Kane Engelbert Photography Blog: The Difference Between Nature And Landscape Photography

There are many genres of photography in the same way there are for other forms of art, music, and movies. Nature and Landscape photography are similar and both serve as beautiful ways to visualize nature. Many famous landscape and nature photographers have paved a path and set standards for landscape and nature photography. We'll review some of these photographers, like Ansel Adams, as well as what makes nature and landscape photography so stunningly beautiful and unique.

I recently came across a this project that Purdue University currently. Their Visualizing Nature project integrates the photographic image and written word to visualize nature which is aimed and capturing changes over time to the landscapes.


Definition of Nature Photography

Rhododendron shown up against redwood trees.

Nature photography, or natural photography, captures the beauty of natural elements found in the outdoors all within a frame. It typically includes wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures.


Definition of Landscape Photography

Ridge of mountains seen at sunset

Landscape photography shows the spaces of the natural world. Typically, this is the vast, grand, unending views that do not include humans or human influence on the earth but feature strongly defined landforms, water, weather and light.







Types of Landscape and Nature Photography

Some say there can be as many as 13 types of Landscape and Nature Photography and include things like long exposure photography, panorama photography, mountain photography, forest photography, cloudscape photography as different types. While there are many variants of subjects and techniques for capturing images, I consider the following the three main types of Landscape and Nature Photography:

Aerial photograph of silver mountains and badlands

Sometimes photos can be multiple types. For example, the photograph on the right, Silver Slither, is both an Aerial and Abstract photograph.


Famous Landscape and Nature Photographers

Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Ansel Adams, who was commissioned to capture the national parks with the most famous images being from Grand Teton National Park and Yosemite National Park.

He also wrote three books that are considered the bibles of photography—The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. These three very dense and technical books, including the Zone System, cover the entire photographic workflow.



Elliot Porter

Elliot Porter is known for his specialization of color photography and Ansel Adams described Porter as "master of nature's color,". Porter's contemplative intimate landscapes bear witness to his enduring affection and respect for the wilderness and its animal inhabitants. Influenced by Henry David Thoreau, Porter sought to create visual equivalents of passages from Thoreau that inspired him.


There are many other famous landscape and nature photographer, many of which are still alive at the time of writing this post. Photographers like Michael Kenna, Nadav Kander, Sebastião Salgado, Brett Weston, Franco Fontana, Takeshi Mizukoshi, David Brookover, and Peter Lik continue to shape and define the standards for landscape and nature photography.

World Renowned photographer, Kane Engelbert's work is inspired by the best and brought to you in a variety of affordable options in his full online collection showcasing aerial photography, grand mountain landscapes across the United States, as well as intimate scenes and panoramic photography.


Beautiful Landscape and Nature Photography For Sale

Kane Engelbert's online collection of landscape and nature fine art photography. Kane is a world-class photographer known for his high-quality images from Colorado, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Utah's National Parks of Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Arches National Park, and even Redwood trees from the Pacific Northwest. These fine art images are sought by collectors, art curators, and interior designers given their unique compositions and exclusive locations.

Special care is taken to ensure each hand-crafted photography print for sale is carefully created and printed using the best standards and finest materials available. Allow these images to bring you spectacular views that can be printed on archival quality, museum-grade materials and savored in your home or business. Enjoy your time browsing these gallery photos and please reach out to speak to Kane directly at any time.