The first thing most landscape photographers do upon arriving on location is open their bag and mount a favorite wide-angle lens on their camera. But using the right lens doesn’t guarantee great results unless you understand the “essential” techniques for getting the job done.

One big challenge with landscape photography is that outdoor scenes are often quite complicated—with some really important elements and others that may detract from a photo. This particular consideration can be even more difficult when shooting with wide lenses because of the expansive perspective they provide.

Today you’ll learn what one landscape pro says are four methods he always relies upon when shooting with wide-angle lenses, and you can do the same to compose and capture stunning landscape photos by following his straightforward advice.

Instructor Oliver Whone is a professional landscape photographer based on the beautiful southern island of Tasmania. And he’s just as passionate about helping others elevate their skills as he is about capturing the beauty of our natural world. Be sure to watch until the end, when Whone provides an inspirational gallery of his amazing work.

The first technique involves carefully scrutinizing a scene before you pull the camera up to your eye, with the goal of identifying a compelling subject and then finding leading lines to guide a viewer’s eye through the frame. Whone takes pride in being a successful visual storyteller and his compositional skills that enable him to simplify complex scenes. We’ve discussed the power of leading lines before, but Whone really nails the concept.

Whone summarizes his second technique in just five words: “Go low and tilt down.” Rather than taking the common approach of shooting from eye level, he prefers to find a low vantage point and angle the camera down toward the ground. This method may seem self-explanatory, but there’s a bit more to understand as you’ll see while watching Whone do his thing.

Technique #3 applies when photographing the type of element-rich scenes that we mentioned above. Here Whone provides another five-word explanation, “Fill your frame with value.” This approach could be described as “careful cropping within the camera.” It requires some thought, self-control, and a practiced eye to compose an image that only includes vital information while eliminating everything else that mucks up the shot.

Last on the list, but no less important, is learning how to focus-stack a scene. This one is a logical extension of the three previous tips because you’ll likely end up with crucial elements close to the camera position—thereby resulting in compromised depth of field. As you may know, this technique involves shooting multiple shots of the same scene—each with a different point of focus—and Whone demonstrates how it’s done.

There’s plenty more to learn about shooting epic landscape photos on Whone’s YouTube channel. So be sure to take a look when you have time. And don’t miss an earlier tutorial we posted from another landscape expert, explaining how to shoot breathtaking photographs in “ugly” bright light.

Ok Lightroom users, do you fully understand the difference between color grading and color correction when editing your photos? If you’re not completely sure, the video below from the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom channel will straighten you out in a hurry, while demonstrating a quick and easy color-grading method for enhancing tonal effects and vibrance in Lightroom.

Instructor Julieanne Kost is a notable photographer, author, and expert at all things Adobe who describes herself as a “digital-editing evangelist.” Before jumping into her super simple workflow she answers the question posed above.

Kost explains that “color correction is the process of making images appear accurate and true to the original scene. Color grading, on the other hand, involves adding creative color effects to a photo.” This four-minute lesson is all about the latter.

The way in which you depict color is critically important for a number of reasons. As Kost says, “it can help shape the story you want to tell and focus a viewer’s attention on a certain spot within the frame.” Color rendition is also helpful for setting a variety of moods. Kost explains that warmer tones “make us feel happy” while cooler color can often “make us feel sad.”

The colors you convey in an image will often stir our emotions, with bright colors rousing a viewer’s energy and muted colors providing a calming effect. The foregoing is why color grading is a very subjective process that depends upon whatever look and feel you want to create.

While taking following approach there’s no need to fret about whether or not the final result faithfully represents what you saw through the viewfinder, and that’s what makes color grading so much fun. Think of this task as a creative outlet for expressing your artistic vision and save color corrections for another day when realism is the goal.

Lightroom offers a wide variety of tools for getting the job done, and some are rather time-consuming and complex. The basic method you’ll learn in this video below is perfect for photographers who are new to Lightroom. And you’ll achieve very impressive results despite the simplicity of Kost’s approach. Once you get the hang of it you can move on to more and more sophisticated techniques.

After watching the lesson take time tine to explore Kost’s instructional YouTube channel. Whether you just want to browse or solve a particular problem, there’s a whole lot there to learn.

And if you’re looking for another simple explainer, take a look at the tutorial we posted from another processing expert who demystifies how Vibrance and Saturation tools work differently to improve the color of your photos.

Getting the light right is perhaps the most essential component of all great images, whether they’re captured indoor or out. But there’s another crucial component that can really add depth and impact to a photo, namely the thoughtful use of shadows.

This tutorial from our friends at the Photographic Eye YouTube channel takes a deep dive into this oft-ignored element that can have  profound effect on the images you create by shaping the tone, feel, and structure of a photograph. British pro Alex Kilbee says, “Shadows not only define the esthetic of an image, but they can also enhance colors, create intrigue, and frame your subject in unique ways.

Kilbee take a different approach by illustrating this lesson points with images from several of the world’s most iconic shooters rather than his own. He notes that he does so with “fair use” rules that permit limited use of copyrighted material “without explicit permission from the copyright holder.”

Kilbee curated these amazing photos to illustrate a variety of the tips he reveals in barely 10 minutes. He draws upon the likes of legendary pros like fashion photographer Herb Ritts who sadly passed away last December. While Ritts often used hard angular shadows to define shape and form, you’ll also see how other luminaries employ softer and “almost invisible” shadows to create subtle, more subliminal effects.

You can also use the heightened contrast that occurs when including shadows in the frame to create mystery, intrigue, and a wide variety of moods. While watching the video and viewing the astounding imagery it quickly becomes apparent that a thoughtful approach to composition is a key aspect of this technique

Kilbee says one goal of this interesting episode is to help you develop the “art of seeing,” and your visual storytelling skills—all the while taking your work to a higher level of artistic expression. We’re going to step back and let Kilbee and the images speak for themselves as you learn about this very effective technique.

Let’s just say that you’ll receive a heavy dose of inspiration as you watch. You can find more eye-opening lessons by paying a visit to the popular Photographic Eye YouTube channel.

And speaking of light (and dark), don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another accomplished pro who provides several helpful tips for capturing eye-catching images under harsh, bright conditions.