The Landscape Photography Book

Avoiding the Border Junk That Ruins Images

One of the biggest mistakes I see when I’m critiquing landscape images is one of the easiest to avoid, and that is keeping “junk” away from the outside edges of your image. We’re talking branches or sticks that extend in from the sides (as seen above on the left), or a dead tree limb, or part of something, or any one of the little things that sneak in to ruin your photo. The reason this happens so often is that we’re focused on the subject of the image. For example, let’s say we’re shooting a waterfall. We’re focused on the waterfall itself, and getting the water smooth and silky, and while that’s what ...