1. use a small composition card, wallet size card with square cut out of the center to help find your composition, move further away or closer to your eye to zoom in and out, much easier and faster than setting up your camera another way is use your smartphone although the card is the fastest way.

2. look for an emotion in what you see, people will react to and remember your image much easier if they can relate to it in someway, try to tell a story with that image, make it more than just another pretty picture .

3. take a picture when you first arrive, too many times I have arrived at a location and decided there was nothing to shoot, or the light was wrong etc. all you have to do is take one picture of anything and those creative juices will start flowing.

4. use long exposures in forests as trees cast shadows and other things cast shadows on those shadows .. get more detail in long exposure, this relates to the tree itself if its windy take a faster shot to freeze the leaves then blend with a longer exposure.

5. always use lens hoods to reduce contrast and cut flares in camera regardless of lighting conditions, they also protect your lens.

6. never use UV filters they are the biggest waste of money and normally detrimental to the image, lenses are coated and very expensive, why put a piece of cheap glass in front of perfection ?

7. if its bright use a polariser it not only makes colours richer it cuts spectral highlights which are almost impossible to fix in post, and remember a polariser will only work if the sun is to your left or right within a 120 degree arc not directly in front or behind you.

8. expose to the right, slightly over exposed and pulled back in post will normalise sharper with less noise than an underexposed image. or Bracket shots, when shooting a landscape three shots, expose one for highlights and one for shadows and one exposed correctly make shadows and highlight shots 2 stops from the correctly exposed shots then blend, this does depend on your cameras dynamic range, many modern semi and pro systems can resolve the image in one shot.

9. this may sound boring but visit a place where you find good composition's many many times in all types of weather and seasons, you wil eventually get that portfolio or award winning shot.

10. make sure your horizon is horizontal, unless creative dutch angles are your intent make sure the horizon is perfectly straight, if you fail this in camera its very easy in post, and very important.

Bonus tip because you read all of these, and lastly the most important tip, take an apple, sit down listen to nature and breathe in the air, good luck and keep shooting.

until the next.