7 Things You Can do to Make Your Images Look Better Today

There’s no doubt that there’s an abundance of articles and videos available online to help improve your photography. Take CaptureLandscapes as an example; I aim to provide you with the necessary resources to become a better landscape photographer.

However, much of the advice and techniques found online aren’t ‘instant fixes.’ They take time and effort to implement, meaning it will be a long time before you see the effect. While these are undoubtedly important to learn, sometimes quick fixes are just as useful. 

That’s exactly what this article is about. Keep reading, and I’ll share seven things you can do to make your images look better today.

#1 Not Everything Can Be a Good Photo

The most common mistake I see among beginning landscape photographers is the urge to photograph everything you see. While it is essential to spend a lot of time photographing and learning to know your camera, it’s equally vital that you remain somewhat selective of what you choose to photograph – or at least of what you choose to share and add to your portfolio.

Unfortunately, beautiful and photogenic aren’t always the same thing.

Rather than just pointing your camera towards anything that looks pretty in hopes of capturing a good shot, slow down and analyze the scene:

• What do you wish to show through the image?
• What’s the main subject?
• Is the subject easy to see?
• Can you see a good composition?
• Does the light help the scene?
• Are there any distracting elements?
• Is it worth a shot? 

These are all questions you should ask yourself before pressing the shutter button. They will make you more aware of what you’re photographing and force you to slow down.

Accepting that something beautiful isn’t photogenic is never easy. It’s hard to be in a beautiful place where there are no good images to be taken; either there are no good compositions, there’s no natural flow in the image, or perhaps there are too many distracting elements, so you’re not able to emphasize the main subject.

Understanding that not everything can be a good photo is an important step in improving your craft. It might be frustrating, but by being more aware and selective of what you’re photographing, you’ll quickly see that the overall standard of your images will take a big leap ahead.

#2 Straighten the Horizon

Crooked horizons are one of the biggest giveaways that someone is new to photography. If there’s only one thing you should do to make your images look better starting right now, it is to make sure that the horizon is always straight! While there are some scenarios where a leaning horizon might be beneficial for the image, those are few and far between; you should always make sure that it’s straight.

Some cameras, such as the Nikon Z7 and Canon R5, have a built-in Virtual Horizon or Electronic Leveler. This function is most common among top-end cameras, but don’t worry—there’s a small and cheap accessory you can use to ensure you always have a straight horizon: a Hot Shoe Level.

A hot shoe level is a useful gadget when using a tripod for your photography, as you can easily refer to it when framing your image. If you’re not using a tripod, ensure you’ve activated the Grid View in your camera’s viewfinder or Live View and use the vertical lines to see if the image is straight.

In cases where you couldn’t get the horizon straight in the camera, it’s luckily easy to correct in any image editing software.

#3 Avoid Centering the Horizon

Continuing on the subject of horizons, the next thing you should do is to avoid placing the horizon in the center of the frame. This is a very simple yet effective compositional technique that you should consider before capturing an image.

Even though I don’t recommend blindly following the Rule of Thirds, it’s important to understand how it may benefit your image. Try placing the horizon along one of the horizontal guidelines or at least below or above the center. Placing it dead center is distracting to the image’s natural flow and the viewer gets a sense of unnatural separation.

That being said, if you’re photographing a subject such as reflections, breaking this “rule” can be beneficial – just make sure it feels natural to the composition.

#4 Delegate the Space

What’s the most visually pleasing subject of the scenery before you? Is it the beautiful flowers in the foreground? The clouds? A stream? Whatever it is, this subject should fill the main part of the image.

Let’s take the image below as an example. The night sky and the Northern Lights above the snow-covered mountain were the most interesting parts of this scene. To emphasize this, I decided to tilt the camera slightly up.

Now, the reflection was also an important part of the scene, and I used the dark seaweed to frame it as well as possible. Had I instead tilted the camera down, I’d have a lot of dark (and uninteresting) seaweed filling a significant part of the frame. In this case, the background was a lot more appealing than the foreground, hence what became the focus of the image.

That being said, you shouldn’t forget about the composition and overall appearance of the image. If the sunset is amazing and the sky is deep red, that doesn’t mean that you should just point the camera up and fill the frame with the sky – you still need a flow and purpose in the image.

#5 Photograph in the Right Light

Light plays an important part in photography; without it, there’s no image to be captured, as the camera registers the light.

The next big mistake I see commonly made by beginning photographers is the lack of understanding of light. As I mentioned before, beautiful doesn’t mean photogenic; this also counts for the light. For an image to stick out and be more appealing, it must be captured in the right light.

The image can look harsh, flat, or unpleasing in the ‘wrong’ light.

So, what is the right light?

I often hear that good images are only captured during the Golden Hour. While this period offers a soft light that can lead to beautiful images, it’s far from the only time you can capture good photos.

The truth is that good images can be taken at any hour of the day—the most important factor is how the light affects your subject and how you use it.

Recommended Reading: There’s No Such Thing As Bad Light – An Exploration of Creatively Using Midday Light

For example, photographing a waterfall midday during a cloudless day is far from ideal as the light is hard, and the water loses its visual appeal. Ideally, this image should be captured when the light is softer (either due to the sun’s low position or a gray sky). But other great shots are waiting to be captured during the daytime – it’s just a matter of understanding how to benefit from it.

Consider this the next time you’re photographing: How does the light impact the image? By being more aware of this question, you’ll become more selective of the photographs you capture and continue growing as a photographer.

#6 Be Conscious About the Settings

I know it’s tempting to pull out the camera and shoot in every direction, but good images rarely result from this.

While I believe using Semi-Automatic Modes in the early stages can be a good way of understanding the fundamental settings, I strongly recommend that you at least begin flirting with Manual Mode as soon as possible.

Once you’ve got a better understanding of how ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture work, I urge you to be more conscious of them when you’re in the field. Take the time to consider their impact on the image and each other. Are you using the optimal settings? If not, what are they?

Recomended Reading: The Exposure Triangle in Photography [Comprehensive Guide]

This shouldn’t come at the cost of losing a good image, but the more you practice, the more natural it feels. Try arriving on location earlier than you normally would and spending time playing around with the settings; this will make you more prepared when the light improves.

#7 Don’t Shoot for Others

Developing a vision and style is probably the hardest part of landscape photography. With all the “photographers” and “influencers” on Social Media, it can be hard to take a step back and focus on what you want to photograph. It’s so easy to become hung up in the amount of “likes” you get, and it’s becoming common that people start chasing the same locations in the hope of capturing the same image (or maybe even a better version) than their idols have captured before them.

Perhaps you won’t get as many likes photographing your local forest as you would if you photographed Kirkjufell in Iceland, but you’ll have a unique image—one that you’ve created rather than one that you’ve simply copied from others.

The classic locations are classics for a reason, and they are indeed enjoyable to photograph, but the reward is much higher when you come home from an unknown location with an image that people haven’t seen a thousand times before.