Picture this: The dos and don’ts of capturing holiday scenery shots

A picture speaks a thousand words so, with the summer holiday season upon us, now is the time to hone your landscape photography
From getting the ultimate ‘golden hour’ timing to choosing your focus, holidaycottages.co.uk worked with photographer Rich Wilson for the low-down on capturing the perfect landscape shot

When it comes to holidays, a picture speaks a thousand words – but have you found that the scenic shots you take don’t always have the wow factor you expect?

With summer staycation season around the corner, holidaycottages.co.uk has enlisted photographer Richard Wilson to reveal the dos and don’ts of taking picture-perfect landscape scenery shots.

From a little ‘golden hour’ boost, to choosing the perfect focus, these tips will help you become a great landscape photographer in no time.

1. Landscape your scenery

It’s time to do some landscaping, but put down your shovel as we’re not talking about gardening.

Richard Wilson explains: “When approaching your shot, around nine out of 10 scenery shots should always be taken in landscape orientation, making sure you capture most of the scene in the shot. Generally, you should use the ‘rule of thirds’ – this means your image should take up two-thirds of the image or oppositely use two-thirds of space.”

2. Utilise natural lighting

“When taking landscape shots, you should always utilise natural lighting to the best of its ability,” Richard advises. “The best landscape shots will usually be taken at ‘golden hour’ which just after sunrise or before sunset, or ‘blue hour’ which occurs around dusk, where the sky takes on an inky blue colour. This natural light usually reduces harsh contrasts and gives the photographer multiple shots as the light, shadows and contrasts are forever changing.”

3. Always be patient

Taking photography shots in public areas means you most definitely can’t landscape your environment. So, patience is key when it comes to capturing the picture-perfect moment.

“Always choose your timing right if there are lots of people,” says Richard. “It pays to wait; wait for them to move and pass, so you can get the perfect lighting composition. Forward planning can also be beneficial, so make sure to check weather forecasts before leaving, maximising your opportunity for the perfect weather conditions.”

4. Choose your focus

Although the beautiful natural landscape can have lots of stunning features to draw your eyes to, for the best landscape shot you need to be decisive on your focal point.

Richard suggests: “Try using a ‘leading line’ which are lines that appear in a photograph that have been framed and positioned by the photographer to draw the viewer's eye towards a specific point of interest. This could be a river, road or even a row of breathtaking trees.”

5. Don’t look back into the sun

“Don’t shoot into direct, midday sunlight, this will overexpose your image and make it too bright or overcompensate the black colour range. Not to mention, it can be damaging to your eyesight!” says Richard.

6. Get snap happy and take multiple images

“Taking the right image can sometimes be like a roulette – and the more images you take, the better chance you have of getting that perfect shot,” recommends Richard. “Although one image may have the perfect angle, it may be blurred, too bright, overexposed, or out of focus.” You can also create collages by using Adobe Express collages to combine multiple pics in one place.

7. Use your phone’s camera tool

Finally, Richard advises: “Although it can be tempting to take your landscape shot and upload it to straight to your Instagram story, this can sometimes damage the quality of the image. Always use the phone’s camera tool, as this will help keep the image high quality, where you can later upload the image onto the app.”

Commenting on the tips, Shannon Keary, Digital PR Manager at holidaycottages.co.uk, says: “We all know the struggle of trying to showcase the beautiful destinations we visited on our holidays, but then when we look at our camera roll, it’s a series of blurred shots and low-light images!

“So, we hope by gaining insight on landscape photography, we can help our guests snap a slice of paradise to be remembered in their camera rolls forever.”

For some inspiration on beautiful places to photograph this spring, please visit: https://www.holidaycottages.co.uk/blog/beautiful-places-photograph-spring