Photography can be a compelling storytelling medium, but often mediocre storylines hide behind stunning colors and effects.

A few vlogs ago, we broke down three ingredients of effective landscape photography:

1. Composition
2. Shapes
3. Lighting

By weaving these three elements together, we can reveal subjects spread throughout the image only as the viewer wanders through the landscape. After editing a shot for too long, it can be difficult to assess the image objectively — one way to reset your artistic senses is to edit the image upside down.

This week, we return to critiquing some images to break down why some images are effective at stalling the viewer’s interest. In particular, panoramas turn out to be a surprisingly difficult format to execute well and secure the viewer’s attention.

Whenever one element — composition, shapes or lighting — is missing, it’s difficult to compensate with the other two. Without enough subjects in the composition, there’s nothing for the shapes to connect, and even a perfect composition won’t mask flat lighting.

As you browse through your portfolio, use this critiquing process as an opportunity to turn photos that didn’t work out into learning material so that next time, you can be more intentional. To learn more about growing faster as a landscape photography, check out my vlog on conducting a photography retrospective.

Make sure to subscribe to the Yellowscale YouTube channel to keep up with new digital nomad tips and landscape photography tutorials!