excuse to enjoy some photo sharing.

More ideas

With landscapes it's often a case of the bigger the better, so why not splash out on a poster print. Or stitch together a series of images for a large panoramic print. If you're really thrilled with a particular image get a series of greeting cards or postcards made to send to your friends.

For more great tips and tricks on how to take professional pictures check out PhotoBox’s  Photography tips section.