Bold sunrises. Moody clouds. Radiant sunstars.

These elements often come to mind when we think about landscape photography. And for many years, they’re what I chased trip after trip.

But I’ve found that coveting and waiting for glorious skies vastly limits the type of landscape photos we can capture. Expectations stifle our creativity and lead to disappointment when the conditions fall short or fizzle out.

Landscape photography can be (and is) so much more than golden rays and brilliant colors. It’s about capturing the essence of an environment and immortalizing defining details in the landscape.

So what if you simply excluded the sky altogether?

“Expectations stifle our creativity and lead to disappointment when the conditions fall short or fizzle out.”

While I still chase bold skies when they occur – they’re worth capturing for a reason – I no longer let the state of the sky dictate my photography outings.

In fact, smaller scenes have formed some of my most striking compositions. Compared to sweeping vistas at scenic lookouts, these more intimate moments are less likely to be replicated by other photographers.

So here are six tips to help you expand your creativity with fresh compositions and make the sky no longer the limit.

Follow the periphery of your perception

This first tip may seem a bit pretentious. But it’s a crucial place to begin.

I recently read a passage from Peter Dombrovskis (a famed Australian photographer from the 1980s) that crystallized this concept for me:

“My most productive days are when I move through the landscape with an attitude of acceptance – of leaving myself open to all possibilities rather than expecting to find anything in particular.

I look ahead to guide my feet over rocks and roots, but images are more likely to insinuate themselves from the edges of my view, the periphery of my perception.”

The takeaway for your photography? When you remove preconceived ideas that anchor your creativity, you’ll begin to appreciate the smaller scenes around you. You’ll notice quieter moments beyond the epic seascapes, grand vistas and verdant forests.

Slow down and take notice of underfoot scenes, such as these confetti-like myrtle beech leaves at Cradle Mountain, Tasmania. ISO 200 | F14 | 1/4 sec

Your eye may catch intriguing shapes, contrasting colors or patches of light. And when you do, you’ve already gifted yourself the attention and mental space to further follow that thread of interest. You might move closer, shift angles or return later under different light.

So rather than entering environments hoping for ‘ideal’ conditions, I now (try to) enter each environment with an open mind. I allow myself the freedom to wander, to entertain the potential of smaller scenes that I would have otherwise ignored and overlooked.

Simplify the scene and fill the frame

An open sky often serves as a largely clean, distraction-free compositional element. So when you don’t include one, you may be looking down or across at environments overflowing with complexity.

Herein lies a central challenge of intimate landscapes. Chaotic elements, like messy foliage or incongruent textures, can combine to undermine the sense of harmony in your image.

A simplified frame of ghost gum trunks contrasting against the red rock of Karijini National Park, Western Australia. ISO 160 | F16 | 1/3 sec

So, when you find smaller scenes too overwhelming, do what you can to simplify them. Focus on key details, isolate defining features, and obscure others.

You might simplify a woodland scene by highlighting shapely branches while excluding the undergrowth. Or, for rocky terrain, you might switch to a telephoto lens to fill the frame with striking rock patterns.

To help create order amongst the complexity, here are some examples of what you might focus on in different settings:

• Forests: Compressed trunk columns or fractal branches spreading out
• Deserts: Sweeping lines and overlapping layers
• Rivers: Long-exposure patterns as streams cascade down
• Coastlines: Repeating pebble or stone textures
• Lakes: Smooth ripples and reflected golden hour light

As mentioned, smaller and simpler scenes have formed some of my strongest compositions. By filling the frame with key details, you’ll walk away with a more personal photo to call your own.

Don’t stand still: Shift your position and angle

A sure-fire technique to help you notice and capture smaller scenes? Gain some height and then zoom in.

So look for natural features that can provide a higher elevation, such as a boulder, a fallen trunk or a hill. Or venture out to a lookout and use a tighter focal length to shoot down onto the landscape.

Sometimes, even an extra foot or two in elevation will significantly alter the composition or enable you to exclude distracting sky patches. You’ll be better positioned to shoot across the scene (rather than up at it) and experience the landscape around you from a fresh perspective.

After waiting for the afternoon sun to cloak a distant mountain in shade, it illuminated these shapely branches at Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. ISO 100 | F10 | 1/30 sec

Similarly, once you’ve noticed a compelling formation, scout your surroundings to find the strongest angle. For example, I captured one of my favorite smaller scenes of a beech tree in Fiordland, New Zealand. Gaining height allowed me to position the branches in front of a distant mountain. So that when the sun fell, it illuminated the leaves against the valley shrouded in shadow.

When you’re on a well-worn track, you’ll likely only see a fraction of the potential frames on offer. So, go explore and discover new angles to shoot from. But be careful – and considerate. If the area looks pristine or delicate, leave it that way. No photo is worth ruining the scene in which it was taken.

One last benefit from a technical level: In some situations, gaining height may enable you to shoot perpendicularly onto the scene rather than skim across it. This will reduce the necessary depth of field and help to minimize focus stacking. (Which can be tedious and is one of my least favorite parts of photography.)

Challenge yourself and make it fun

For many years, I struggled to break free from legacy ways of seeing the landscape.

So here’s one technique to help you capture smaller scenes: set a challenge for yourself. It’s counterintuitive, but introducing more ‘rules’ will force you into a different mindset and may allow you to view the landscape anew.

When you’re struggling to compose intimate landscapes, try a fresh approach. Here are a few rules that you may create for yourself:

• Set restrictions: Work within a 20-minute timer or limit yourself to 10 frames
• Go handheld: Leave the tripod behind and bump up the ISO if needed
• Set a schedule: Take a photo every 5 minutes (great for daytime hikes)
• Stick to a theme: Perhaps textures, colors, parallel lines or what’s underfoot

Remember, the purpose of the challenge isn’t to walk away with ideal images. It’s to get you to look at the landscape differently. To experiment without the paralysis of perfection.

The combination of low tide and an ever-shifting stream carved out these braiding sand patterns on sunset at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria. ISO 100 | F16 | 1/6 sec

Afterward, go back through your images and take note of your favorite scenes. Often, one or two (or more) frames will jump out and resonate with you.

Once you’ve settled on a frame with potential, consider how you might improve the image even further. A tighter crop? Placing the subject off-center? Or returning under soft light?

After the challenge is over, then it’s time to revisit your favorite frames with your tripod to make the best image you can.

Document smaller scenes with your smartphone

With unfathomably powerful computers (and cameras) in our pockets, modern photographers live in an age of abundance.

So, while our devices can be overwhelming and distracting (see tip #1), they also equip us with tools that past generations could only dream of, like live cloud tracking, detailed satellite maps, and a capable camera to take snapshots of promising compositions.

When I’m out exploring, I’ll often reach for my phone before I reach for my camera. The intentionality needed to set up a tripod, attach the right lens and dial in the settings is often a barrier to creation. (This is why I enjoyed low-friction shooting with the handheld Fujifilm X100V so much.)

An example of using my smartphone to scrapbook potential compositions. Left: A quick phone snapshot to document the stripes and colors of snow gums at Falls Creek, Victoria. Right: The final image after waiting for the midday sun to become partly diffused behind a cloud.

Beyond weather tracking and location planning, my phone serves as a core part of my photography workflow in two ways:

As a scrapbook of potential compositions: It’s particularly helpful when I spend multiple days exploring a new area. In the evenings, I’ll scroll through my snapshots and review the day’s scenes with fresh eyes. Then, I can return to refine and strengthen standout scenes with my camera. The process also helps to prime my mind to look for similar but perhaps stronger compositions later in the trip.

To test telephoto focal lengths: Zoom in until you fill the screen with your preferred composition, even if it’s beyond the 3x or 5x lens, and take a snapshot. Then, in my iPhone photo library, I can swipe up on the photo to inspect the precise focal length. This helps me determine what lens I’ll need and whether I need to attach a teleconverter.

Sweat the small things: Miscellaneous tips

Here are some small – yet just as impactful – tips for compelling, intimate landscapes:

Composition is still key. Even when there’s no sky, try to retain some breathing room around your subjects and carefully position elements to balance visual weight across the frame.

Experiment with light. If time permits, see what it’s like to capture the scene under different conditions. High-contrast scenes may look more flattering under soft light, while low-contrast scenes may benefit from harsh light.

Be mindful of what is (and isn’t) in focus. When shooting close scenes, select a small aperture (such as F16) and take at least five images, focused in the center and each corner, to help you focus-stack the scene.

Rather than including everything (and potentially diluting the visual story), this tight detail captures the essence of a much larger cascade at MacKenzie Falls, Victoria. ISO 100 | F20 | 1/8 sec

Fine-tune your frame for a clean view. Sometimes, shifting your camera by a few centimeters can evoke a more pleasing sense of order in your scene.

Lastly, stop looking for perfection when it comes to smaller scenes and intimate landscapes. You won’t find it, and you’ll only set yourself up for disappointment.

Nature is complex, raw and unstructured. So, as you capture skyless scenes, remember that not every image will be a portfolio-worthy shot. The point isn’t to produce perfection but to capture scenes that resonate with you on a personal level.

When the sky isn’t the limit, you allow yourself the freedom to fail. To look for interesting yet imperfect scenes. To experiment with new angles, focus on fresh features and refine your approach to make more meaningful photos.

About the Author

Mitch Green is an Australian landscape photographer. He can be found on his website, on Instagram or by the beach at 5 am waiting for sunrise.

At its “Let Loose” event on Thursday, Apple announced new products, apps, and accessories aimed at content creators and multimedia users. Whether you’re a photographer, videographer, or even a video editor, there’s a lot that’s new. Here’s a rundown of today’s announcements.

iPad Pro

The headline feature of the latest iPad Pro is its new OLED display, which promises to deliver deeper blacks and brighter whites for photo and video applications, resulting in improved contrast, better motion processing and improved HDR.

Apple says that standard OLED screens don’t produce the levels of brightness required for its XDR display technology, so the iPad Pro’s OLED screen employs a feature Apple calls “Tandem OLED,” which uses two OLED panels and combines the light from both.

The result is a screen that produces 1000 nits of full-screen brightness, with up to 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR. This matches the numbers for the previous 13″ iPad Pro (which used a mini-LED panel) but significantly improves upon the previous 11″ model, which maxed out at 600 nits.

Apple’s newest iPad Pro models incorporate “Tandem OLED” displays that combine the light from two OLED panels to generate enough brightness for Apple’s XDR display. Image: Apple

For the first time, the iPad Pro’s screen includes a nano-texture glass option, which does a better job of maintaining image quality and contrast while reducing glare and which Apple says should provide a better experience for people using color-managed workflows or those who work in bright conditions with light and reflections.

The new iPad Pro is the first device to use Apple’s newest M4 processor, skipping over the M3 generation entirely and seeing a big jump in processing power. Apple claims the M4 delivers up to 50% faster CPU performance than the previous M2-based iPad Pros and up to 4x the rendering performance of the M2.

“The new iPad Pro is the first device to use Apple’s newest M4 processor, skipping over the M3 generation entirely”

The M4 also received an update to its Neural Engine, which is dedicated to AI processing. Apple claims it delivers faster performance than neural processing units in any PC and can support AI-based features in applications, citing the example of using AI in Final Cut Pro to isolate the subject from a 4K video clip at the tap of a button.

The iPad Pro receives a design makeover as well. To start, the front-facing camera has been moved from the short edge of the device to the long edge, making it much more usable in landscape view. Considering that Apple has often positioned the iPad as a possible laptop replacement, complete with detachable keyboards, this makes a lot of sense. In fact, it’s surprising it took this long.

The new 11″ iPad Pro is just 5.3mm (0.21″) thick, compared to 5.9mm on the previous 11″ model, and weighs in at 444g (0.98 lbs), 22g lighter than its predecessor.

The new iPad Pro models are even thinner than their predecessors. Image: Apple

The new 13″ iPad Pro is even thinner at 5.1mm (0.20″), compared to 6.4mm for the previous 13″ model, which represents an impressive 20% decrease in thickness. (Who says Apple isn’t obsessed with making things thin?) It weighs 579g (1.28 lbs), compared to 682g on the previous model, a 15% drop.

Despite reduced weight and size, Apple says the new iPad Pros deliver the same level of battery performance as their predecessors thanks to the increased power efficiency of the M4 chip and that the new processor can deliver the same performance as the M2-based iPad Pros with just half the power.

Finally, the new models double the base-level storage to 256GB, with storage options up to 2TB. The 11″ model starts at $999, and the 13″ model starts at $1299.

Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad

Apple also announced Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad, the first major update since the application debuted a year ago. The new version adds external project support, allowing editors to create or open projects on an external storage device like an SSD. This makes it possible to start a project on an iPad and later bring it into Final Cut Pro on a Mac if desired.

Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad includes support for live multi-camera recording. Image: Apple

The other significant feature in Final Cut Pro 2 is Live Multicam, which allows users to connect and preview up to four iPhone or iPad cameras live for multi-camera recording and editing. When using Live Multicam, Final Cut Pro will automatically transfer and sync video from each connected device to simplify a multi-camera workflow.

As with the original version of Final Cut Pro for iPad, the new version has a subscription model that costs $5/month or $49/year.

Final Cut Camera

In addition to Final Cut Pro 2, Apple introduced a free app called Final Cut Camera, which can be used with the new Live Multicam feature in Final Cut Pro 2. Final Cut Camera includes monitoring tools like zebras and audio meters, and allows users to adjust settings like white balance, ISO and shutter speed, and supports manual focus.

The Final Cut Camera app provides more granular controls than Apple’s built-in camera app. Image: Apple

Final Cut Camera isn’t limited to integration with Final Cut Pro. It can also be used as a standalone app for shooting video, providing much more granular control than Apple’s built-in camera app and potentially creating some new competition for advanced third-party video recording apps like Blackmagic Camera or Filmic Pro.

iPad Air

For users who may not need or want all the features offered by the iPad Pro, Apple also unveiled new iPad Air models. Most noteworthy is the addition of a new 13″ iPad Air. Apple says it added the larger model based on the fact that roughly half of iPad Pro users choose the 13″ screen size.

The iPad Air now includes 11″ and 13″ models. Image: Apple

The updated iPad Air models are built around Apple’s M2 processor, which Apple claims results in 50% faster performance than the previous M1 model.

Like the iPad Pro, the iPad Air sees the front-facing camera move to the long edge of the device to better support camera use in landscape mode. Also, like the iPad Pro, base storage has doubled and now starts at 128GB with options up to 1TB.

The new iPad Air is compatible with accessories like Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. The 11″ iPad Air starts at $599, while the 13″ model starts at $799.

Accessories

Along with new iPads and apps, Apple updated one popular accessory, the Magic Keyboard, and introduced a second, the Apple Pencil Pro.

The new Magic Keyboard, which connects to an iPad using magnets, is thinner than previous models and adds a row of function keys. It also includes a larger trackpad with haptic feedback. The new Magic Keyboard for 11″ iPads retails for $299, while the model for 13″ iPads retails for $349.

The Apple Pencil Pro is an evolution of the existing Apple Pencil. Its party trick is that the pencil barrel becomes a control surface: squeeze it, and a sensor in the barrel with haptic feedback can be used to do things like open a tool palette. It also includes a gyroscope, so it’s possible to rotate the pencil to reorient the direction of a shape or brush. The Apple Pencil Pro works with iPad Pro and iPad Air and retails for $129.

Apple says all the new products announced today can be ordered immediately, with availability beginning next week.

Google has announced the Pixel 8a, its latest mid-priced smartphone, bringing the sensors and lenses from the Pixel 7a but the more powerful processor and features from the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. It also gets a brighter screen, now earning Google’s ‘Actua’ branding.

The main camera is a 64MP camera with an F1.89 lens with an 80° angle of view (approximately 26mm equivalent, in 35mm terms). This uses a Type 1/1.73 (7.4 x 5.5mm) sensor.

There’s also a 13MP ultrawide with an F2.2 aperture and 120° angle of view (∼12.5mm equiv). The front camera remains a 13MP camera with F2.2 lens and 96.5° AoV (∼19mm equiv). Both these cameras use Type 1/3 (4.7 x 3.5mm) sensors.

While the cameras themselves remain unchanged, the 8a gets an upgraded screen, now offering a peak brightness of 2000 nits. This, and a wider color gamut, earn it the company’s ‘Actua’ branding, previously only used on the top-end phones. The panel is not exactly the same as that in the Pixel 8, though, with the company calling it a glass-OLED, rather than the plastic-OLED panel used in the 8.

Google says one of its core aims with the new phone was to deliver “the best camera in a smartphone under $500.” Underpinning these hopes is the use of the same Tensor G3 processor used in the more expensive Pixel 8.

The Pixel 8a will be available in four colors, including Aloe (pictured), Obsidian (black), Bay (blue) and Porcelain (off-white).Image: Google

The Pixel 8a includes features such as ‘Best Take,’ which takes a burst of images and then lets you choose the expression for each person in the image. It also includes Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to fill in the background, allowing you to select, resize and move subjects in the image, and Magic Eraser to remove distracting objects.

It also includes a “photo unblur” system that tried to up-res blurry parts of your images.

New to the Pixel 8a is Audio Magic Eraser, which analyses the audio in videos, splits it up into what it thinks are the different sound sources, and lets you selectively delete just the distracting audio elements.

It also includes the Guided Frame feature that gives audio cues for people with limited vision, which has been expanded to help take photos of pets, food and documents, as well as faces. As with all recent Google cameras it also utilizes the company’s ‘Real Tone’ processing to more accurately render a wider range of skin tones.

The company promises a 15% increase in battery life over the 7a, and the 8a maintains the same IP67 weatherproofing rating as its predecessor. It’s also essentially the same dimensions, at 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm (6.0 x 2.9 x 0.4″).

The Pixel 8a will be available starting from $499, in 128Gb or 256Gb varieties. Google promises security updates will be provided for seven years from launch.