8 BEGINNER Landscape Photography MISTAKES That’ll HURT You the MOST!!
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In this week’s episode, we discuss 8 beginner landscape photography mistakes that'll impact you the most! I talk about mistakes rather often on my channel for two very important reasons. The first is because I'm not afraid to admit that I'm human and I make mistakes, I'm not the world's best landscape photographer - far from it in fact, but I am a better photographer this year then I was last year and I am better today then I was yesterday. The second reason is because I don't believe there's a better learning opportunity that exists today than that of making mistakes - understanding what Not to do is just as important as understanding what To do.
In this video, I'll walk you through the 8 mistakes that I made when I was a beginner that ended up teaching me the most about landscape photography. I committed many of these mistakes over and over for the first few years and I hope some of these mistakes will resonate with you so you'll be able to correct them much quicker than I did. I believe if I could have solved for many of these mistakes much sooner than my rate of improvement would have been drastically increased when I was a beginner. I hope you enjoy this week's video and are able to get some helpful information out of it that you can apply to your landscape photography moving forward.
Thanks for watching! - Mark D.
VIDEO CHAPTERS:
🔘Introduction: 0:00
🔘Mistake #8 Always Landscape: 1:32
🔘Mistake #7 Disjointed Compositions: 3:15
🔘Mistake #6 Shooting From The Eye: 5:26
🔘Mistake #5 Low Shutter Count: 7:37
🔘Mistake #4 Exclusionary Art: 8:39
🔘Mistake #3 Bad Timing: 11:03
🔘Mistake #2 What am I looking at? 12:16
🔘Mistake #1 Gear Matters: 14:45
🔘Closing: 16:52
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What’s the one photography mistake that has taught you the most?
The biggest mistake i make is definitely not having my camera with me all the time.. also file management.. dump your card frequently and organize NOW not later. these aren't exactly shooting tips but are very important. Remember you will need space to store your photos so invest in external hard drives.
Always not checking all my camera settings before clicking that shutter button. Workflow in the field is something I am always trying to improve upon.
My biggest mistake is also not always having my camera with me
Very helpful! Thanks Mark ✌️
Do you ever regret for switching from sony to fuji ??
Leaving home without memory card and/or battery in the camera.
That's a big one for me I need to start putting an extra card in my bag after I've left the one I usually use in the computer
multiple multiple angles third Sky 2/3 land, third land 2/3 sky ...Move the camera left to right, right to left horizontal shot than vertical shots, as many different angles that you can angle view, down by the ground angle View. then you're not going to be disappointed at the end if you only took one composition photo. I typically shoot about 40 shops of one nice did you and pick the best two or three out of it
Facts..
Getting low: Easy to say when you are young. I can still get down low, getting back up is the issue.
This is where I find my tilt screen so useful. I was going to upgrade my camera but it didn't have this option so I decided to stick with what I had.
Can you link with your phone to view?
When I'm on the ground and trying to get up(from the ground) I need Viagra!
Greg
Thats funny!
Totally understand, yet age is bliss
I had to chuckle at the spending big on equipment segment, and also the advice that basically said, take more shots (Low Shutter Count). It seems that there are a multitude of pursuits where people attempt to buy success. I coach archery and shake my head at some club members who buy bows sometimes as often as twice a year; and I tell those I coach that the quickest and cheapest path to improved success is meaningful practice to develop better technique (I guess the equivalent of increasing shutter count).
That reminds me of a story I heard from a friend: he went to a wine store and found that a very expensive and famous wine was anounced for a third of the original price. Even then it was an expensive price to drink, but he went for it just to conclude that, for him, after X amount of money he was not able to diferenciate the nuances of each wine, he does not had the knowledge and taste for it. And mind that here, in Brazil, when something is expensive, it's REALY expensive!
Mark, Bravo! Many photographers only want to show their best work. I applaud you for "opening your kimono" and sharing your mistakes so that we can learn from them. Thank you.
As a beginning photographer, it was great to hear about not getting caught up in the gear! This is something that I have caught myself getting sucked into instead of spending the time to take more photos. Thanks for the great advice!
Me too! I felt limited by gear so I invested time into getting a good deal, when I could be on the streets with a old camera in hand. Just got a brand-new looking second-hand camera a few days ago and finally learning about photography it self.
Shutter count is one of the hardest things to overcome when you first learned to take photos with actual film. I’m trying not to worry about the count anymore and try to shoot several shots of the same item, maybe just changing things a little and choosing the ones you like best. It’s a lot easier when you don’t have to pay cash for every mistake.
A friend of mine was the head of PBS for Wyoming. In five minutes, he taught me most of the points you made in your video. I didn't follow what he taught me at times, but he saved me a lot of bad shots. It was good to hear that advice again from you, and happy others heard it as well.
Volume is definitely one of the best teachers. I had a friend who took his camera everywhere with him, but spent more time polishing his lenses than actually taking photos. He had to decide in his head if it would be a good photo, before he would take the camera out of the bag.
I appreciate Mark for your honest confession about the mistakes you made in helping us to aware and improve and avoid those same mistake. That’s a great spirit of a tutor. We respect your opinions in this video. Great 👍 commitment to help us. 💐. You are choosing the subjects of unanswered questions and the ignored community of beginner photographers where we don’t find the solutions. Great work.
Another great video, Mark. I've been a photographer for almost 40 years, since 1982 and I STILL make some of these mistakes. I'm particularly guilty of "low shutter count" which I think is probably a hangover from film days - I used to shoot almost exclusively on slide film, expensive to process, and expensive to print.
I hope people realize how important the point about gear is. I recently met some professional photographers who do a LOT of work that people have seen and they are exclusively using the Sony RX100 - a camera with a fixed lens and small sensor. That really shifted things for me as I realized it's the person using the camera which is far more important than the gear. Now my goal is to be someone who can take excellent photos with ANY gear! I think that is a very useful attitude for any photographer to take. Thanks for the video!
Hi Mark, I have been a photographer since back in the 70's after I got out of the military I was very depressed so when my cousin gave me a Yashica TLR, I spent a lot of time walking in the woods, taking pictures. I don't make much money but it's cheaper than a psychiatrist. Happy New Year!
Definitely, "what am i looking at?" Is the mistake that I've made for the longest time... Big part of the learning process were your videos, so thank you very much for that!!
That means a lot - thank you Vicky!
Don't ask yourself "What am I looking at?" Instead, try asking yourself "What do I want my friend to see?"
A decent camera and a good monitor is all you need in the beginning
Yeah that's basically it in a nutshell, the only thing I would add to this is double checking you have everything you need each time you go out for a shot, just double check everything is in your bag. Great vid mate, cheers from Down Under.
I think for me the most common mistake is to not take enough time to analyse the image I shot and if needed (most times) to take an adjusted position or setting and try a few more. Good tips in this video!
I find not being patient is a big mistake of mine. I sometimes rush to get my shot and I miss steps like edge patrol.
Absolutely! I do the same
YES! Why do I do this? Ugh
My big issue also, I feel I am going to miss something further down the trail.
@@JonStallings Agreed! We need to block out the noise and focus on what we have in front of us.
That’s one of my biggest mistake.
Something I learned the hard way in my photography career,(even though I heard it over and over from very respected photographers)....always WORK the shot. Work the shot from every angle you can think of and safely shoot from. Work the shot until you can decisively say to yourself “yes there is something here” or “no,this is a nice or exciting scene to see...but there’s no photo here” in the old days of film,we had to think about every shot,but these days of digital? There’s no excuse not to fill a card if you really think there’s a composition. Imho AND YES! You are bang on when you say your gear doesn’t matter! your ability to see and just take the shot. That’s what matters.
My worst mistake was shooting at eye level for a long time, combined with the lack of depth in 99% of my photos.
I'd love to see a video where you take us out to the field and show us your process/what's going through your mind as you do it!
Its very refreshing to see someone openly showing their failures or short comings. Thats very encouraging to a duffer like me. I have thousands of photos that are near misses that i could never quite figure out what the problem was. Many look just like your examples and now i have some really good ideas how to correct it. thanks
Thank you . I don’t care what your skill level is this type of content is useful, always revisit the basics to stay sharp . I really enjoy your channel.
You’re a good guy to show the images you’re not proud of. They’re better than you may realize. It’s clear to me that you had good instincts all along. I’m glad you now have the chance to focus on your art.
Many thanks Jim! Kind of you to say.
One thing I'm changing is that I'm actually getting slightly farther back rather than closer when I take some photos. In my zeal to go in close, especially with the foreground, I wasn't leaving myself enough space for cropping later. You don't want to go back too far and lose resolution and detail, but leave some room for cropping after you have a chance to study the image on a big computer screen. If you need to correct for parallax, you'll need extra margin for that, too.
Mark, low is so important ! It gives a look of magnificence to your photos. Nature is grander than we are.
What taught me the most about landscape photography was using a 4x5 view camera. Able to look at the viewfinder and having to slow down.
Thanks for sharing. Many wise words there. If I'm allowed to disagree in one thing it would be about the timing part. Don´t let harsh light be a reason to not going out with the camera. You can always bring the macro or a long lens for close up and use the light to you advantage or finding places there it is cool shadow effects and if nothing works that day you had at least a nice day out, fresh air and some exercise. 😊
I'd make 2 more suggestions
1. Take an art course that isn't directly related to photography. Something like graphic arts or painting. You'll develop composition and "eye flow" skills since you're more focussed on them.
2. Get into miniature photography. There are a lot of instagram accounts that compose all kinds of scenes; action, romance, suspense, landscapes, portraits, close-ups and big scenes. Lots of people pick their favorite toys and put them in all kinds of situations. Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, etc. Other people are into doll collecting and put them in all kinds of fashion shoots. Miniature photography will really focus your efforts in creating a scene and getting in super close to get great pictures. It can also improve your technical skills as you'll find yourself turning off the auto features and experimenting with manual settings.
Totally agree! I'm building a 1:6 scale collection and really enjoy the planning scenes like puzzles. Lighting is very important for such photos, too.
Great tips. Edge patrol is SOOOO important.
Thanks so much - glad you think so!
I'd move low shutter count up the list, because it encapsulates everything else (except maybe the gear). You can't make mistakes if you don't take photos and give yourself a chance to screw up. Some of the best lessons I've learned have come from being excited about the shots while I was taking them, and then being disappointed once I got home and saw the results weren't what I was expecting. That feeling of disappointment--and wanting to avoid it--is a big motivation to focus on how to improve the next time you go out. Of course, clear explanations and examples like this video are a great way to learn what to look for... you won't improve if you don't think you've done anything wrong. Everything here is spot-on.
Thanks a million - great to hear you enjoyed the video!
I started with landscape photography just several months ago. It is so exciting and encouraging to see exactly same "bad' beginner photos taken at the early days by a good photographer who you admire and learn from. Many thanks for sharing this.
When I'm on a photo trip, I'll often engage in conversation with young adults, (I'm 66), and I'll point out to them how much photography has improve by the advent of the digital age. Naturally they take it for granted. I started out back in the 35mm film days and I explain to them the limitations of shooting with film. The ISO is set, slide or negative. Set number of shots per roll. Cost and time for processing. Almost no editing without extra costs. Every photo is a hard copy. Photography has come a long ways and it is so much more versatile now.
It's such a fun, free feeling to be able to take 1K photos on a trip and then dump 95% of them!
I’m not really into landscape photography any more (my walking and alpinist days are gone). Nevertheless, your advices and tips are so applicable to many other types of photography as well. I applied your advices on several of my nonlandscape photos and got unexpectedly good results. Thank you, Mark!
Basically the first minute of the video is a lesson for life, not only for photography. Thanks for that Mark!
I still find myself struggling with composition, “read the room” before taking the shot is very hard. Normally, I identify some distractions and I still leave them in the frame. The exercise in post is to know how to crop the photo to train the eyes for the next shot. Probably this is a baby step to get to the next one. Only time will tell!
Cheers.
Great to hear you enjoyed it Sérgio!
sloppyness when it comes to settings:
I´ve not just once rushed towards taking the picture but neglected to check my settings (eg. shooting in RAW). Not many worse things than to realize at home that all pictures were taken as jpg´s.
I'm very good at making all these mistakes! My biggest challenge and the one I think makes most of the difference in taking a good photo is slowing down and taking more time to concentrate on the subject at hand, I find myself rushing to the next great scene to get that perfect photo when in reality it's in front of me or I just left it. Great video Mark, Thanks
Many thanks for checking out the video Craig!
"I just left it" -- yeah that happens to me all the time! :D
I take some shots, pack up my gear, move on and within less than 100 meters I see something else and - dang am I going to stop to get this shot as well? Unpack everything again for this potentially great shot?
Or should I just forget it and come back another time?
Am the one on the number one mistake right now. With Sony A7RIII and 24-70 GM am still obsessed looking for more expensive lens when I should be working. Thank you for this lesson
At the beginning I only used the landscape oriëntation for the same reason. When I "discovered" the portrait oriëntation, my images started to look more interesting, with less distractions going on. The only problem was that I now forget to shoot pictures in landscape oriëntation when it's needed 😅😅
What I'm trying to learn now is to make less pictures and take more time with every composition and check the photo on location if it is good.
Another mistake that I frequently make is that when shooting at night, my shots come out too dark because at night, when your eyes are used to the dark, you see it all much better.
Later, when you are back home and check the shots again, often you wish that they were all lighter!
nobody is going to mention that sick "Sports" Walkman?? :) Thanks, man! Enjoying the content.
Of all the errors, the last one is my Achilles, the gear chase. In 2015 I "up'ed" from a Nikon D90 to (at the time) top of the range (APS-C 24MP) Nikon D7200. Then in 2018 came the D810; ... FF, I had arrived., and the honourable 7200 was almost redundant. Until 2 months ago I sent the 810 to UK for service. The 7200 provided me with 3 photo competition winning captures. Now I like to think my skill base improved over the years, but the 'take-away' is I didn't need the 810 to get the snaps I wanted. Sure glad I didn't sell the crop frame.
Low shutter count and excessive researching - GUILTY! 😬 Thanks for the nudge, honesty and the examples…you continue to inspire, Mark. Thank you! 👍
Couldn't agree more on point nbr 1. I was always looking for the best equipment and new cameras hitting the market. I spent much more time checking out gear than practising photography until I realised that the equipment doesn't make the difference at least not at the level I am. Currently I ordered myself a ban to see videos about gear and concentrate on advice for taking better pictures for landscape photography with the help of people like you. Some very valuable points in this presentation. Thank you!
Your point #1 is the most important in my opinion.
I spent half of the year researching cameras and lenses (and you need that long if you want to know everything :) ). Just to find out that a new Fuji doesn't deliver much better images (and also image quality) than my 10 year old Nikon :)
Got much more photos last year with my old camera because I spent more time in nature.
Great video! Another big mistake beginners (or experienced landscape photographers with bad taste) make is over-processing their images.
#1 and the worst mistake ever was photographing handheld in bulb mode while during the Charleston. 😁
Guilty on all 8 counts. I think it is almost a right of passage to suffer all these mistakes. I am thankful to have people like yourself to help navigate these situations.
Indeed! Best way to learn!
I think I benefited from starting in mirror-less first since the idea of eye-level just didn't factor for me when my first camera didn't have an EVF. I'd want a photo and would look at the back and didn't like it, so I moved it and kept moving the camera until I got what I wanted. As for landscape vs portrait I think again many benefit from starting on their mobile phones. The cliche 'long road lined with trees' shot always felt like it demanded portrait. I think too many over do portrait these days because of phones, but at the same time, folks used to over do landscape because that's the default orientation of a DSLR. The equipment can change the thinking.
Because of a recent injury (dislocated elbow) I had to revert to an old point-and-shoot camera because I only had one hand available to me. To my surprise, my photography did not dramatically suffer. Just so you know, I was mainly shooting flowers and insects. All of this to say that gear matters but not as much as we are led to believe.
Room, lights, background arrangements... a different level of setup. So pleasant to eyes
Shooting at the right time, something I am thinking about but wasn't able to accomplish. I shoot when I got time for it and that's mostly not the perfect time. :,D
8, 4, 2 are mine. Sometimes I get home and upload photos to Lightroom and I look at some and think "This is a picture of ???" and I swear I saw something that made me want to take the picture, and when I look at the picture, I have no clue what it was.
Haven't watched the whole video yet, but not studying my environment is probably the mistake I made the most and when I started studying my environment I learned I had been missing great compositions in some of my most visited locations.
I'm subscribing to this. You have some very good points. the light part actually helped me because as I am in the "not beginner, slowly creeping into novice" the point about the lightest part being where you focus your composition, was something that helped. And thank goodness, you're not trying to sell equipment!!! Breath of fresh air.
At 12:40 you were little disappointed over the picture. I don’t agree. It’s warm and colourful at left, and the opposite at right. I understand your point, but i feel the WHOLE picture, all elements together, make that picture a really good one! You don’t always need a special focus point in a picture, sometimes it is the sum of all that makes a picture.
While I don't do landscape photography, I can attest to harsh lighting! When I first started, I ALWAYS shot mid-day, because that's when I had the time to take photos (and in the summertime, the sun doesn't go down until 9:00 pm in Michigan 😄). I've recently experienced shooting in "the good lighting" (sunrise and sunset), but I shot some photos mid-day yesterday. I thought it would be okay, since it was overcast, and I really wanted to take some pics of the city with snow on the ground. Well, I'm having a tough time processing them today, and most of them are crap. They're very bland and one-dimensional (gotta love overcast/a non-interesting sky and grey buildings. I don't know what I was thinking lol). My camera setting may have also been off, but there is def something to be said about sunset/pre-sunset lighting... even on overcast/cloudy days. lol
The best camera Is the one you have. Thanks for your insights !!
Excellent advise, especially with regard to equipment... LOL. After working in the film industry for almost 40 years and now retired, I just now getting deeper into stills photography. I would say, watching this video, that photography is like painting, there are no "rule" that you have to follow with regard to orientation or composition. Some of your photographs that you are critical of, for a first time viewer they look very good. Not all but most. I thought that the photo of your wife sitting on the dock in the sunset was brilliant composition wise. Same can be said about Landscape vs. Portrait. working in the film business I sort of learn to "despise" Portrait photography, except human portraits of course, but landscaping photography in portrait mode now seem to focus the eye on the subject better. I find it to be true with drone photography as well.
What to exclude is always a mistake I make. in the examples you showed, how would you have done those differently, cropped more or not even used the subject or? Your videos have taught me the most - thank you!
We all made mistakes and I probably will make quite a few more. I got a g85 with my go to lens now which is the sigma 56mm and having fun with it. If you would have had 2 more rules you could have called it the 10 commandments of landscape Photography Mistake’s 😆. Thanks for taking the time to make such content, appreciated
Number 5 (Shutter Count) is still totally me. I'm still trying to do less "reading about" and "more doing." Another is one of confidence in my abilities. I've grown a whole lot but realize I still have a lot to learn. I often see the glass half empty than half full. Great video to kick off the year.
Love the yellow sony waterproof walkman!
Another great video ! I have definitely spent too much time over the past year making mistake #5. I have been doing photography for many years but lately have spent way too much time watching TH-cam, reading blogs and photography books and not enough time outside finding great photo opportunities. Thanks to you bringing this too my attention. I will be going out this evening with my camera and get back to what I always loved to do.
Thanks for checking out the video Ron - it’s great to hear you enjoyed it!
Another fantastic video Mark, you explain everything so clearly and in a way that resonates with me. Love your numbered approach too. Keep up the fantastic work. 👏🙏
Another great video Mark. Thanks for being transparent and sharing with us your past mistakes to help us all become better photographers.
Outstanding tips, and well articulated. Great work 👍
Thank you Mark - as usual I learned a lot. Excellent info.
Perfect video. Needed it
Thank you Mark for sharing good sense on the 8 mistakes. As always great learning!
LOW SHUTTER COUNT!! I am a researcher as well XD thank you for these tips!!
This is a great video. Thanks for the tips, they are definitely gonna come in handy the next time I do landscapes!
Thank you for sharing your learning experience. Showing your “first” pictures and explaining with those along side really helps and also encourages to grow.
Much appreciated 💖 💖.
Great video Mark 👏🏼
Really enjoy the soft, gentle delivery of helpful information. Thanks.
Good stuff Mark, thanks.
Totally resonates! 👌🏻
Spot on tips and great video!
I really enjoyed this video. I completely agree about mistake #1, although I think they all make sense- A camera is basically a box to capture the light. You don't step up to the next level of gear until your current gear is holding you back.
This is amazing and awesome , I learnt a lots and lots from you , thank you so much for such a wonderful video for us . Keep it up bro ❤️
These resonate for sure, it's a learning process.
Love these mistake videos they are so helpful and how you can give examples is just the best!
great session
Thanks so much for this. I learned a lot from your mistakes. :)
Great information, thanks 🙏
Thank you so much! I am a beginner photographer(a teen) and your videos are very helpful. You make them easy to understand, and engaging to watch. Thanks again!😁
Great tips, thank you!
Bloody good advices !
Grreat tips thanks👍
Great tips Mark, thanks.
Great stuff, thanks a million 👍
I like that you are clear and concise.
Brill video! Only just started getting hot on Edge patrol, great tip!
Great tips as usual, well done
Top vid, really valuable, thanks Mark.
Great advise
Great advice as always.
What a great photo learning video, probably the best I've seen. You explain everything in easy to understand english. It is getting me interesting in photography again. Thank you! By the way I've just subscribed.
very very well explained thanks