Minimal landscapes means cutting out the clutter and focusing
on shapes, lines, angles and negative space.
Tips for minimal landscapes.
1. Keep it simple, look for simple graphic scenes like a
hilltop with nothing but sky as a backdrop.
2. Shoot in black and white, because these scenes are
generally high in contrast, they will look great as a
monochrome conversion.
3. Photograph in the season of winter.
4. Use negative space.
5. Create mystery in your photograph.
6. Record layers in the image.
7. Use of geometric balance between elements in the
scene.
8. Use of contrast, the relationship between light and
darkness in a scene.
9. Use of very long shutter speeds to blur elements like
clouds, water and people to make an image more
mysterious.
10. Shoot towards the light for a silhouette or side light
to reveal more detail and texture.
11. Use colour, use colour to emphasize your subject for
example the bright yellow of a rape field against a blue
sky.
12. Let go of the rule of thirds and place the horizon at the
bottom of the scene.
13. Use apertures of f/8.0 - f/13.0
14. Polarizing filter, use a polarizing filter to make clouds
stand out, it will also darken the amount blue in the
sky.
15. Over Graduate, use a graduated filter higher then
needed to darken the sky.
Negative space - negative space gives your subject room
to breath, Examples of negative space
would be a big sky, the empty expance
of a beach, the Sea or a field.
Empty space - an area of a scene that contains
no details that would distract you
from the main focal point.
Note : For further examples see photographs by Photographer
Michael Kenna.