How To Take Sharp Landscape Photos: Learn the Best Settings, Focus Techniques and More

Want to learn how to take breathtakingly sharp landscape photos? While factors like high-quality camera gear and optimal camera settings undoubtedly play a significant role, knowing how and where to focus your lens is also important when learning how to improve the sharpness of a photo. In this blog post, we'll delve into the art of focusing your lens for landscape photography, as well as touch on the best settings and camera gear to use for sharp photos.

Sharpness in photography refers to the clarity and definition of details within an image. A sharp image showcases well-defined edges, distinct textures, and a clear delineation between different elements. It allows viewers to perceive the subject matter with precision and accuracy. Factors such as focus, aperture, shutter speed, and lens quality answer the long-pondered question of how do photographers get such clear, sharp photos.

While all photographers long for sharper images, with landscape photography it is particularly important. The best landscape photography highlights the little details that make a specific environment unique, and when these details are sharp and easy to identify you have the most success.

So, how do you improve the sharpness of a photo? High-quality camera gear certainly plays a part, but if you don't want to shell out for a while for a new kit of photography gear at the moment, the good news is learning how to use your camera gear properly can help you capture sharper photos.

Aperture: An aperture of f8 or greater gives the sharpest image of your landscape. A lens is traditionally performing at its best by about f8, while it also captures a good amount of depth of field; this means details will be in focus from your foreground to infinity.

Shutter speed: Shutter speed becomes most important when you are using your camera handheld. For a sharp handheld image, you should use a shutter speed that is a reciprocal of your lens focal length or greater. This means if you are using a 100mm lens your shutter speed should be 1/100th of a second or faster, for a 200mm lens use 1/200th of a second or more, and so on.

ISO: The ISO setting of your camera ties in with Aperture and Shutter Speed, which is how the exposure triangle works. Set your ISO at a setting which helps you utilise your desired aperture and shutter speed.

Mirrorless camera for Landscape Photography: While lens quality is often equated with image sharpness, the quality of your camera does play a part too. Modern mirrorless cameras with high-resolution sensors deliver the best image quality in the digital age, with certain models designed without anti-aliasing filters for maximum sharpness. The best mirrorless cameras for sharp landscape photography include the Nikon Z7II  and the Sony A7 Mark IV.

Landscape Lens: Much of the sharpness of your image comes from the quality of the lens that you choose to use. Wide-angle lenses are generally preferred for landscapes, with prime lenses offering sharper results on a budget than zoom lenses.

Tripod: Even the smallest bump can take away your chance of capturing the sharpest photograph, particularly if you are using slower shutter speeds. A tripod is a must to maximise sharpness.

Focus on the highlights: This technique simply involves focusing your lens on the key element of your photograph and forgetting the rest. This is easy to remember and achieve, but it also generally produces a shallower depth of field - this means less of your image is in focus.

Focus at infinity: Focusing at infinity can be a great technique for landscape photography, as it ensures that distant objects are sharp. However, it can also make it difficult to focus on nearby subjects. This can be especially problematic in low-light conditions or when using a wide aperture. Additionally, focusing at infinity can limit your creative options, as it can be challenging to achieve selective focus.

Hyperfocal Distance: Hyperfocal distance is a focusing technique that allows a photographer to maximise the depth of field in a landscape image. By focusing at a specific distance, a range of objects, from before the hyperfocal distance to infinity, will appear sharp. This is particularly useful for landscape photography, where the goal is often to capture sharp details from the foreground to the horizon. By understanding and applying the hyperfocal distance, photographers can create stunning, sharp landscape images without the need for extensive post-processing.

How do you work out the optimal Hyperfocal distance setting? Hyperfocal distance is worked out by using a mathematical equation which calculates a number of factors, including your lens focal length, aperture and focusing distance. To make this simple you can input this info into an app or online calculator.

Focus Stacking: Focus stacking is a newer technique that has become popular thanks to digital editing. Available as a feature in some modern digital cameras, this results in capturing multiple images of the same scene, but focussed at a different point within said scene, and the various images are then stitched together either in-camera or using post-production software. The result is an image in which virtually all of your image is sharp and in focus.

Top tip: A tripod is necessary for focus stacking, as even the slightest shift between frames can ruin your results.

Remember, landscape photography is a journey, not a destination. Keep practising, experimenting, and most importantly, have fun!

Want more landscape photography tips? Follow Ted's photography blog to continue to develop as a photographer. With persistence, photography could become more than just a hobby.