Want to shoot better landscape photos? To mark the recent launch of the Fujifilm X Landscape Photographer of the Year competition, we have put together a collection of useful tips to help you improve your composition, camera technique, and post production skills. In this, the third instalment, Andrew Fildes continues on the subject of composition, looking for more options when it comes to successfully arranging the key elements in your images.
01 VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL OR SQUARE?
A key consideration in any landscape is the shape of the image itself. While most landsapes are shot in a horizontal 4:3 or 3:2 aspect ratio, it's not the only option.
Panorama is a format that is well-suited to landscape photography. Some cameras offer a 16:9 setting and it's a wonderful aspect ratio for wide vistas, simply because it captures a similar amount of information to what we take in with our eyes. The 16:9 format offered by most cameras is usually just a crop of the normal frame, so if your camera doesn’t offer a 16:9 option you can always crop your images later in post-production to achieve the same effect. 
This image has been cropped to a 16:9 format.
Some cameras also offer a sweep panorama option, whereby the user pans the camera and the camera stitches a number of images together to create a wide panorama. Alternatively, you can shoot several images side-by-side (use a tripod and allow plenty of overlap) and stitch them together using a program like Photoshop or dedicated image-stitching software like Panorama Tools or PTGUI.
While it's rarely used in landscape photography, the square format can be effective.
Square-format images are back for Facebook and Instagram, but it’s tough to do a square landscape. I’ve seen some great ones, but it takes experience and talent. If you want your images to stand out from the crowd, it may be worth spending the time to master it.
Vertical landscapes are unusual, but if you have a strong foreground point of interest, they can work well. Try turning the camera through 90 degrees! With vertical landscapes, a foreground point of interest is more important than with horizontals.
Some subjects are better suited to the vertical format.
02 POINT OF VIEW
Sometimes the simplest way to create interest is to shoot from an elevation other than eye height. Most of us are used to seeing the world from a height between 170 and 188cm so a change from that can be interesting. The easiest way to change your point of view in a landscape is to shoot from a low angle – articulated screens in many cameras make this easy. But don’t neglect opportunities to get up high as well – even if it requires a pre-dawn climb or even a balloon flight. Aerial landscapes can take on an abstract quality which can be wonderful. Another way to shift your point of view includes the use of an ultra-wide lens like a full-frame fisheye.
Subjects shot from the air, like these rows of grapevines, can take on a wonderful abstract quality.
03 MAN-MADE OBJECTS
A lovely old bridge or a tumble-down shed in a landscape is an ideal component as a point of interest, but don’t ignore the potential of man-made objects as the subject of the landscape itself. Farmland is a built environment and often attractive, especially if it’s being worked, or there is a colourful crop growing. Roads, outbuildings, windmills – the list of potentially useful subjects is endless.
Your landscape doesn't have to be 'all natural'. Man-made structures add a different dimension.
04 PEOPLE IN THE SHOT
Placing someone in a natural landscape can add a point of interest. But the trick is to minimise their impact. As soon as the person becomes more important than the place itself (and they often do) it’s no longer really a landscape image.
As soon as the person becomes more important than the place itself, as is the case here, it’s no longer a landscape image.
05 MICRO LANDSCAPES
Landscapes don’t have to be sweeping vistas. They can be quite enclosed and small in scale, especially in forested areas. I have a particular fondness for forest creeks. On my wall at home I have an Edward Weston print of a single log, close up, which qualifies as a monochrome landscape. Small, natural details or even micro vistas with a macro lens can make quite spectacular landscapes.
Landscapes don’t have to be sweeping vistas. They can be quite enclosed and small in scale, especially in forested areas.