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There’s no denying that the automatic focus features on the D7000 are great, but sometimes it pays to turn them off and go manual. Typically I shoot all my landscape images using manual focus because this avoids the hassle of having your camera try to guess what you’re focusing on. If you don’t prefer manual…

Large landscape scenes are great fun to photograph, but they can present a problem: Where exactly do you focus when you want everything to be sharp? Since our goal is to create a great landscape photo, we will need to concentrate on how to best create an image that is tack sharp, with a depth…

If you ask any professional landscape photographer what his favorite time of day to shoot is, chances are he will tell you it’s the hours surrounding daybreak and sunset (Figures 7.11). The reason for this is that the light is coming from a very low angle to the landscape, which creates shadows and gives depth…

The image you are photographing is already framed inside the confines of the viewfinder, but placing your subject within another frame can be a good way to draw the viewer’s eyes toward the part of the image you’d like to emphasize (Figure 8.21). You can also give the image a feeling of depth and help…

There is almost nothing as timeless as a beautiful black-and-white landscape photo. For many, it is the purest form of photography. The genre conjures up thoughts of Ansel Adams out in Yosemite Valley, capturing stunning monoliths with his 8 x 10 view camera. Shooting with a digital camera doesn’t mean you can’t create your own…

As mentioned in previous chapters, it’s usually a good idea to avoid placing your subject directly in the center of the frame. Sticking to the rule of thirds principle—placing the subject or horizon line one-third of the way from the edge of the frame—typically results in a pleasing composition (Figure 8.20).

Balancing exposure in scenes that have a wide contrast in tonal ranges can be extremely challenging. The one thing you should never do is overexpose your skies to the point of blowing out your highlights (unless, of course, that is the look you are going for). It’s one thing to have white clouds, but it’s…

Finding ways to draw your viewer’s eyes toward the subject of your photo is important in photographic composition, and one way to do this is to incorporate leading lines in the image (Figure 8.18). You can also use this technique to create a vanishing point when the subject you’re photographing is creating the lines—for example,…

Color can play an extremely important part in composition, and understanding how color works will only help your images. In color theory, every color has an “opposite” color that is complementary. On a color wheel the main colors are red/yellow/blue, and their opposite colors are green/purple/orange. Using these colors correctly can add balance and symmetry…

When shooting landscapes, I always look for great color and contrast. This is one of the reasons that so many landscape shots are taken in the early morning or during sunset. The light is much more vibrant and colorful at these times of day and adds a sense of drama to an image. You can…