This beautiful historic building, adorned with bright gold trim sits in the center of Brussels. This photo shows the structure’s intricate detail.

To add a different twist, I placed the camera close to the ground so that the cobblestones become part of an added perspective.

Out in the wilderness with beauty all around, it’s sometimes hard to decide on how best to take that photo.

What is going to look better - horizontal or vertical? Well don’t fret, just go ahead and try both ways and then make your decision afterwards.

I prefer the vertical because it emphasizes the depth of the scene.

But since there is no right or wrong, you decide.

What a view! I jumped out of the car and snapped the gorgeous Grand Tetons from the road at the Jackson Lake Dam. My initial thought was that here’s a view that can’t miss. However, a quick in-camera review revealed the orange floats in the foreground.

For this photo, I just walked twenty feet to the left and snapped. The objectionable orange floats had disappeared and a sliver of beach appeared in the viewfinder to yield what I found to be a more interesting shot. What do you think?

On my recent visit to Yellowstone, I saw this picturesque hot water pool. It was located in a huge geyser basin with many other such pretty views making it difficult for me to recall them all.

My solution was to take a snapshot of the sign describing the site. Even though I don’t intend to print a picture of the sign, I now can recall the Emerald Spring. In this case, I also have some background info about the pool.

Here I framed the large cloud formation using the lovely hanging willow branches. Although the clouds show up with lots of detail, I’d like to see a more dramatic effect.

To add impact, I simply decreased the exposure slightly. You can do this easily by adjusting the camera’s exposure compensation by -1 stop. For an even more dramatic effect, you can reduce the exposure by - 2 stops.

Many photographers zoom in close to the subject. You can see that this photo shows the rock formations in great detail.

Here, the photographer has chosen to zoom out to take in the widest view. In doing this he has nicely framed the formation with the surrounding pine trees. At the same time, the pines add to the depth of the photo.

Frame Cleverly

The photographer shot this picture over a wooden fence. By themselves, the colorful rock formation makes for a very picturesque photo.

Here, he shot kneeling down behind the wooden fence. This time the rock formation was framed by the fence creating an interesting alternative to the first photo.

Step Up

Here’s an indirect landscape shot.

In this example, the photographer has made the tree into the main subject while the mountains are still clearly visible.

To further make the tree more interesting, he moved closer to exaggerate the large tree root. The red mountains are still visible.

Turn the camera

When taking a picture of a tall object such as this mountain on the left, your first reaction may be to take the photo in a vertical orientation.

By turning the camera horizontally, this photographer was able to include more of the pine tree’s branches. The horizontal photo emphasizes the breath of the mountain base and the trees help to frame the mountain.