A Guide to Accessories for Landscape Photography

More than just cameras and lenses, landscape photography is about being prepared, being able to get to the place you need to go, and being able to bring everything you need with you. Unlike studio photography, landscape photographers need to compile a select kit of tools they can carry into the outdoors. Portability is a premium, however; so is stability, accuracy, and precision—sometimes a heavy tripod is necessary, and other times maybe you can forgo the tripod entirely for a day of handheld shooting. Regardless of what is necessary to pack for a day, week, or even month of shooting, balance, and sometimes compromise, should be kept in mind. Sometimes it’s the accessories that can round out your shooting kit, and really make your cameras and lenses fulfill their maximum potential.

Tripods

We’ll start with the most commonly thought-of accessory for landscape photography: a tripod. Since long shutter speeds and small apertures will often be the norm for shooting traditional landscapes, a tripod would be the third leg in this equation. Without going too deeply into the seemingly endless pool of tripod options, there is a handful of considerations especially pertinent to landscape shooters.