Monthly Theme - Landscapes (August 2021)

It's that time again, folks! A new month means a new theme challenge and the chance to vote for a winner of July's theme.

Thanks to everyone who submitted photos for the “Motion” theme in July! This community never disappoints, and we're SO grateful to have you all here. Scroll down or jump to view this month's shortlist and vote for a winner.

But now, it's time to introduce our August theme...."Landscapes".

Every year we're treated to an abundance of beautiful entries for this theme and can't wait to see where you're all spending your summers/winters - even if it might not be as far from home as you might have dreamed!

A style of photography loved by professionals and amateurs alike, landscapes are something that anyone can have fun with, plus it's a great excuse to get outside and get moving!

For anyone looking to develop their skills and take their shots to the next level, we have five key tips for taking show-stopper landscapes:

1. Remember the "Rule of Thirds"

Thinking back to the first theme of 2021, we kicked off the year with one of the most fundamental photography techniques - the "rule of thirds". Using this simple rule allows even the newest of photographers to master great composition! You took some awesome shots back in January and can apply the same skills to landscape photography.

In last year's theme-finalist image,@karasoo2 nails the Rule of Thirds composition and really emphasizes how isolated the person fishing on the ice is.

2. Create Depth with Focus Throughout

When you are taking a landscape photograph, try creating a sense of depth by keeping all the different elements of the image in focus.

You might have a fancy built-in pre-set for landscapes, but there are also manual settings to play with. Typically, you'll need to use a small aperture, from f/16-f/22 because this keeps objects in both the foreground and background sharp. (Check out this handy blog post from the archives to better understand aperture!)

It's also useful to place your camera on a tripod when using a small aperture, to eliminate camera shake because your shutter speed might be slower to compensate for less light entering the lens.

We love this cool example by @lindasees - the composition with the tree in the foreground on the left is awesome too!

3. Go Wide

More often than not, landscapes have more to give than the standard frame size. Instead of being faced with the dilemma of cropping out interesting features, try playing with the Panoramic feature on your smartphone, or consider heading out with a wide-angle lens.

As well as capturing a broader view, and therefore giving a sense of wide-open space, they tend to provide a greater depth of field and work with faster shutter speeds because they allow more light in.

We can't stop looking at this stunning road trip shot by @exposure4u.

4. Try Getting People In Your Shot

A landscape doesn't always have to be about nature! Featuring people in a landscape setting not only captures amazing memories, but it can add perspective and even make the most simple of settings look magical. For best results, positioning people off-center (there's that rule of thirds again) will create interest and avoid stealing the limelight from the landscape behind.

We had to scroll down to the caption and comments to work out if this amazing shot by @maureenpp is real - what an incredible part of the world! We think the surfer really adds to this magic.

5. Play with Reflections

Finding spots with still water allows us to play with symmetry to capture double the beauty of a landscape!

This shot by @bjywamer is so majestic and serene! We love the hazy mountains delicately hanging in the sky, with a bold stripe of yellowy-green grassland cutting the scene in two.

We hope you enjoyed our tips and all have loads of fun with this month's theme, we can’t wait to see your entries!

How to enter this month’s theme

When uploading your photos use the tag section (on the edit/organise screen) and insert this week's theme tag: theme-landscapes.

Entry Guidelines: Photos must be your own and must have been taken and uploaded between Sunday, August 1st and Tuesday, August 31st. 6 finalists will be chosen in the first couple of days in September, then you'll get to vote for the winner!

p.s. Don't worry if you spot some tagged photos from a previous theme, when choosing our six finalists we'll use a special algorithm to only filter the images from August 2021.

Vote for a Winner of July's "Motion" Theme

Once again we had a great time reviewing all of your Motion entries! It wasn't easy to choose only 6 finalists, but now it's over to you to vote for the winner of the “Motion” theme.

To cast your vote, simply reply to this blog post with the number (in digit form) of the photo you would like to see win, before August 14th. We’ll announce the winner in a separate post shortly after!