What makes a good landscape? Not a simple question by any means. In order to explore this further, I would ask "What is a landscape?". A landscape to me could be described as:
A photo taken outdoors that does not contain a specific, singular, point of interest.
As such, a landscape to me is a topic that has a huge scope of potential. As others have said before, there are some scenes that have been done to death, to me, this lacks imagination. There are times when I lack imagination too and I find it easy to take the picture from the same viewpoint as seen on countless postcard images. I am lazy as charged your honour.
What makes a good landscape is an interpretation of a well known spot that hasn't been seen a thousand times on jigsaw box lids. There are many spots arount the world that have never had their picture published. This doesn't mean they are dull and uninteresting. Every photographer, of whatever experience, has their own style and interpretation of the view in front of them, it is up to each individual to make what they can of the scene.
I'd much rather see an imaginative detail that has previously gone un-noticed than a wide angle vista that I've seen a thousand times before. As for lighting, yes, it plays a big part. Again, I'd rather see imaginative use of light at different times of year, in different weather conditions rather than only thinking of the "golden hour" just before sunset. Yes, it will take more effort to get something presentable but if you can pull something different out of the hat then that's what makes a good landscape to my mind.
Good question in the original post, thank you.
Duncan
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