Do You Want to Make Epic Environmental Portraits? Here Are Five Steps to Follow

Sarah Lyndsay is brand new to the YouTube scene, but an experienced photographer already and known for her epic landscape self-portraits. In her first video, she shares five tips on how she makes her photos.

If you want to make epic landscape self-portraits or direct a model in a landscape, be sure to check out the new video from Sarah Lyndsay. Lyndsay is a Canadian self-portrait and landscape photographer, and often, she combines those two subjects. Her lens of choice is a wide angle, which usually is not the preferred lens for portrait photographers, but one many landscape photographers could not live without. Besides the wide-angle lens, Lyndsay emphasizes the need for a tripod, as she is often alone and needs a place to put her camera and a wire trigger with a time-lapse mode. Using the time-lapse mode, she can walk into the scene and have the camera automatically take photos. Alternatively, she uses the smartphone app to control the camera and hides the phone when she takes the photo. Even though Sarah most often uses a dress in her self-portraits, the tips she shares can be used if the model wears pants and a jacket.

The first and most important tip Lyndsay shares is to be confident. If you take photos of yourself or with a model looking nervous or showing unease, the photo is ruined. Lyndsay also shares several tips on how to pose herself or a model. Keep the limbs away from the body, turn the side to the camera, let down the hair and use it, and use the wind to blow the hair and a potential dress around — all kinds of movement look dynamic and add to the drama of the photo.

Check out the video above to see the rest of the steps and tips she suggests to create epic environmental self-portraits. Among others, she touches on color theory, movement, and types of clothing.

Mads Peter Iversen's picture

Danish Fine Art Landscape Photographer and YouTuber. He is taking photos all over the world but the main focus is the cold, rough, northern part of Europe. His style is somewhere in between dramatic and colorful fantasy and Scandinavian minimalism. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel for epic landscape photography videos from around the world.

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