Six of the Best Landscape Conditions to Photograph in Your Lifetime

Landscape photography is one of the most common genres because of its accessibility. However, this ease of entry has resulted in a saturation of very good, yet somewhat over-photographed landscapes. This video will point you in the direction of something a little more special.

In Thomas Heaton's latest bit of advice to landscape photographers, he lists his favorite conditions in which to photograph, or as he more appropriately phrases in his video description: elements. As I alluded to above, photographing a nice seascape or a sunset over mountains isn't the most difficult thing to seek out, so for the more adventurous or more committed landscape photographer, the elements listed in Heaton's video can be much more of a challenge. But as with any challenge, the rewards can be far greater than those gained from the path of least resistance. 

Something I have yet to photograph — and one of the elements that requires some pre-planning — is a cloud inversion. Unless you live in a high-altitude environment, actually even seeing a cloud inversion is a relatively rare sight. Even rarer still is the opportunity to photograph one during a sunrise. So, if you want to photograph this phenomenon, an eye for weather, an early rise, and a bit of a hike are required. Doesn't sound so difficult when I put it like that, but a variety of environmental conditions need to come together in order for this to occur, so a bit of luck in regards to timing can help.

Have you had the opportunity to photograph any of the conditions mentioned in the video?

Mike O'Leary's picture

Mike is a landscape and commercial photographer from, Co. Kerry, Ireland. In his photographic work, Mike tries to avoid conveying his sense of existential dread, while at the same time writing about his sense of existential dread. The last time he was in New York he was mugged, and he insists on telling that to every person he meets.

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12 Comments

Uhm. I see "cloud inversions" as you call it at least 4 times a week every autumn or winter, and I do not live at so high altitudes... No need to hike even, you can drive your car here,... or just get your camera and drive uphill every time it's foggy in your town 😉

I used to watch his stuff for years. I stopped watching because he doesn’t put CC in his videos. I reached out to him and no avil. No respect for him.

What is the "CC" that he neglects to put in his videos?

He's referring to the closed captions (CC) button on YouTube videos that shows automatically generated subtitles. The video author has the feature disabled. Thus no aid for deaf people (if captions are disabled) or people with english as a second language (if translations are disabled)

Yeah, I am deaf. I use closed captions to understand the videos. He used to put CC in ALL of his videos. For some reason he stopped doing that. I loved his Youtube channel for years. It's such a bummer that he decided to not put CC in his videos anymore. In some of his recent videos do have CC but some don't. I cannot support any Youtube channels that don't provides CC. I hope Thomas actually read this comment and try put work to have cc in his videos again.

It's so weird that he could go out of his way to turn them off? As a youtuber myself, I realized they are automatically generated, no extra work on my part. The only reason I can see him turning them off for is because auto-generated CC is often quite bad. Maybe he got a lot of flak for CC saying something he didn't actually say?

It is a lot of work to do the CC yourself for proper subtitles, and it can get a bit pricey too.

I stopped watching Heaton for a different reason. Lost count of how many videos he made where he could not find a composition. Perhaps the only person who can get away with making a video about NOT taking a photo?

That really sucks. Maybe I should try pointing it out next time I watch one of his videos. He doesn't strike me as a person who would have a vendetta against deaf people, so it must be an oversight.

I agree with you. It was obviously oversight and no vendetta. Was just disappointed, however I will start watching his stuff again eventually if he start put CC in his videos every time. Some of his recent videos still don’t have CC. One thing I noticed is that over this year CC was lacking in various channels in YouTube that’s usually have cc right away. I’ve been using YouTube for years. I think coronavirus affected it somehow.

I quit watching him because I felt he was always too negative.

Can you tell me where to get the aluminim "lego" things for your van?

It looks like he went here:

https://www.aluminium-profile.co.uk/