Compose to captivate: Landscape compositions 101 (Part one)

By Richard Young | 18 June 2025
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This is part one of a two part series on landscape competition. We'll publish part two next week.

Composition is all about determining the story you wish for your photograph to tell, and then balancing elements in the frame as you decide how you want to portray them.

When you look across a landscape with your naked eye, your brain quickly picks out subjects of interest. But the camera doesn’t discriminate—it captures everything in view of the lens, which can lead to a cluttered, messy picture with no clear focal point.

Working out what is required to create a good composition involves working out what your subject is and how you wish to place it in the frame. So the first point of the approach to any composition is to choose your primary subject—this might be a mountain peak, some rocks on the beach or maybe an interesting sky.

Sometimes it is about focusing on the details in the landscape rather than the whole vista. I knew there was a photograph here as soon as I found this shattered ice pushed up on the side of the lake. While an interesting subject, it did not provide a photograph easily and I had to work hard to align the placement of all the layers within the frame. Like all good compositions, it was a challenge to compose. Once I was satisfied with the composition, I waited for the sun to slip onto the horizon and illuminate the shards.
Sometimes it is about focusing on the details in the landscape rather than the whole vista. I knew there was a photograph here as soon as I found this shattered ice pushed up on the side of the lake. While an interesting subject, it did not provide a photograph easily and I had to work hard to align the placement of all the layers within the frame. Like all good compositions, it was a challenge to compose. Once I was satisfied with the composition, I waited for the sun to slip onto the horizon and illuminate the shards.

Make your primary subject dominate your shot; don’t leave your viewer lost and looking around for your subject. The next part of building your composition is working out the placement of other objects within the frame—do these add to the story, or do you need to remove or reduce their presence?

In this article, I offer some points to consider when building a composition. I have focused this on photographing the grand landscape, the vista, but much of this advice can also be applied to other styles of landscape photography or even different genres.

Although I have presented these in a logical thought process, this is not meant to be a step-by-step guide on “how to build a composition”; there never can be such a thing.

While these insights offer some guidance, you can't simply learn how to make better compositions by a textbook approach; making great compositions is more about discovering your expressive voice as a landscape photographer and the story you choose to tell.

I’m often drawn to capturing smaller details as opposed to the grand landscape. But sometimes, a rare moment arises where I’m able to successfully pull both together - placing the smaller details within the grand landscape. The layers of frosty grass provide depth in the frame and a focal point without being too bold that it overpowers the peaks behind. The final print gives me the feeling that I’m still standing there, looking at the landscape on that perfect winter’s morning.
I’m often drawn to capturing smaller details as opposed to the grand landscape. But sometimes, a rare moment arises where I’m able to successfully pull both together - placing the smaller details within the grand landscape. The layers of frosty grass provide depth in the frame and a focal point without being too bold that it overpowers the peaks behind. The final print gives me the feeling that I’m still standing there, looking at the landscape on that perfect winter’s morning.

Find Your Subject

When we think of landscape photography, we often envision grand vistas that capture the entire scene before us. You might think that the grand landscape does not have a specific “subject” and the whole landscape is the subject.

But even when working on wider scenes, it’s crucial to determine the story you wish to tell. Identify the key part of the landscape you want to highlight and give it the most visual weight in your composition. If the sky is full of colour, lower the horizon, but if there is an interesting foreground you want to make more of a feature of, nudge the horizon up a bit.

Likewise, if there is a part of the landscape that you want to include, such as a rock on the beach, a beautiful tussock grass, or a glowing mountain peak, make sure you fill enough of the frame to allow this to be a prominent subject in the final image.

Make your subject dominate the frame—your viewer should not need to look around to find it.

A perfect reflection–this shot is all about symmetry and balance from this calm tidal pool. I positioned my tripod as low as possible to increase the size of the reflection making it comparable to that of the islands. The subject was placed dead-center, surrounded by ample negative space, enabling it to dominate the frame and create a striking photograph. The 4x5 aspect ratio works well for this photograph, adding equal negative space to the sides and top and bottom allowing the subject to breathe and further accentuating the symmetry within the frame.
A perfect reflection–this shot is all about symmetry and balance from this calm tidal pool. I positioned my tripod as low as possible to increase the size of the reflection making it comparable to that of the islands. The subject was placed dead-center, surrounded by ample negative space, enabling it to dominate the frame and create a striking photograph. The 4x5 aspect ratio works well for this photograph, adding equal negative space to the sides and top and bottom allowing the subject to breathe and further accentuating the symmetry within the frame.

Give your subject space

Subjects require space to breathe; having a subject too close to the edge of the frame can disrupt the visual flow of a composition.

Strong compositions typically have space around edges without distractions, allowing other elements like the sky or surrounding landscape to contribute to the story. We have to be careful not to add so much negative space that a viewer has to look around the frame to find the subject; allow just enough space for it to breathe.

When used correctly, negative space (empty and uncluttered) can enhance a photograph, allowing the viewer’s eye space to travel around the frame and focus on what is essential.

I think this photograph offers a true classical landscape image with strong foreground detail leading to a secondary background subject. The waterfall was obviously picked as a primary subject, and then I moved around to place these foreground rocks in front of it to add depths to the image. The stream then leads you up to the waterfall and deeper into the photograph. It was shot on a 24mm lens to offer significant depth of field to achieve sharp focus of both of the rocks and the waterfall. Photographing close to the rocks with the wide-angle perspective of a 24mm lens also enhances the visual impact of them, bringing them closer to you in the frame. Shot at a 1x2 aspect ratio; which is well suited for this panoramic view onto this waterfall; focusing the attention on it while framing to the forest either side.
I think this photograph offers a true classical landscape image with strong foreground detail leading to a secondary background subject. The waterfall was obviously picked as a primary subject, and then I moved around to place these foreground rocks in front of it to add depths to the image. The stream then leads you up to the waterfall and deeper into the photograph. It was shot on a 24mm lens to offer significant depth of field to achieve sharp focus of both of the rocks and the waterfall. Photographing close to the rocks with the wide-angle perspective of a 24mm lens also enhances the visual impact of them, bringing them closer to you in the frame. Shot at a 1x2 aspect ratio; which is well suited for this panoramic view onto this waterfall; focusing the attention on it while framing to the forest either side.

Consider your viewpoint

I often see people walk up to a location, get their tripod out of their bag, and before they've even properly looked around, set the tripod up at full height, put their camera on it, and start shooting without even thinking about it.

By doing that, they’ve automatically decided they’ll shoot right there. They’ve not considered the position, height, or angle they wish to work with their subject.

Whenever you prepare to take a photograph, walk around, observe different heights and angles and see what changes these will create in the final photograph.

Add a foreground

While all landscapes do not require foreground detail, adding them can enhance a photograph, making it more engaging and creating a sense of three-dimensionality.

If you have found an interesting background for your photo, like a mighty peak, a moody sea or a fantastic sky, find some foreground interest to frame it, to give the shot extra depth and dimension.

Seek locations where foreground details can lead the eye through the image; this could be a line in some rocks, the tide mark, a path, a fence or a stream.

Additionally, you can use foreground objects like branches, windows or doors to frame the main subject. Some of the most powerful landscape photographs have both a strong background and foreground; find your background, then find a foreground to frame it.

Look out for part two next week.

Richard Young is a full-time nature & landscape photographer based in Wanaka, New Zealand and is the founder of New Zealand Photography Workshops. More of his work can be viewed at www.richardyoung.co.nz

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