Landscape Photography: Shoot The Small Stuff, Too!

You're enthralled by the spectacular views from high up a mountain. The wildflowers add the perfect amount of foreground interest as you photograph the immense valley before you. The sunset sparkles on the horizon above the valley and casts brilliant golds and oranges. While this an enticing moment for anybody - with or without a camera - the photographer must step back and notice the small details of the terrain that add to it's grandeur.

Grasses create wonderful abstracts.

Step Back, Then Scoot In!

Some of the most valuable images in nature/landscape photography come from examining the small parts that actually make the landscape what it is. Surely, the Pacific Northwest wouldn't have the look it does without its massive fir trees. Just like no one could think about the Arizona desert without its cacti! It is important for the landscape photographer to "step back, then scoot in" to capture images of these things.

Trees can be found almost everywhere. They are beautiful beings that contain loads of character - plus loads of things to photograph! Roots, branches, gnarly trunks, and the leaves! You can shoot them from millions of angles and produce all-original images. Another thing is that trees are always changing through the seasons. If you find an excellent tree to photograph in the summer, just wait until the fall when the trees come to life with their warm vibrancy!

Shoot the flowers in alpine meadows.

There are more than 3,000 types of grass on Earth. While it seems like a boring plant, grass give you some fantastic abstract photos if you find the right angle. You can find different kinds in countryside fields, marshes, mountains, etc. It's everywhere! If you have a macro lens, you can shoot those tiny water droplets after a rainy day. These are some of the most beautiful photos ever taken.

Other plants can include flowers, bushes, and any other thing imaginable! While everybody is shooting the big, wide-open scenes of massive landscapes, be original and work just as much beauty into photos of small nature. There is an important point to be made here: it's breathtaking to take a photo of a beautiful thing, but even more breathtaking for the photographer to take photos of "ordinary things" and make them look beautiful, too. For example, any photo of Yosemite's El Capitan is going to be appealing, because the rock face is appealing itself! It's up to the photographer to do something original to make it stand out among the rest.