DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Seven beginner landscape photography composition mistakes you need to avoid

Mar 21, 2022 by John Aldred Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

We all make mistakes in photography, especially when we’re new to it and still learning. The sad thing is, no matter how long you choose to pursue photography and no matter how good you get, you’ll keep making mistakes. The important thing is that we are able to recognise them, acknowledge them and learn from them in order to keep improving.

That’s the focus of this video from Nigel Danson, who goes over seven compositional mistakes he often sees from beginners. And he’s not judging, because he admits he’s made these mistakes himself and provides examples of where he’s done it. But he also shows how he identified the problem and how he went about solving things.

After starting of with an explanation of exactly what composition is, Nigel breaks down his seven tips in quite some depth. He shows some photographs he’s created where he made the mistakes and how he went about correcting them. Chances are, many of these (if not all of them) will be mistakes you’ve either made already or will do at some point during your photography.

  • 2:37 – Having the scene too tightly packed together
  • 6:18 – Not using negative space effectively
  • 7:48 – Not thinking about light in the composition
  • 13:00 – Not thinking about how elements connect together
  • 17:11 – Including the whole scene but ignoring the parts within
  • 18:40 – Not using the foreground to your advantage
  • 21:32 – Not taking enough time to really consider the shot

While the tips mentioned in the video are related to photographing landscapes, the principles can also be adapted to just about any genre. Food, macro, product, events, weddings, all of them can fall foul of compositional mistakes like these. Perhaps it’s just having a product amongst too much clutter on a tabletop or putting your bride and groom too close to the edge of the frame, they can all be adapted to fit other genres.

The trick, as Nigel says right at the beginning, is to look back at your work, really study them and try to figure out why they failed so that the next time you head out, you’ve got a bit more direction in what to try next!

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Avoid these seven mistakes all beginner landscape photographers make Seven composition tips to boost your landscape photography now Five composition mistakes you should avoid with your photography and how to fix them Costly landscape photography mistakes and how to avoid them

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: composition, inspiration, landscape photography, Mistakes, Nigel Danson, tutorial

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« Did you know that “ghost photography” was once a thing? Here’s how it was (probably) done
Kodak Gold 200 comes back in 120 format after 25 years »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy