With our Landscape Photography Contest open for submissions through the end of July, many of you may be consumed with taking the ultimate landscape photo. While we encourage you to bend the wires of creativity, we also want to remind you not to overthink this thing.

The Duggal team has gathered a few basic landscape photography tips to help keep you focused. This list is by no means a guideline for the contest or hint toward the judgment criteria – We just figured we’d throw these concepts out there as you roam the land with your camera:

- Find a focal point – Although landscape photos tend to portray a wide area, it’s important to find a focal point for your shot. Without a focal point, even a seemingly great shot can appear empty and uninspiring, causing eyes to wander off without a visual impact being made. A focal point may be a tree, rock, building, animal or anything that anchors the photo. You may also want to use the rule of thirds in determining where to place your focal point.

- Lead eyes – In many great landscape photos you’ll notice the use of extended lines to lead eyes from one end of the image to another, or from foreground to background. If you lead eyes with lines, they’ll follow, thus making your photo engaging. Engaging = Enjoyable = Memorable (exactly what you want your image to be).

- Speaking of foreground… – When shooting with a large depth of field, it’s easy to become fixated on what’s in the distance. We all love the horizon, but don’t neglect your foreground and its ability to add depth to your shot.

- Remember the magic hour – In our Spring Photo Tip series we talked about the advantages of shooting during the magic hour, which are very applicable to landscape photography. Skies painted with natural light can create spectacular imagery on the horizon of your landscape shot.

- Be creative – All the tips, techniques and gadgets in the world can’t match creativity. Find a unique landscape and/or point of view for your photo.

We hope this simple approach to landscape photography helps loosen you up for the contest – Best of luck!