It seems as if everyone is trying to be a landscape photographer these days. With the advent of digital imaging and the corresponding ease in cranking out pictures, photography is everywhere. Because of this, it’s getting harder and harder to create landscape images that are different and not the same old stereotypical stuff that everyone else is shooting.

Many photographers go to great lengths to put their own creative stamp on their work, using such things as camera filters or complex computer editing techniques to gain a unique style.

Whether you’re headed to the big city nearby or across an ocean, shooting on location is a lot of fun, and full of photographic possibilities. These tips will help prepare you to make the most of your camera as you explore.

1. Shoot for HDR Images
As recently as a year ago, shooting for HDR (high dynamic range) images would not have been on the top of my city shooting list—or even on the list. Recently, however, I’ve dived into HDR big time because it’s so cool and so easy, and because city scenes are perfect for HDR.

When you hear the phrase Depth of Field (also called DOF) you may wonder why you should care as long as your pictures are in focus. Well since DOF is generally referred to as the range of a pictures over all sharpness; and most people are instinctively drawn to the sharpest part of the picture first, I would say that it is indeed a major player in the game of creative control.

Most articles or books you will read on this subject immediately jump into talking about f-stops. These are numbers like f-1.4 to say f-22 that represent how much light the aperture is letting into the camera. Although I will explain that more in detail in a few minutes, it is not where I want to start.