THE BEST LANDSCAPE PICTURES are always taken in perfect weather conditions. Unfortunately, weather that is perfect for landscapes are often quite fit for ducks too. You may want to take a raincoat.

Good pictures are taken in the cold; in the rain; in the wind; and in the wet. Inclement weather is ideal for photography. Thick layers of snow can transform a bland old backyard into a treasure trove of digital images, and visiting the same scene in varying weather conditions can often deliver astoundingly different results. A rocky beach in the sunlight may seem to be a completely different place than the same area photographed in stormy weather. A park on a cloudless winter’s afternoon will seem like a million miles from the place you photographed early that morning when a blanket of frost covered the ground, but you’ll need to bring your hat, your scarf, your mittens and your sense of adventure.

Getting up early is another good idea. Nature has a funny way of showing its rarest beauty when the rest of the world is asleep. To get the best daybreak pictures, though, it is wise to scout the area the day before, looking for prospective subjects and points of view. A compass can also be handy to carry on such occasions and it is a good tip to check the local press for sunrise and sunset times, plus other information such as weather forecasts and tidal information if you are in a coastal region.

The golden hour, the last hour before sunset and after sunrise, has been known to landscape artists for many, many years, and at this time of day when the sun is low on the horizon and shadows are lengthened, giving texture to the rolling hills and valleys, is by far the best time of day to shoot the world around you. Set these two hours apart for taking pictures, and you landscape portfolio will grow day by day.

Don't forget your lunch box

Because landscape photographers often have to travel great distances on foot and over rough terrain, it is essential that they be ultra-selective in the gear they carry. Filling the camera bag with too much junk can drain your energy and demotivate you, thus costing you pictures.

At the same time, leaving some essential piece of kit behind may make it impossible to take that once in a lifetime picture, and you will be left crying over the one that got away.

The first essential piece of kit is, of course, the camera. Don’t skimp on the body. Extra weight here often translates into higher picture quality, and if you come up with a scorching picture, you will want it to be captured in as much detail as possible.

When it comes to lenses, most pros will lean towards the wider spectrum, with short focal lengths filling their bags. Go as wide as you can, invest in a 10mm fisheye if possible, because the exaggerated perspective provided by these lenses really come into their own in landscape work.

A very large maximum aperture is not really essential, firstly because landscapes don’t generally move very fast, allowing you to use slower shutter speeds, and secondly because you will want maximum depth of field, more often than not. A key advantage of lenses with smaller maximum apertures, apart from the fact that they are cheaper, is that they are smaller, and therefore lighter.

Other lenses you might consider taking are a macro for close-up shots and one longer lens, in case you run across wildlife. My bag of tricks contains a 300mm mirror lens, which is half the weight of the normal lens of this focal length, making it ideal to take on long excursions.

The one piece of equipment, which though heavy, is essential to successful landscape photography, is a tripod. Do not think you can save weight and leave this behind. Tripods make for great pictures. They allow the photographer to take their time in setting up for the perfect composition, allow for slower shutter speeds and hence more depth of field and can even be used as makeshift walking sticks on hilly terrain!

And my final top tip for what to put in your great big camera bag is a filter or two. Landscape photography is what filters were made for. Browse on over to our full length filter section to find out what to take and what to leave behind.