Your Photos are boring because you do THIS one thing

Do you know what the problem with this photo is? This mistake is a cardinal sin for photographers because it ruins your landscape photos. But before I tell you, I want you to write down in the comments what you think the problem with this photo actually is. The reason why people buy photos isn't just because the image is beautiful. If that were true, photography would be one of the easiest ways to make money. And anyone watching this channel knows that that is not true. The reason people want to buy photos for their home or office is because the image represents something to them. Think of your home city or place like the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower, or the Grand Canyon. These places have meaning to millions of people around the world. So, what do images like these have that this one doesn't have? It's a sense of place. This image is beautiful. It's taken at the right time. It's well captured. and the colors are nice, but it has too much sky. There's no sense of place in this photo, and it could be taken anywhere on Earth. Here's the rule of thumb. When you're out in the field taking photos, the sky should be no more than 1/3 of the frame with the horizon either ending at the top third if the landscape is smooth or in the bottom third if there are mountains of a subject in the middle of the frame. Take this photo of the lavender fields in southern France. I got lucky and had a dramatic sunset over the fields and was tempted to capture more of the sky, but beautiful skies can happen anywhere on Earth. People don't travel to the south of France to see the sunset. They go there to see the endless lavender fields, the culture, and the food. And that's what I want to remind them of with this photo. So, because the landscape was smooth with some small mountains in the background, I lined up the horizon with the top third of the frame. If you have mountains or a subject in the middle, like this photo of the Muring's Pier in Isa Marada, Florida, you can see I lined up the horizon line in the bottom third and left the cabin in the middle third with the palms and the sky bleeding into the top third of the frame. The easiest way to line up your sky like this is to use the rule of thirds grid that's built into your camera. Most cameras have these in the viewfinder. And if not, it will show you the live view mode on the back of your camera. Now, of course, there are two major exceptions to this rule. The first is when you have a reflection photo like this image of Spirit Island. In this case, I intentionally placed the horizon in the middle of the frame because the hero of this photo is the small island in the center, and I didn't want to cut off the top trees in the reflection. And the next exception is when capturing photos of the Milky Way or the northern lights. But in that case, you still need at least 1/3 of the frame taken up by the foreground to give that image a sense of place. Take for example this photo of the Milky Way at the Trrona Pinnacles in California. I looked for months to find the perfect time and location to capture the Milky Way when it would go across the sky. But it's never enough to just capture the Milky Way on its own. Anyone can do that almost anywhere on Earth. There needs to be a sense of place for the photo to work. And that's why I made this Trona Pinnacles photo take up 1/3 of the photo, which was actually a nearly 180° panorama over the desert. So, if you want to learn how to take amazing photos like this with the camera you already own, you can get my free camera settings cheat sheets book shipped to your door today using the link in the description below. This book contains over 60 cheat sheets that will show you how to take the best photos of your life. And it comes with a free trial of Photography Academy Prime where you get live training from me every week. Prime is the best place on earth for photographers because it comes with the landscape photography success path master class. It comes with free tools, it comes with books, and we even will build you your own customizable photography website. So, go check out the link in the description and get your free camera settings cheat sheets book mailed to your door. and check out Photography Academy Prime for free for 14 days. I promise you, you're going to love it because Prime is the best place on earth for photographers like