Notes · PhotographyUK · A-Levels

Landscape photography

Landscape photography depicts place and environment - urban, rural and coastal - and is one of photography's oldest and most beloved genres. This area of study teaches what landscape photography is and its kinds; how light, weather, season and time of day transform a landscape (and why the golden hour is prized); how composition and depth (foreground, middle ground and background, and depth of field) build a sense of space; the major approaches and traditions, from the sublime to the topographic and the altered landscape, studied as method; and how to develop a sustained landscape enquiry across the four assessment objectives.

4 sections~19 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Foundation 1 · Standard 2 · Advanced 1

T·0888 / 15

Exam profile

AO1 · Research and analyse landscape photographers and traditionsAO2 · Control light, depth and composition in the landscapeAO4 · Present a personal and meaningful landscape response

Operators:frameexposewaitcomposeexplore

basic level

AS-Level expects competent landscape work with controlled light and composition and a developing personal direction.

higher level

The full A-Level expects sophisticated, personal landscape work that uses light, depth and composition to realise an intention.

Depth

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Contents · 4 sections

Landscape photography

What landscape photography is#

FoundationAQA 7206 Photography (landscape)Ofqual GCE Art and Design subject content

Kinds of landscape

Fig. 1Landscape photography spans rural, coastal and urban environments - and embraces ordinary and altered places, not only unspoilt nature.

Landscape photography takes place and environment as its subject - the land, the sea, the sky and the built world. The specification names urban, rural and coastal environments, and each offers a distinct kind of landscape: the rural landscape of countryside, mountains, fields and wilderness; the coastal landscape of shorelines, seas, cliffs and harbours; and the urban landscape of cities, streets, buildings and industrial spaces. Landscape need not mean unspoilt nature - a car park, a housing estate or a motorway is as much a landscape as a mountain range, and contemporary landscape photography embraces the ordinary and the altered as readily as the sublime.

Although landscape can seem simply a matter of pointing the camera at a beautiful view, considered landscape photography is highly deliberate. The landscape photographer cannot move the subject, so their art lies almost entirely in choices of viewpoint, framing, light and moment: where to stand, what to include and exclude, when to shoot (in what light and weather), and how to compose the vast, complex space of a scene into an ordered rectangle. A great landscape photograph is not just a record of a place but an interpretation of it - a construction of mood, space and meaning from an environment the photographer found but did not make.

Light and time are central to landscape, more than to almost any other genre, because the landscape photographer works with found, changing natural light. The same view is utterly transformed by the light and weather - dawn mist, harsh midday sun, golden evening light, storm, snow - and by the season. Much of landscape photography is therefore about waiting and returning: being in the right place at the right time, or coming back until the light is right. This patience and responsiveness to natural conditions is a defining discipline of the genre, and it is why landscape rewards repeated visits and careful observation.

Landscape photography also carries ideas and feelings, not just views. A landscape can evoke the sublime (the awe and smallness we feel before vast nature), tranquillity, desolation, nostalgia, or unease; it can comment on our relationship with the environment, on industry and its scars, on the ordinary places we overlook, or on change and time. The mood and meaning come from the photographer's choices of light, composition and treatment, and from what they choose to photograph. So a landscape enquiry can be about a place, but it is usually also about an idea or a feeling that the place embodies.

For a student, landscape is an accessible yet demanding area of study. Accessible, because landscapes are all around you - your own town, coast or countryside - and can be photographed from first-hand readily (strong AO3). Demanding, because a strong landscape requires real control of light, depth and composition and a personal point of view, not just a pretty view. It connects to a rich tradition of landscape photographers (AO1), and it rewards patience, observation and a developing sense of the place and idea you want to explore - making it fertile ground for a sustained personal enquiry.

Worked example

Interpreting an ordinary place as landscape

A student thinks their flat, unremarkable hometown offers nothing for landscape. Show how it can become a landscape enquiry.

Reframe what landscape is
Landscape includes the urban and the ordinary - a retail park, a canal, a housing estate - so the hometown is full of potential subjects, not empty of them.
Find an idea
Look for an idea the place embodies: perhaps the quiet emptiness of edge-of-town spaces, or the beauty in overlooked industrial structures, giving the work a point of view.
Use light and time
Photograph these ordinary places at dawn, dusk or in unusual weather, when transforming light lends the familiar an unexpected mood.
Compose deliberately
Compose carefully - viewpoint, depth, framing - to interpret rather than merely record, turning ordinary places into considered landscapes.

Result: The 'unremarkable' town becomes a landscape enquiry once the student embraces the urban and ordinary, finds an idea, and uses light and composition to interpret it - landscape as interpretation, not just scenery.

Typical mistakes

Thinking landscape means only beautiful natural scenery, ignoring urban and altered landscapes.
Treating a landscape as a quick record of a view rather than a deliberate interpretation dependent on light, composition and timing.

Active revision

Photograph one nearby landscape (urban, rural or coastal) at two very different times of day or in two different weathers; compare how the light and conditions transform the same place and its mood.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Art and Design (7201-7206) specification (AQA)

Light, weather and time of day#

StandardAQA 7206 Photography (natural light)Ofqual GCE Art and Design subject content

In landscape photography, light is everything, and because it is natural light the photographer must read, choose and wait for it rather than control it. The quality, direction and colour of daylight change constantly through the day and with the weather, and each condition transforms a landscape. Learning to see the light - to notice its direction, hardness and colour, and to previsualise how it will render a scene - and to shoot when the light is right (or return until it is) is the defining skill of landscape work. A magnificent view in flat, dull light makes a poor photograph; an ordinary view in glorious light can make a great one.

The times of day prized by landscape photographers are the 'golden hours' near sunrise and sunset, when the sun is low. Then the light is warm in colour (golden to red), soft and directional, and rakes across the landscape at a low angle, modelling form and texture with long shadows and giving a beautiful, atmospheric quality. The 'blue hour' just before sunrise or after sunset gives a cool, soft, tranquil light. By contrast, the harsh overhead light of midday is high in contrast, flat in its top-down direction, and often unflattering for landscape - which is why serious landscape photographers are often out at dawn and dusk and resting at noon.

Weather is as important as time of day, and 'bad' weather often makes the best landscapes. Mist and fog simplify a scene, hide clutter, separate planes into receding tones and create mood and mystery; storm light (dramatic clouds, shafts of sun) gives drama and contrast; rain, snow and frost transform a landscape's surface and mood; a heavy grey overcast gives soft, even light good for detail and for a subdued palette. The landscape photographer learns to welcome and use changeable, dramatic weather rather than waiting only for clear blue skies, which are often the least interesting condition.

Season adds a further layer of transformation. The same landscape is a different subject in the fresh green of spring, the lushness of summer, the colour of autumn, and the bare, stark, snow-covered forms of winter, and the low sun of winter gives golden-hour light for much of the day. Photographing a place across the seasons - returning to the same view repeatedly - is a classic landscape project that reveals both the place and the passage of time, and it demonstrates the patience and observation the genre rewards.

For your practice, plan around the light: know when sunrise and sunset fall, be out in the golden and blue hours, watch the weather and go out in the dramatic conditions others avoid, and be prepared to return to a location until the light and conditions are right. Record your observations of how light and weather change a place (AO3), and let the light shape the mood of your response (AO4). Because landscape depends so completely on found, changing natural light, mastering the reading of light and the discipline of timing and returning is the heart of the genre.

Worked example

Planning a landscape shoot around the light

A student wants an atmospheric, moody image of a hilltop. How should they plan for the light and weather?

Choose the time of day
Plan for the golden hour near sunrise or sunset, when low, warm, directional light will rake across the hill, modelling its form and casting long shadows for atmosphere.
Watch the weather
Choose a day promising mist, dramatic cloud or storm light rather than a flat blue sky, so the conditions add mood and separate the landscape into atmospheric planes.
Arrive early and wait
Arrive before the light peaks, compose in advance, and wait - the best light and conditions last minutes, and may require returning on another day.
Expose for mood
Expose to preserve the atmospheric light (perhaps slightly underexposing to keep a moody, low-key feel) and shoot RAW to shape the tones in processing.

Result: Planning for golden-hour light and atmospheric weather, arriving early and waiting, and exposing for mood gives the atmospheric hilltop image - the landscape discipline of reading and timing the light.

Typical mistakes

Shooting landscapes in harsh midday sun or waiting only for clear blue skies, missing the best light and weather.
Treating light as fixed rather than reading it, choosing the time of day, and returning until it is right.

Active revision

Photograph the same landscape at golden hour, at midday, and in overcast or misty weather; compare how the light and conditions change its mood, form and colour, and note which best suits your intention.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications (Ofqual)

Composition and depth in the landscape#

StandardAQA 7206 Photography (landscape composition)Ofqual GCE Art and Design subject content

Depth in the landscape: foreground, middle ground and background

Fig. 2A sense of depth comes from layering foreground, middle ground and background, with the horizon on a third; a small aperture keeps all the layers sharp.

Composing a landscape means turning the vast, complex, three-dimensional space of a scene into an ordered two-dimensional rectangle, and the great challenge is to create a sense of depth and to guide the eye through the space. The most important compositional device is layering the image into foreground, middle ground and background: including something of interest near the camera (foreground), something in the middle distance, and the far distance or horizon, so the eye travels through the layers and the flat image gains a convincing sense of depth. A landscape with an empty foreground often feels flat and disengaging; a strong foreground pulls the viewer in.

Depth of field is the technical partner of this compositional depth. Landscape photographers typically want everything sharp from the near foreground to the distant background, which requires a deep depth of field - and so a small aperture (a large f-number such as f/11 or f/16). Combined with a wide-angle lens (which exaggerates the sense of space and takes in the sweep of the scene) and careful focusing into the scene, the small aperture keeps the whole depth acceptably sharp. The resulting slow shutter speed usually means a tripod, which also allows careful composition and sharp images in low golden-hour light.

The other compositional principles apply strongly in landscape. The horizon should usually sit on a third, not the middle, placed to feature either a dramatic sky or an interesting foreground. Leading lines - a path, river, wall, furrow or shoreline - are powerful for drawing the eye from the foreground into the scene toward a focal point. A focal point (a tree, building, figure or peak) gives the eye a destination and stops the landscape being an unfocused sprawl. And the framing must decide what to include and exclude to make an ordered image from the chaos of a real place.

Viewpoint is as important in landscape as anywhere, though it is often forgotten because the subject is so large. Moving even a little - getting low to emphasise a foreground, climbing for an overview, shifting to align elements or to place the sun behind a feature - transforms the composition. A low viewpoint with a strong foreground and a wide lens gives the classic immersive, deep-space landscape; a high viewpoint can turn a landscape into a pattern or a map. Working the viewpoint, rather than shooting from the first spot you reach, is part of composing the landscape deliberately.

For your practice, compose landscapes for depth and order: build foreground, middle ground and background layers; use a small aperture and a tripod for front-to-back sharpness; place the horizon on a third and use leading lines to a focal point; and work the viewpoint. These give a landscape a sense of space, a path for the eye and a clear structure - turning a view into a considered photograph. Because the landscape photographer's control lies almost entirely in composition, light and timing, mastering landscape composition is central to the genre and directly serves AO4's demand for connected visual elements.

Worked example

Fixing a flat landscape with depth and settings

A student's mountain photo looks flat and empty, with the peaks small and distant. Improve the composition and settings.

Add a foreground
Find a foreground element - rocks, a stream, flowers, a fence - and include it near the camera, so the eye enters there and travels back to the peaks, creating depth.
Layer the space
Compose so there is a foreground, a middle ground and the distant peaks, layering the scene so the flat image gains a convincing sense of three-dimensional space.
Set for deep sharpness
Use a small aperture (f/16), a wide-angle lens and a tripod, focusing into the scene, so the near foreground and the far peaks are all sharp.
Compose the frame
Put the horizon on a third, use a leading line (the stream or path) from the foreground toward the peaks, and work the viewpoint low to strengthen the foreground.

Result: A strong foreground, layered depth, a small aperture on a tripod, and leading lines turn the flat, empty mountain shot into an immersive, deep landscape - composition and settings creating a sense of space.

Typical mistakes

Leaving an empty foreground so the landscape feels flat, with no sense of depth and nothing to pull the eye in.
Using a wide aperture (shallow field) for a landscape meant to be sharp front to back, or centring the horizon by default.

Active revision

Compose a landscape with a strong foreground element, a middle ground and a distant background, shot at f/16 on a tripod; place the horizon on a third and use a leading line into the scene, and compare it with a flat, foreground-less version.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Art and Design (7201-7206) specification (AQA)

Approaches, traditions and a landscape enquiry#

AdvancedAQA 7206 Photography (landscape practitioners)Ofqual GCE Art and Design subject content

Developing a landscape enquiry

Fig. 3A landscape enquiry across the AOs: a place or idea drives research into landscape traditions (AO1) and repeated, controlled shooting (AO2/AO3), edited to a resolved landscape response (AO4).

Landscape photography has distinct traditions and approaches, and knowing them (AO1) helps you locate your own work and gives it a point of view. The best-known is the tradition of the sublime, grand landscape - the wilderness photographed for its awe and beauty, of which Ansel Adams is the most famous exponent. Adams used a large-format camera, small apertures for extraordinary front-to-back sharpness, and his systematic 'zone system' of exposure and development to achieve precisely controlled, luminous black-and-white tonal ranges, producing majestic images of the American West. Studying his approach teaches technical control, tonal command and the sublime tradition.

A very different tradition treats the landscape coolly and objectively, focusing on the ordinary and the human-altered. The 'New Topographics' photographers of the 1970s deliberately turned away from the sublime to photograph the banal, man-altered landscape - car parks, tract housing, industrial sites - in a plain, deadpan, often black-and-white style, prompting a rethinking of what landscape photography could be. Related is the typological approach of Bernd and Hilla Becher, who photographed industrial structures (water towers, winding towers) in a consistent, neutral way as grids of types. These traditions show landscape as a cool, conceptual, critical practice rather than a celebration of beauty.

Between and beyond these lie many other approaches: the intimate landscape (close, detailed studies of a small patch of nature rather than grand vistas); the romantic or atmospheric landscape (mood and weather foregrounded); the documentary landscape (recording places and their change); and the constructed or manipulated landscape (using montage or staging). British landscape photographers have explored the particular, often melancholy, human-marked countryside of these islands. Knowing this range means you can choose the tradition your own work belongs to - grand or ordinary, celebratory or critical, sharp or atmospheric - and pursue it deliberately.

When you study a landscape photographer for AO1, analyse their approach and its meaning: how do they use light, viewpoint, depth and composition; what kind of landscape do they photograph and how do they treat it; and what does their approach say about their relationship to place and nature? Place the work in its context and tradition, and draw out what is useful for your own enquiry - a technical approach (Adams's tonal control), a conceptual structure (the Bechers' typology), an attitude to the ordinary (New Topographics), or an atmospheric treatment. Reference photographers as neutral illustrations of approaches, analysed closely and connected to your own work.

Developing a landscape enquiry means choosing a place or an idea and pursuing it across the AOs: researching relevant landscape traditions and photographers (AO1), returning to shoot in different light and conditions and controlling depth and composition (AO2/AO3), and editing toward a resolved, personal landscape response (AO4). A strong landscape enquiry has a point of view - it is about a particular place, or an idea the place embodies (change, emptiness, beauty, industry, memory), pursued with patience and a personal eye. The genre rewards sustained engagement with a place and a developing sense of what you want your landscapes to say.

Worked example

Choosing a tradition for a personal landscape enquiry

A student is interested in the edge-of-town industrial estates near their home. Which landscape tradition fits, and how do they develop it?

Match the tradition
The banal, human-altered, unglamorous subject fits the New Topographics and topographic/typological traditions far better than the sublime - a cool, plain, observational approach.
Research the approach
Research New Topographics and typological photographers such as the Bechers, analysing their neutral style and how it makes the ordinary and industrial into a subject (AO1).
Shoot in that spirit
Photograph the estates in a consistent, plain, deadpan way - flat light, frontal viewpoints, careful framing - perhaps as a typology of similar structures (AO2/AO3).
Edit to a resolved set
Edit into a coherent, consistent series that presents the overlooked industrial landscape as a considered subject, with a clear cool, observational point of view (AO4).

Result: The industrial-estate subject fits the topographic tradition; researching it, shooting a consistent deadpan series and editing to a coherent typology develops a personal landscape enquiry with a real point of view.

Typical mistakes

Making landscapes with no point of view - pretty views with nothing to say - rather than pursuing a place or idea.
Describing a landscape photographer rather than analysing their approach, tradition and meaning and connecting it to your own work.

Active revision

Research one landscape photographer from the sublime tradition and one from the topographic/typological tradition, analyse how differently they treat the landscape, and plan a personal landscape enquiry with a clear point of view.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications (Ofqual)

References & sources

Sources

AQA

AQA AS and A-level Art and Design (7201-7206) specification

Ofqual

Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications

Landscape photography

4 sections~19 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Foundation 1 · Standard 2 · Advanced 1

Landscape photography

Key points

Interpreting an ordinary place as landscape

Key points

Planning a landscape shoot around the light

Key points

Fixing a flat landscape with depth and settings

Key points

Choosing a tradition for a personal landscape enquiry

Sources

Landscape photography

Key points

Interpreting an ordinary place as landscape

Key points

Planning a landscape shoot around the light

Key points

Fixing a flat landscape with depth and settings

Key points

Choosing a tradition for a personal landscape enquiry

Sources