My 10 Best Landscape Photos of 2022 and How I Shot Them


In this video, I share my top best landscape photographs of 2022 and how I created them. I also share some tips/techniques that allowed me to become a better landscape photographer in 2022.


Landscape Photo: #1

Death Valley Photography
Death Valley Photography

Landscape photograph number one comes from the gorgeous Death Valley National Park. A place I have visited every year for 8-9 years. Each time I visit this magical place I always come away with something new and interesting. On this morning beautiful pastel tones bathed the landscape. I found an elevated perspective to photograph these dunes using my 100-400 telephoto lens. This gave me some wonderful compression to photograph these wave patterns.


Landscape Photo: #2

Death Valley Photography
Death Valley Photography

Here is another image from Death Valley, using the same technique as the previous image with the 100-400 lens. I found this strange optical illusion to focus on. I love how this image almost looks like some kind of black hole with all of the textures being sucked up into it. Check out the full video HERE.


Landscape Photo: #3

Iceland Landscape Photography
Iceland Landscape Photography, abstract waterfall and rainbow

Here is a photo from a bucket list location in Iceland. Truly a spectacular scene with this wonderful rainbow and waterfall. I waited for a while to get this bird soaring right in front of the falls. This image was again taken with the 100-400 lens. Check out the full video HERE.


Landscape Photo: #4

Iceland Volcano Landscape Photography
Iceland Volcano Landscape Photography

Perhaps my favorite image of the entire year. “The Lava Dragon”. This photo was taken above the Iceland Volcano with my drone. It was truly a life-changing experience. When it comes to top-down aerial perspectives, I love to create different subjects/storylines out of the landscapes. The next image also applies this same technique. Check out the full video HERE.


Landscape Photo: #5

Oregon Coast Landscape Photography
Oregon Coast Landscape Photography

So here is something much more subtle from the California coast. I loved how these waves crashing and receding resembled little hills/mountains. So I titled this image “Sea to Summit”. 


Landscape Photo: #6

Madeira Landscape Photography
Madeira Landscape Photography

Here is an image from yet another bucket list location, the Final Forest in Madeira. This one is a favorite of mine more for the experience I had rather than any revelation of creativity. This grouping of trees is quite popular and well-photographed. But I just loved the atmosphere here with the thick fog. I can not wait to share more from the vlog series with you all this year. This image was taken with my 16-35 wide-angle lens.


Landscape Photo: #7

san francisco seascape photography
San Francisco seascape photography

No top 10 list would be complete for me without including one classic seascape image. These are some of my favorite types of photos to create. Standing knee-deep in brisk water, watching the sky fill with vivid colors. It doesn’t get much better than that for me. This was the best sunset I saw all year and I loved how the water patterns down below mimicked the clouds in the sky. I used multiple exposures to get proper dynamic range here and this was created with the 14-24mm wide angle lens. Check out the full video HERE.


Landscape Photo: #8

California Redwoods landscape photographs
California Redwoods Landscape Photography

This image of the redwoods is one I have been wanting to shoot for many years. Yet every time I visited this location, I never seemed to find a proper composition. I was so lucky on this occasion to come away with some really cool photos. Never give up on a spot, regardless of how many times you fail, eventually, you will figure it out! This photo was taken with my wide-angle 16-35mm lens. Check out the full video HERE.


Landscape Photo: #9

Long exposure waterfall landscape photography in the Pacific North West.
Long-exposure waterfall landscape photography in the Pacific North West.

This image right here was a dream to capture, using the 100-400 lens to pick out a little section of the falls. I lucked out with this beautiful golden sunset light spotlighting the area. This light was moving super quickly through the treeline, so I had to work quite fast here. I did a slightly long exposure here to smooth out the water and give this photo a dreamy look. Check out the full video HERE.


Landscape Photo: #10

best landscape photographs
Long-exposure waterfall landscape photography in the Pacific North West.

Here is the last of my top 10 best landscape photographs of 2022. Again just picking out a little section of a larger waterfall and creating this really nice symmetrical composition. What’s funny is I didn’t even intend on taking photos on this day. I just wanted to go explore and see some cool waterfalls. That was a common theme for some of my favorite images of the year. Many unintended photos were captured while just “going with the flow”. I really tried to lose my preconceived ideas of what these places were supposed to be about, or the images that you are supposed to take at a place. It sounds funny, but I tried to visit places I had many many times, as if I was going for the very first time. 

 

I really hope you enjoyed checking out my images here. Happy New Year to you all!

4 Comments

  1. Brilliant Michael!

    I like photo #1 the most (seems I definitely need to think about getting a 200-400mm lens!), followed closely by #4.

    All round stunning work!

    Hope you have many more brilliant photos opportunities in 2023!

  2. I have enjoyed your for a few years. I am a small photographer of 50+ years starting out in San Jose and now in Sacramento. I would like to received notice of your blogs but I don’t know how to view them would you please help me.

    Gave you done any Work shop or are are you going to do any in Madeira island, I think I might like to go.

    • Thanks so much, Thomas! Click on the subscribe button at the bottom of the page and fill in your email. I send most of my blog posts to that newsletter 🙂

      I have not done any workshops in Madeira yet, but perhaps in 2024 if Marco and I can plan it out.

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