Tips for Shooting Landscapes in Tourist-Heavy Locations

What do you do if that one location you want to photograph on your trip just happens to be one that hundreds if not thousands of other people also want to photograph? It can be a tricky situation to navigate. Sometimes it can be straight up frustrating. After too many instances where I found myself just being irritated, I found a few different ways to approach my shots of popular destinations that allowed me to capture what I wanted without having to feel like I was fighting crowds just for my shot.

This is simply a short list of what has worked for me in the past. For those of you who have navigated similar situations in a different manner, I'd encourage you to comment below with your strategies for getting that perfect shot in a tourist heavy location.

I live in Southern Utah, a veritable hub to a multiplicity of locations within the southwest region of the United States. A few of the more recognized locations that I often try to hike and photograph include Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Horseshoe Bend, and the Valley of Fire State Park. I haven't once visited any of these places without encountering scores of people all there to view, and photograph, the exact same scenery. Sometimes I'll end up sharing a vantage point with just a couple strangers, other times I have stood with hundreds as we all attempted to capture our own version of what we were seeing. One of the most obvious answers to this photographic challenge is obviously to arrive early. Getting to your location early will give you plenty of time to scope out your shoot spot, wait your turn if necessary, and be in place by the time your light gets to the setting where you want it. That is really all I had to do in order to snag the shot of Horseshoe Bend that is the cover image for this article. Sometimes though, we don't always have the luxury of time required to do that.

As demonstrated in the two images above, one of my favorite tricks for snagging shots amidst crowds of people involves the usage of a neutral density filter. Each of these images was taken roughly a mile upstream within the popular hike, The Narrows inside Zion National Park. This hike is easily one of the most popular inside the park. In each shot there was somewhere between 10 and 20 people that ended up walking straight through my frame during the exposures. The nature of the hikers' movement meant that they barely registered on the frame at all. There were a few scant wisps of motion remaining, but they were so small that I was able to easily remove them in post-processing. Granted, there are several scenarios in which this tactic won't work, specifically ones where you're shooting a darker subject and the people walking into frame would be lighter.

Another thing that usually works for me, as obvious as it may appear to some of you but took some time for me to figure out, is to simply walk up to someone and ask if they would be comfortable with me setting up right next to them. These two shots below were taken in the Hanging Lake recreation area in Colorado. Hanging Lake is an incredibly popular travel stop with more daily visitors than there is parking availability. It's fairly widely understood that chances of actually getting a parking space is very slim during peak hours of the day. Whether you're there early in the morning, middle of the day, late at night, it would be extremely unlikely to have this small destination all to yourself. The space is fairly limited up at the top, most of the walking area around the lake is confined to a wooden dock that circumnavigates about a third of the small lake. 

So many times while I was up there I would simply walk up to someone and ask if I could set up my camera right next to them. This tactic, if you can call it that, is easily the most effective one that I have discovered. I have actually met some really incredible people out there in the field while enjoying these immensely popular views and quite a few people end up staying in touch with me through Facebook or some other social media platform. Walking up to random strangers and sharing views such as these really is a great way to make new friends, especially if you're both sharing similar passions such as hiking, photography, and adventure.

As always, don't violate the guidelines set in place for whatever location you are visiting. Getting that perfect shot is hardly worth the risk of damaging the area, getting ticketed, or even being placed in jail. Sharing beautiful locations such as popular national and state parks can sometimes be frustrating, but it can also be a very easy way to make new friends and maybe even find new potential clients (for those of you who sell landscape prints). You never know who you might have the chance to meet out there. Some of the best advice that I have ever been given as a photographer has come from simply approaching someone out in the field and striking up a conversation. At this point, I've lost count how many times an interaction with another photographer in the field has literally helped me improve my own work. As always, I'm curious to hear any other tips or advice that you who travel and photograph high tourist traffic areas, so make sure to comment.