Familiar landscapes like mountains and valleys are of a size we can readily comprehend. But the size of unusual formations like this narrow canyon are hard to decipher. We simply can't tell how big they are - unless you insert into the scene a subject of known dimensions such as your traveling companion.

When a landscape presents you with a straight horizon, the biggest decision may be to decide where to place that horizon. Normally it's best to avoid placing it dead center, which seems to create two pictures. Place it high to emphasize distance, low to stress spaciousness. In canyons, gorges, and steep mountains, look for the interplay of light and shadow. You can use bright areas to draw in and lead the viewer's eye. In this instance, the light area in the upper part of the picture seems to increase the sense of distance.

The rule of thirds has likely endured since the first artist scratched images onto rock. Use this rule loosely as a guideline for placing subjects in certain areas of your photo. Imagine a tic tac toe grid. Where the lines intersect are "ideal" spots for placing a subject. Here, the photographer positioned woman in the lower right third of the picture.

Landscapes require you to effectively use foreground, midground, and background. The photographer enhanced the sense of distance in this photo by showing ample foreground at the bottom of the photo. The foreground stretches to the pillars of rock. That these rocks may go on forever is implied by open space from foreground to background on the left side of the photo.

Just because something is far away in reality doesn't mean it will look far away when it is in a picture. After all, a photo is only a small flat piece of paper, not a vast landscape. To add a sense of depth and distance to your pictures include an object, such as these branches, in the immediate foreground.

Timing and patience. That's why this photo works. If all the alligators were sleeping, we'd not give this photo a second glance. But the gaping mouth saves what would have been an ordinary photo. And it happened because the photographer had the patience to wait a few minutes for one of the alligators to become active.

Wow! Spectacular scenes do not automatically yield spectacular photographs. But here the photographer's originality and creativity grab our attention. The shadows of the people on the cliff energize the scene. But most importantly, their whimsy amuses us and lets us imagine that we could be casting those shadows.

Not all photos will be compelling, nor should they be. But usually they should tell a story. By composing the photo so the island is on the right side of the picture and an expanse of water on the left, the photographer successfully conveys the watery environment he was in.

Waiting for the jeep and its plume of dust to appear was a stroke of genius. Without the jeep, the road leading into the distance merely conveys a sense of distance and desolation. With the jeep, we join its passengers on an adventure into the wilderness.

You are used to framing pictures for your home, but how about while you are taking them? Framing is a popular picture-taking technique. It allows you to focus attention on the subject by placing it between naturally occurring borders in a scene. This photographer used the trunks of palm trees to frame and focus attention on the camels.

Getting the big picture. Surprisingly, spectacular natural vistas are one of the toughest things to capture. The temptation at the Grand Canyon, for example, is to include everything. Trouble is, when you include everything, every element gets smaller and smaller. If you must shoot the grand view, look for foreground elements such as plants or people or people that provide scale and depth.