Landscape Photography: Shooting from an Aerial Perspective

Michael Yamashita uses examples from his work to explore landscapes seen from above. Three modules cover equipment, light and weather before considering perspective and practice. The curriculum develops a way of noticing pattern and scale, with assignments that extend a relatively short set of video lessons.

What you will learn

• Recognize patterns from elevated viewpoints
• Consider light and weather in composition
• Use perspective to communicate landscape scale

Who this suits

The Beginner course welcomes interested learners, with some photography experience helpful. An aerial perspective need not mean buying a drone or booking an aircraft; safe authorized elevated viewpoints can support the visual exercises.

Before you enroll

The page estimates four study hours and describes roughly forty minutes of core video. Access costs and any transport are separate. Stay within permitted areas and applicable aviation rules, and never attempt a hazardous viewpoint to reproduce an example. The lesson is about perspective, not flight training.

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Put it into practice

Use a safe authorized viewpoint to photograph a simple pattern. Compare it with an image from ground level and explain how the change affects scale, abstraction and the viewer’s understanding.

Source and review

This overview is based on the provider's published information, checked on 12 October 2026. It is an editorial assessment, not a claim that we completed the resource. Time filters are approximate study ranges; projects and exercises can take longer.

View the curriculum and current access options at Coursera.

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