Some people harbor a love for nature. Some of them love photography too. Combine the two and what you get are people who love photographing nature. But each field has its own quirks. There are some rules however, that stay with landscape photographers no matter how high up they have reached.

Incorporating some of these tips will help you do better when going out to click landscapes.

1. Map out the location: When heading out for outdoor shoots, map out the location. You may use something like the Ordnance Survey Landranger or visit the place ahead of your planned date to survey the area. This will help you know the route, the elevation, the exact locations of the peaks, lakes and how to reach them, and the best place from where to capture them. If you can do this ahead of time, all you will need to do is just arrive there, position your equipment and start clicking.
2. Use the golden hours: Most photographers avoid shooting during day time. They prefer the light of the dawn and dusk to get the depth required. The sky is splendid with colorful hues around this time. Get the forecast a day ahead and set your alarm clock to wake you up. Or you can go out late and stay back if that is possible to capture some of the best skylines.
3. Use a tripod: Shooting during lowlight when the shutter speed is too low to hold the camera steady is best with a tripod.
4. Shoot in RAW: When doing landscape photography, it is best to use the RAW settings of one’s camera. That way, the resulting photo will contain much more detail. This in turn will enable you to increase or decrease the exposure or enhance the tone and colour using photography processing software.
5. Define a focal point for the picture: Landscape photographs too need a focal point. Use the one-third law and create a focal point in the picture for the viewer to rest his eye on.
6. Maximize the depth of field: Getting experimental with the narrow depth of the field requires getting as much of the scene as possible in focus. The simplest way of achieving this is to use a small aperture setting with which one can create a greater depth. However, the smaller aperture translates to less light which can be tackled by lengthening the shutter speed or increasing the ISO.
7. Think the foreground of the picture: Place points of interest in the picture to make them stand out. These are places where the viewer may rest his eye or find something to pore over, lending depth to the image.
8. Add drama through movement: Landscape isn’t only about still photographs. There could be a winding river, a gust of wind blowing, waves dancing, water flowing from a waterfall, birds in flight: all of these add drama to the picture. This will mean using a small aperture which means longer shutter speed and lesser light, filters, or shooting during the early or later hours of the day.