Landscape photography for wall art is one of the most technical and challenging genre. But once you’ve mastered it, the results are stunning and personally satisfying. Beautiful landscape photography is mastering the natural elements including natural lighting, sky, clouds and the natural surroundings. Nature is breathtaking. And as a novice in taking landscape photo, you need to arm yourself with research, be industrious, open yourself to different perspective or composition and be patient.

Here are some great tips to get your landscape photo for your wall art:

Chase that great light

Light is an important element in a landscape photo. During sunrise or sunset are the best light to capture a scene with warm and mellow colors, giving your subject more depth and scale. The light creates softer highlights and textural detail, and also adds amazing variation of colors to the landscape scene. Never take a landscape picture on Midday when the light is too harsh and too bright that lightens the color and texture of the landscape and create dark heavy shadows. You’d want the rich colors and textural details that you can almost touch. Follow the “golden hour” rule - this is just after sunrise and just before sunset when the sun’s reddish gold.

It cannot be stressed enough the importance of location to a landscape photo. You must research a great deal about your subject location, time of sunrise and sunset, weather forecast, and the overall condition of the area. Research first, then on a good day, start very early to get to the location and wait for your cue - sunrise. By getting there early, you are maximizing your time in looking for the best composition and in positioning yourself for the perfect shots.

Be Patient

Patience is a virtue developed by great photographers. Because at every minute the scene changes dramatically. The light from the sun, sky, movements of clouds are constantly changing. A sudden rain shower and dispersing clouds can add the depth in color and texture to a landscape photo. Your duty is to wait patiently for the right moment to shoot.

Never forget to use a tripod

Using a tripod ensures you of a sharper image. There is less movement/shaking and easier to get your composition. It is also helpful when the light is low. Capturing scenery using a slow shutter speed or long exposure i.e. flowing water or cloud movements; you need a tripod to keep the camera steady and avoid blurry images from camera shake.

Telephoto lens is a good option

In landscape photo shoot for wall art, a telephoto lens is a good option to help compress the distance from the foreground to background; and to focus on some part of the scene as well as eliminate some distractions. On the other hand, wide-angle lens are commonly used in taking landscape photo as they capture more of the scene.

In image composition, use the Rule of Third

Rule of third is dividing the scene into 9 equal parts, sectioning it with 2 horizontal and 2 vertical lines to make 9 squares. In the four intersections you can identify the four important parts of the landscape scene where you consider placing the highlights or points of interest as you frame the photo.Shoot in raw format - Shoot in raw format and allow the process of postproduction do it’s magic by editing in Photoshop. A great landscape photo for wall art doesn’t have to be perfect in its raw state. Postproduction using Photoshop simply put’s in the colors and textures that you missed or weren’t able to capture during your shoot. Don’t be afraid of imperfect raw images, you can still capture a stunning scene with the help of photo magic.