Photographers will go to great lengths to EXCLUDE all people from their landscape pictures.
I often include a human figure to give a sense of scale.

Di and I caught an early morning local bus from Avignon that meandered the country roads and lane-ways dropping off supplies and picking up school kids along the way.

When we finally arrived at the Pont du Gard the conditions were beautiful with the crisp light of a sunny winter’s morning bathing the scene with warm tones, wisps of mist still lingered. A lovely location for photography.

The Pont du Gard was constructed in the 1st Century A.D. by the Romans. It forms part of an aquaduct that ran (mostly underground) for fifty kilometres carrying water from a spring at Uzès to the Roman colony of Nemausus (today’s Nîmes).

In an effort to capture the grandeur I wanted a person (the lovely Di) to give a sense of scale.

There is a natural tendency to put the horizon in the centre of the frame. However it tends to create dull compositions. As a general starting point I will place the horizon either one third down from the top or the frame or one third up from the bottom of the frame. This is related to another ‘rule’ of composition: The Intersection of Thirds.

As you take your landscape photographs, if you are not sure which way to go, look carefully at the scene in front of you. Where does the main interest lie? If there is a colouful sky with dramatic clouds and the foreground is not very interesting I suggest you make the picture 2/3 sky and 1/3 foreground. If the main interest of the picture is in the foreground and the sky is incidental go the other way.

The only time I would choose to place the horizon in the centre would be when wanting to emphasise symmetry. Snow capped mountains reflected in a ‘Mirror’ lake would be an example.

Have you ever been told that when taking a photo “Always make sure you always have the Sun behind you!”
I often shoot in to the light. ‘Backlight‘ is challenging; exposure can be difficult, ‘flare‘ caused by internal reflections within lenses is sometimes unavoidable, but there are major compensations.
Light shining from behind leaves and flowers glow with ‘transmitted‘ light, the internal structure is revealed.
Strong backlighting can create ‘rim-lighting’ with glowing halos of hair or fur.

Sunsets are always popular subjects for photography. A few things to bear in mind when shooting them.
By there very nature sunsets have extreme contrast. Foreground objects will become silhouettes (unless you use ‘fill-flash’ or reflectors) so make sure foregrounds have strong, recognisable shapes e.g. palm fronds or camels on Cable Beach.
Too much exposure dilutes the intensity, use exposure compensation to give less exposure.
‘Auto White Balance‘ does not cope and will try to “correct” the gorgeous orangey colours. A simple way to stop the camera from spoiling to colour is to set the White Balance to ‘Shade’ (the symbol showing a building and shadow).