Landscape photography is basically watered down into three different kinds of landscapes: Waterscapes, Sky, and Traditional Landscapes.
A waterscape is a landscape picture traditionally dealing with water, jumping water fountains, seas, and waterfalls are all kinds of waterscapes. Sky landscapes are pictures of clouds, stars, or the Sun, and traditional landscapes are cities, country sides, and pretty much anything that doesn't fit into waterscapes or landscapes. All three kinds of landscapes require different preparation, as explained below.

Waterscapes are the most exciting of all landscapes in my personal opinion. Some are fast and exciting, while others are calm and settling. We'll explain fast water first.

To take a good moving waterscape picture, you first must be sure that there are NO water spots on the camera! If there is even one, it can ruin all your shots. If this happens, I carry around a glasses cleaning rag and spray, which clean it perfectly every time (you can find some at Wal-Mart). After your lens is perfectly clear, distance yourself from the water to include it all in the picture, and maybe some sky for good measure if outdoors. Sky and water always seem to work well together. After you focus and take your picture, continue to take many, it is moving, so every picture will be different! When reloading film, be sure to get away from the water so it doesn't get any water in the camera, that's BAD.

If it is a calm body of water, it might be best to use a tripod, its not going anywhere, might as well be ready right? One great trick for still water (photography teachers eat this one up) is to try and get it to reflect off something. You can reflect some mountains, trees, or the moon! If you are taking the picture at night, be sure to increase your f-stop, as explained in the previous lesson. For this, you don't have to get away to reload, but do try many other positions around the standing body.

Sky pictures are a great bundle of fun to do! Keep in mind when taking the picture, that clouds can move fairly rapidly. Hurry to take your picture, but don't rush, otherwise you will mess up. Turn your f-stop down, the sky is awfully bright, and you don't want to make it all gray. At normal cloud speed... I have to say most clouds stay in the position you want for about three minutes, don't take it as fact, it's just a rule of thumb I use. For these kinds of pictures, it is very important your light meter is in the correct position, as explained in lesson two.

Also be sure the Sun IS NOT in your picture. No matter what f-stop you are using, the Sun will completely destroy your picture, unless it is eclipsed by a cloud, tree, mountain, or other object (or if its at sunset). In fact, taking pictures of the Sun can even warp your lens, and possibly even destroy it! Don't take pictures of the Sun... Even if you do get away with it, it won't be very good. Some of the most beautiful shots I have ever seen though, are of the Sun breaking through clouds, that's alright, because the cloud is shielding the Sun from you, so no harm is done.

Stars are also very good to take pictures of, but they require special methods, which will be explained in a later lesson (most likely one involving time lapse photography).

As for traditional landscapes the real key is to use a tripod, and back away! Try to capture as much of the scenery as possible, but only keep what goes with the rest of the picture's flow. Try to keep a theme, like "forests" or "mountains." It can really muddle up a shot if there are conflicting elements that aren't properly composed (example: mud and a clear pond next to each other is not always a good idea for a beginner). Bigger is usually better for landscapes, the more things that are involved, the better all the elements work together and unify into a single thought. But like I said, don't overcrowd, then it just looks messy.