Simplicity in landscape photography: simplicity through black & white and editing
- Gary Holpin
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
In this series of blogs we're looking at one of the most important pillars in my 'Ten Pillars of Great Landscape Photography'; Simplicity. It's a topic that I've covered briefly before (see this blog) but as I gave a talk on this this topic to a local photography group recently, I thought I would cover it in a little more detail.
This is the fourth in a short series covering the main techniques for achieving simplicity. You can find previous blogs in the series here:
What is simplicity and why does it matter?
Simplicity in landscape photography is all about making images that are immediately readable. Instead of cramming lots of competing elements into the frame, you build the photograph around one clear idea.
You reduce the scene to its essentials so the viewer instantly understands what the picture is about, without being distracted by visual clutter. Put simply, it’s less, but better: fewer elements, a cleaner structure, and usually a single, strong subject.
Why does this matter? Simple images tend to be stronger and more enjoyable to look at. With fewer distractions, your main subject carries more weight, your story is clearer, and the photo has greater impact.
They’re also easier on the eye. Our brains work hard to untangle busy, chaotic scenes; clean, uncluttered images feel calmer and more inviting, which makes them stick in the memory for longer.
Finally, learning to simplify makes you a better photographer. It forces you to decide what really matters in the scene and to organise everything else around that choice. That’s why so many outstanding landscape photographs come down to one clear idea, shown cleanly, rather than an attempt to squeeze everything you saw into a single frame.
Ways to achieve simplicity
So how do we actually achieve simplicity in landscape photography? The encouraging thing is that there isn’t just one way to do it. You don’t need to use every possible technique – even a couple of well‑chosen approaches can make a big difference to your images.
I tend to think in terms of eight main ways to create simpler, stronger photos, ranging from decisions you make in the field through to choices you make later in editing. Some are very straightforward – such as picking a clean, uncomplicated subject or using the weather to your advantage. Others rely on more specific camera techniques, like long exposures or intentional camera movement.
The important thing is to see these as tools in your toolkit. Depending on the scene and the story you want to tell, you might use one approach or combine several; there’s no single “correct” recipe. In this blog we’ll focus on the first two of these methods, with the others to follow in future blogs.
Simplicity through black and white
The next way to introduce simplicity is to strip away colour and work in black and white.
At first, that can feel a bit backwards. We tend to think of colour as one of the joys of landscape photography, but it can just as easily pull attention away from what matters. When the colours in a scene are strong, messy, clashing, or simply not adding anything, removing them can make the photo simpler, clearer and more direct.
Converting to black and white takes the image back to the essentials: shape, line, texture, light and shadow. These become the main characters in the frame, and details or atmosphere that were being drowned out by colour often start to come through.
Black and white comes into its own when the colour palette is either flat and lifeless, or busy and chaotic. A view full of competing hues – different greens, browns and greys all jostling for attention – can suddenly feel clean, bold and graphic once the colour has gone.
It is also very effective in awkward light. Harsh midday sun or flat, grey overcast skies can leave colour looking washed out or unbalanced, but the same conditions in black and white can give you strong contrast and a sense of drama.
Most editing software makes this easy. You can switch to black and white with a single click, then refine the look by adjusting the relative brightness of different tones and nudging the contrast to match the mood you want.
The underlying idea is simple: when colour supports the image, keep it; when it gets in the way, take it out. Black and white is a flexible way to simplify complex scenes and create images with a calm, timeless feel.
For more on black and white photography check out this sunny day black and white photography blog, and my black and white photo gallery.
Removal of the colour simplifies the scene to just shape and texture
The image above is Nun’s Cross Farm on Dartmoor, photographed on a showery spring day. In colour, the scene would be full of different greens in the grass and moorland, blue‑grey tones in the sky, and various browns and greys in the stone and timber – a busy mix of colours that doesn’t really add much to the story.
By converting to black and white, all of that has been stripped away and the photo becomes much more direct and dramatic. What really stands out now is the contrast between the bright cloud and the darker sky, the rough texture of the stone wall and farm building, the sweep of the grasses, and the strong lines of the wall and gate leading you into the frame.
The picture is no longer about colour; it is about shape, light, texture and atmosphere. That shift makes it feel more timeless and more graphic, and it also simplifies the viewing experience because your eye is not having to juggle lots of competing colours.
For me, this is exactly the kind of scene where black and white shines: the colours on the day weren’t especially harmonious or exciting, but the underlying structure, textures and tones were very strong. Removing the colour lets those qualities take centre stage and gives you a calmer, more powerful image.
Simplicity through editing
The final technique I want to touch on is simplifying your images in post‑processing by removing small distractions.
People feel differently about this, so it’s worth stating my view up front: landscape photography is an art form, not photojournalism. A reasonable amount of tidying up in editing is, in my opinion, perfectly acceptable if it supports your creative intention and you’re open about what you’ve done.
So what might you remove? Think of footprints in otherwise untouched sand or snow, a stray drinks can in the grass, modern signs or posts that jar in an otherwise natural scene, or little bright blobs near the edge of the frame that drag the eye away from the subject. These things don’t contribute to the photo; they simply add clutter.
Current editing software, especially tools like Lightroom and Photoshop, makes this kind of clean‑up very quick. With today’s content‑aware and AI‑driven tools, you can remove a distraction and have the software fill the gap with believable texture and tone, often in seconds rather than painstaking minutes.
The guiding principle is that you’re not inventing a new reality; you’re removing interruptions that stop the viewer seeing the scene as you felt it. You’re using editing to restore simplicity, not to fabricate something wildly different.
Some photographers prefer not to remove anything at all, while others are comfortable taking out minor distractions. It’s a personal decision, but if you do make these changes, I think it’s good practice to be transparent about them.
In the next example, you’ll see how selectively removing just a few small elements noticeably increases the simplicity and impact of the image, turning something slightly fussy into something much cleaner and more focused.
To get started with Lightroom editing, see this getting started with Lightroom Classic blog.
The image above is another photo of Nun's Cross Farm, this time on a snowy winter’s day. The walk in felt magical: fresh snow underfoot, gentle light around sunset, and the farm sitting alone on the horizon, exactly the kind of simple, quiet scene I love.
Standing there, it felt beautifully uncluttered – just the building, the snow and that soft arc of cloud in the sky. But when I opened the raw file back home, the foreground told a different story. It was criss‑crossed with overlapping human footprints, many of them bunched near the edges of the frame, which dragged the eye away from the farm and completely broke that sense of a pristine, untouched landscape. This is where editing can come into its own.
Rather than leave the boot prints in, I used AI‑based editing tools to tidy the foreground, resulting in the edited photo below. I asked the software to remove the messy footprints and, instead of giving me a flat patch of cloned snow, it extended a set of clean animal tracks across the frame.
Those tracks are still visible and they can still catch the eye, but they feel far more natural and much more in tune with the idea of a quiet, remote spot that hasn’t been trampled by people. They now support the mood of the image rather than working against it.
Crucially, the overlapping human footprints have gone, so the foreground feels calmer, less fussy at the edges, and much closer to how the scene felt at the time – simple, peaceful and almost untouched. It is a good illustration of how a small, targeted bit of editing can significantly increase the simplicity and impact of a photo.
Final words
Simplicity in landscape photography isn’t something you have to wait for by chance – it’s something you can create on purpose. Across this short series we’ve looked at eight practical ways to do that: choosing a simple main subject, using shallow depth of field, working with weather, using long exposure, looking for silhouettes, experimenting with intentional camera movement, converting to black and white, and gently tidying distractions in editing.
You don’t need to use all of these at once; just pick one or two on your next outing and treat them as a quiet exercise. The more you practise them, the more you’ll begin to see clean shapes, clear stories and calmer compositions everywhere you go – and your landscapes will feel stronger and more intentional as a result.
Want help learning how to simplify your photos?
If you’d like to develop your eye for simplicity – and learn practical ways to reduce clutter and create calmer, more impactful images – I cover a range of approaches to simplifying your photography on my 1‑2‑1 and residential photography workshops here in Devon.
About Gary Holpin Photography
As a professional photographer based in Devon, my journey began along the stunning South West Coast Path. Disappointed with my initial attempts to capture its beauty, I embarked on a second 630-mile journey, this time dedicated to mastering photography. Today, I'm a nationally acclaimed photographer with award-winning landscape photos.
I specialize in providing top-notch property photography, business photography, and drone photography services to businesses across the South West. Additionally, I offer comprehensive photography training courses tailored for both businesses and individuals. Whether you're looking to enhance your corporate image or improve your personal photography skills, my training programs are designed to help you capture stunning images.
As an award-winning and widely published photographer, I frequently share my passion for photography and Devon through engaging talks at local camera clubs and community groups. My expertise spans the entire South West region, ensuring that clients from Devon, Dorset & Somerset benefit from high-quality photography services and training.
