Landscape Photography Cheat Sheet – 9 hacks

Most of them have DSLR or mirrorless cameras these days, but it’s sad to know that they still use the auto mode without experimenting with any of the great features that are available in their camera. You might have seen many great Landscape shots, but before we get in there here are a few things that you need to keep in mind for Landscape photography – The Landscape Photography Cheat Sheet.

Lohajung Roopkund trek Bedni bugyal trek

What are cheat sheets in photography?

Why do I call it a cheat sheet/code? It is just because I remember using some cheat codes while playing computer games during my school days which was more of a shortcut to be more successful. So, it’s good to remember these cheat codes/sheets for landscapes to get some better output.

Cheat sheets are popular with everyone, including photographers. A cheat sheet is a quick approach to learning something new or refreshing your knowledge on any subject, condensed into a group of concise tips, strategies, and definitions.

What settings should I use for landscape photography?

Landscape Photography cheat code
Image captured at Kuduremukha rain forest, Western Ghats, KA, India

What F stop should I use for landscape?

For landscapes I would consider using a wide-angle lens (In the above image I have used Nikon D610 with Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 lens) as it covers more area, but note that a wide-angle lens will compress/scale down the image. Go for a higher aperture so that you can keep everything in focus from foreground to background. Exposure mode is something that can be increased or decreased manually.

To get more of your image in focus, you’ll often want to utilize a larger f stop, or narrow aperture, in landscape photography. Generally, you’ll want to photograph at an aperture of f/8 to f/11, with a maximum of f/16.

What is the best ISO setting for landscape photography?

Keep ISO as low as possible as there is no necessity to bump ISO (too much increase in ISO can bring in unwanted noise in the image). Always keep the shutter speed a bit higher than the focal length thereby avoiding any kind of camera shake. For example: if you are using a 50mm lens then see that the shutter is slightly higher than the reciprocal of these values, in this case, 1/60 sec would be good (when you are not using a tripod). And finally, keep the metering mode to the matrix.

What type of lens is used for landscape photography?

In landscape photography, there are four basic types of lenses that are often employed. Wide or ultra-wide-angle lenses, ordinary zoom lenses, telephoto lenses, and prime lenses are examples of these. The most common lenses for landscape photography are wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle lenses.

Satsar campsite

Is prime lens good for landscape? – With its great wide-angle vision, quick aperture, and low distortion, a prime lens excels at landscape photography. It’s also the quickest lens in this focal length range available for full-frame E-mount cameras from any manufacturer.

Do you need a zoom for landscape photography? – Many landscape photographers just require or desire a handful of prime lenses or a single standard zoom lens. My sole lens for landscape photography for more than a year was a 105mm f/2.8 prime, then I added a 24mm prime and photographed with only those two lenses for another year.

Is a 50mm lens good – The 50mm or 35mm prime lens, on the other hand, is an excellent choice for landscape photography, especially if you’re a novice; it will challenge you to think differently about your shots, release you from the limits of a bulky setup, and offer you with crisp, sharp images quickly. The vision of a 50mm lens is similar to that of a human eye. A wide-angle lens, such as the 14-24mm f2.8, would be ideal.

Do you need a fast lens for landscape photography?

If you’re going to do any astrophotography landscape photography, you’ll need a fast, wide-angle lens. There are a lot of wonderful possibilities from different brands, but you should probably start with a lens that has a maximum aperture of f2. 8 or faster. The wide aperture is what I’m referring to when I say quick lens. So, if you’re shooting in low light, you’ll need a fast lens. You can produce excellent photographs in low light without boosting the ISO by using a fast lens and a long exposure.

Landscape Photography - Leh

What makes a great landscape photo?

In landscape photography, leading lines play a significant function. I’ve published a separate essay about leading lines and how to produce beautiful shots with them. Piers, railways, footpaths, and other leading lines may help to produce engaging landscape photos by transporting the observer further into the scene. Large vistas and leading lines are emphasized with wide and ultra-wide-angle lenses.

Where do you focus on landscape photos?

Simply concentrate at “double the distance” twice the distance between the nearest item in your shot. Find anything around 2 meters away and concentrate there if the nearest item in your shot is a patch of grass one meter away from you at the bottom of your composition. Check out this fascinating article on the Double the Distance Method.

Use of ND filters

cloud movement long exposure shot

The ones mentioned above are the settings that you can try for Landscape Photography. To get more dramatic images in landscape photography, try a slower shutter speed to capture some cloud movement, of course with the help of a tripod and filters. Note that the values/settings that I have mentioned an approx one and don’t always stick to that. Consider these settings to be more like reference values from where you can start and then experiment around these values. Give it a try and let me know if this Landscape Photography cheat sheet was useful.

Hope you find this useful. Also, check out more on the gadgets that I use on my YouTube channel and support my work by subscribing ▶️. You may signup for my fortnightly newsletter by joining my Friend Zone. 

Share to support:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *