Ian Plants Online Landscape Course

• Nature Photography

Review of The Ultimate Landscape Photography Masterclass by Ian Plant
 By Charlie Borland

Photowhoa is an outstanding team of creatives who consistently deliver high-quality educational products for photographers. I’ve worked with them for years—both as a customer, purchasing courses to sharpen my own skills, and as a course creator, promoting my own educational content through their platform.

So, I was thrilled when they asked me to review The Ultimate Landscape Photography Masterclass by Ian Plant. Ian and I have crossed paths a few times over the years, and I’ve always admired his photography. Getting the chance to dive into his course, study his remarkable images, and hear him discuss how he documents the natural world was a no-brainer for me.

Having started in landscape photography back in the mid-1970s—and working professionally full-time since 1981—I’ve spent four decades capturing the beauty of landscapes across the U.S., alongside a career in commercial photography. So I approached this course with both curiosity and a critical eye.

Course Overview

Instructor: Ian Plant is a seasoned professional with a strong body of work and an impressive publishing history, including features in Outdoor Photographer, Popular Photography, and Landscape Photography magazines. He’s inspired thousands through his books, workshops, and online courses—and his experience clearly shines through in this masterclass.

Running just over an hour and a half, this course is dense with knowledge yet easy to follow. Ian focuses on key techniques such as the near-far composition approach—a favorite of mine and many other landscape photographers. This technique involves placing an eye-catching element prominently in the foreground and aligning it with a compelling background. It’s a strategy that grabs viewers instantly—I often call it the “in-your-face” method because of its immersive, dynamic impact.

Teaching Style

Ian’s teaching is relaxed, articulate, and engaging. His easy-going presentation style ensures no one gets left behind. He takes the time to walk through the what, where, when, and why of his images, helping viewers understand not just the how, but the purpose behind each composition.

He spends considerable time explaining the power of wide-angle lenses, especially in relation to the near-far technique. His breakdowns help viewers grasp how focal length and framing choices shape the emotional and visual strength of a landscape photograph.

Throughout the course, Ian emphasizes building photographs rather than just taking them—a philosophy I’ve long shared with my students. He calls it “Taking vs. Making,” and his examples make a compelling case for thoughtful, intentional photography.

Content and Technical Detail

Ian covers everything from gear to technique with clarity and purpose. He gives specific lens recommendations for both wide-angle and telephoto approaches to landscape photography. For those seeking tack-sharp images from foreground to background, he discusses small aperture use, tripod stability, and techniques for achieving deep focus—essential when pushing your depth of field to its limits.

Light and weather play starring roles in this course as well. Ian illustrates how waiting for the right moment, understanding cloud dynamics, and capturing the interplay of light and shadow can dramatically elevate your compositions.

He also provides valuable comparisons between different lighting conditions: midday sun, golden hour, overcast skies, and even rainy or low-light scenes. His advice on using mobile apps to predict lighting angles and timing adds a practical layer to planning your shoots.

As the course progresses, Ian dives deeper into nuanced topics such as:

  • How to read and shape light for maximum drama
  • Exposure tips that go beyond technical correctness to image optimization
  • Hyperfocal distance and depth of field mastery
  • Proper horizon placement and camera height for perspective control
  • Compositional elements like leading lines, curves, diagonals, and natural frames

He builds these concepts through excellent image examples, breaking down the visual language of a photograph so viewers can better see, think, and compose with intent.

Video Quality and User Experience

The production quality is excellent. The visuals are sharp, the audio is crystal clear, and navigation on the course site is smooth. You can watch, rewatch, and skip to specific sections without any hassle. It’s a seamless user experience.

Who Is This For?

This course is ideal for both beginners and more experienced photographers. New photographers will gain essential foundational knowledge, while advanced shooters will appreciate the thoughtful insights and refined techniques Ian shares throughout the lessons.

What makes this course truly stand out is Ian himself—his voice, his vision, and his thorough explanation of why each image works. While some of the concepts may be familiar to experienced landscape photographers, Ian’s approach and delivery make them feel fresh and personal.

Final Thoughts: Is It Worth It?

Absolutely. The Ultimate Landscape Photography Masterclass delivers real value. If you’re looking to better understand the entire process—from visualizing a shot to capturing and refining it—this course covers it. Beginners will come away with a solid framework, and seasoned photographers will find both inspiration and new ways of thinking about their craft.

Ian not only shows you how to photograph landscapes—he shows you how to build them, layer by layer, decision by decision. And that’s what makes this course a standout.

Find this course right here.

A Flooded River Camp Leaves Amazing Sand Patterns

• B&W, Nature Photography, Outdoor Adventure Photography
I had an assignment years ago to photograph a rafting trip on the Copper River from WR-SE to Cordova, Alaska, and it was one of the wildest places I have been.
 
One morning, we awoke to find our riverbank campsite flooding from rapidly rising water. We had about an hour to break camp before it was totally underwater and one of my last photos was my fellow guest standing on a patch of sand that was probably 6’x6′. We all got aboard and launched.
 
A couple days later the waters had subsided and left these amazing patterns in the soft mud. The guides said the cause was most likely an ice dam in the river, way up in the Chugach Mountains, has busted unleashing the water.
 
I was treated in the aftermath, to these amazing patterns along the riverbank. 
I used my Canon EOS 1N and Canon 16-35mm lens for the shot with the lens set to 16mm. That made the foreground closer to the camera which emphasizes the foreground. I next processed the photo in Photoshops B&W adjustment layer.
Want to learn more about adventure and nature photography? Check out my online courses at Great Photography Courses:

Using the Near/Far Technique for More Impact in Your Photos

• Nature Photography
When photographing wide-angle landscapes, often the goal is to make sure everything is in sharp focus. The reason is that usually, we do not like to look at out of focus areas of our scenes. While that shallow depth of field can be a powerful technique to get viewers to look at something in your composition that deserves all the attention, wide-angle landscapes can be more powerful when everything is sharp.
 
Looking at this scene, from Oregon’s Willamette National Forest, you see a scene using a great depth of field. But stop for a second and think about what your end goal would be for this scene. Is there anything you would want in focus and the rest out of focus?
 
The foreground maple leaves are probably what I would call the ‘star of the photo’ so they should remain in focus. In this case, the background could be thrown out of focus and that would support the approach of forcing viewers to look at the foreground maple leaves.
Making the background sharp and throwing the foreground maple out of focus would only create visual chaos because the foreground maple is so large in the frame. That big out of focus maple creates a visual roadblock that stymies viewers who want to look through the scene to the background.
 
The answer is to use the Near/Far technique of making sure everything is in focus. This supports the foreground elements and the background as the two areas of the scene are more visually in-sync.
 

Death Valley is the Most Amazing Place!

• Nature Photography

I think Death Valley is SO amazing!

I have photographed in every state in the lower 48 and while our country has the most amazing diversity of landscapes, for me Death Valley is the most unique!

Just my humble opinion!

I have been there more times than I can count and there is always something new. On my last trip, I was driving a road when I spotted the pitch black, almost coal colored geology in the far distance. So I hiked down there and photographed some variety of scenes, all under an overcast sky.

ca_death_valley_artist_area_MG_5864bWhen the sun was setting (before the color show) I started back when I stumbled on this scene of turquoise colored sediment. I have no idea what it was (I am not a geologist) but I knew it would make for a great foreground.

The Arizona Wildflowers are here.

• Nature Photography

The flowers are out and while I have only hit this location in western AZ, near the CA border, I am hoping to head to the Superstition Mountain and search for their wildflowers soon.

az_dome_rock_mtns_MG_0781

Canon 70D 28-70 f/16 set to 28mm

I zoomed in on this landscape a little. rather than go real wide and the reason is that the foreground flowers are not that close together. But standing further back and zooming slightly, I was able to stack teh flowers and make them look more condensed.

For processing, I am now a big fan of Sean Bagshaw’s Luminosity Mask system where I can select individual sections of an image based on tonal values, or colors, and process each of those individually and it works great.

Check out my ebooks and online courses on the right sidebar. 

Watch my Nature and Landscape Photography webinar.

McKenzie River, Oregon, in Fall

• Nature Photography

Oregon’s McKenzie River flows down the western slope of the Cascade Mountains, heading towards Eugene.

It is a designated Wild and Scenic river that flows through old growth forests, is lined with a series of incredible waterfalls, and is a popular area for kayakers, hikers, and rafters…

…and photographers. Anytime of the year is amazing to photograph along the river but fall is special. The river is lined with a variety of maple trees, river rapids, small cascades, and in the deeper pools of water, the color is a tropical blue.

or_mckenzie_rvr_0270

Dissecting a Landscape Photo

• Nature Photography

We all dissect photos! Each time we observe and analyze a photograph, we are mentally dissecting it into what we like and dislike about it. It’s a great way to learn from others and apply what we learn to our own work.

I shot this picture here on a 4×5 camera probably 25 years ago and I have not looked at in many years as it sits in my film files, which rarely get opened anymore.

It is enjoyable to sort through my massive film files and find images I have forgotten about and then, as  teacher of photography these days, I dissect them into what works and does not work, and share that. I even try to see if I can remember what I was thinking when I captured the image.

I see a lot going on in this photo.

ca_death_valley_dunes_MG_8675

There is a term used a lot in photography these days called ‘lighting in layers‘ and it really has more to do with Photoshop compositing (at least to me) and I think I can look at this image and say the same thing.

When I was photographing this dune in Death Valley, I was very fortunate to be there after a storm which added ripples to the dunes but also erased footprints, which these days, are challenging to get away from.

To the right of the position seen here, was the top of the dune which curved to the right and downhill again. What I mean is that to the right, the dune was more evenly lit and the ripples of sand not so apparent.

By moving left or down slope, the light exaggerated the ripples more. Those ripples also point into the picture and that is a great example of leading lines, guiding the eye into the picture.

There is also a second layer of dunes beyond the foreground dunes and those are followed by the furthest dunes, which are lit with pretty even light due to the angle of the dunes.

All this, plus a little more, adds to an image that incorporates a lot of different elements. You have layers in the three sections of dunes that lead into the picture. Each section is lit differently, going from a dark foreground to the next section of dunes and finishing at the brightest section, which is where the eye finishes. Then there is the bush on the left, strategically positioned in the composition.

The result is an image that has various levels of brightness on each dune section along with leading lines and all this directs the eye to the brightest dune, and the visual destination.

As I mentioned previously, dissecting photographs is a great way to explore what works and does not work with an image and is a great aid when developing your own vision.

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Fall in Badlands National Park

• Nature Photography

Several years ago I was teaching at the Black Hills Photo Shootout in South Dakota and when the event wrapped up I headed off to Badlands NP.

I had a half day to shoot there before returning to Rapid City for an early morning flight and I arrived in the early afternoon.

I drove the loop road heading west and stopped at each point to see what could be captured. It was unfortunately a perfectly clear day and I adapted the the harsh sunlight and did pretty well.

sd_badlands_np_the_castle_borland1011_-2719vign

Window to the World

• Nature Photography

I have a lot of fall color photography from the last 35 years. Great groups of aspens on a mountainside, full frame images of hillsides in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, aspen lined canyons in the Oregon desert, and much more from many places.

On my last trip to the Great Smoky Mountains teaching a photography workshop with my friend Lewis Kemper during fall color, it was a warm, wet fall and the big landscapes weren’t that great.

nc_great_smoky_mtns_sinks_001