When it comes to landscape photography, the lens of choice is almost always some sort of wide angle, whether a 16-35mm, 24mm, or something similar. And while such lenses are absolutely effective in the genre, there is a common mistake landscape photographers make with them, and this helpful video details both what it is and how to correct it. 

Coming to you from Henry Turner, this excellent video discusses the lack of foregrounds with wide angle lenses in landscape photography. I see this quite a bit (and was guilty of it for a long time). It is a natural instinct to see a beautiful scene and want to use a wide angle lens to capture in all in the frame. The problem, however, is that wide angle lenses tend to push things away from them and shrink them, which means without something prominent in the foreground, the scene can end up looking like a flat, two-dimensional backdrop with nothing to lend it depth or a sense of scale. Using a foreground element judiciously can restore that sense of depth, and it also provides the viewer’s eye a place to enter the image and explore it. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Turner. 

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out “Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi.”