24th International Mountain & Nature Photography Competition 2013

Video with photos honoured at the 24th International Mountain and Nature Photography Competition "Memorial Maria Luisa".

The Most Romantic Place on Earth

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Landscape Photography

I’ve been into landscape photography for a couple of years now. It’s a fantastic hobby and hugely rewarding, but also has a bit of a learning curve. While I would not consider myself anywhere near a pro at this stage, I’ve picked up on a few useful things here and there. Below are some tips which I hope others who are just starting out in the world of landscape photography will find useful.

Why You Should Research Your Locations

If you are planning a photography trip then it’s important to do some research beforehand. Use the internet to find as much information as you can about your destination. Try to identify potential places of interest and find out the best times of the year to go – some places are much more photogenic in certain seasons while others look great all year round. Try to avoid peak tourist seasons though, as busy places mean more people to get in the way of your shots.

There are some great tools to help you prepare for your trip. Google Maps and Google Earth allow you to get a good idea of exactly how things will look and, in some cases, even enable you to compose your shots from the comfort of your computer! Not all locations have detailed views available but at the very least you can get a rough idea on potential spots to visit.

Another great tool for landscape photographers is The Photographers Ephemeris. This piece of software will tell you the exact time of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset at any given date for any location in the world. Not only that but it will also show you the direction that the sun and moon will be at those times. By knowing exactly where the sun will rise or set, you can plan your shots accordingly.

Whether you are planning a trip or shooting locally, have a look at photos that other landscape photographers have taken in the area. This will give you ideas on potential places to shoot, but don’t simply go and copy their photos, put your own take on them.

Do Some Area Scouting

Once your trip has started the research isn’t quite over yet. While the internet allows you to plan and prepare for your trip, nothing beats being on location in terms of finding the best spots to take photos from. Explore the area in the middle of the day when the light is too harsh to take photos. Doing this enables you to pre-visualize your shots and get some compositions in mind before the actual shoot. The last thing you want to be doing when the light is right is desperately trying to find some good compositions.

This is the most time-consuming and tedious part of a photography trip but unless you have a guide or know the area well, it’s a necessary evil.

Getting Great Composition

Once you have found a good location you still need to decide how to compose your shot. This is a very subjective area and it’s quite hard to describe what makes a good composition and what doesn’t. The best photographers just seem to have ‘a good eye’ for a shot – an innate ability to frame a scene in such a way as to engage the viewer and take the shot from the best possible angle. There are ‘rules’ that you’re supposed to follow, but some of the most amazing photos break these rules so it really comes down to each individual photo. However, keep these guidelines in mind when composing your photos:

• Avoid clutter. Only include things in the frame that you want to present to the viewer. The best photos are clean and simple. If there are unwanted items in the way, such as power poles, cars, roads, buildings etc, try a different angle to hide them from view. Small things can be cloned out in post-processing but larger items will just distract the viewer.

Simple compositions are often the best.

Most Beautiful Mosques In The World

Mosque is a Holy place for Muslims. It refers to its Arabic name – Masjid. A Mosque is a place for worship for all the followers of Islam. Mosques all around the world are well known for the general importance to Muslims as well as for Islamic architecture and representation of Islamic culture. Although Mosque is the place where all the Muslims of the community come together and have their prayers, Mosque can also be the place of beautiful architecture that is famous all around the world.

Beautiful Mosques Photography

Masjid al-Haram (The Holy Mosque) – Saudi Arabia