Seascapes are one of the most imaginative sub-genres of landscape photography. It’s challenging enough to create a compelling landscape image when “what you see is what you get,” but with the energetic waves constantly changing a sizable portion of the composition, seascapes can be incredibly difficult.
Winter can produce some of the most awe-inspiring landscapes of the year, bringing with it snow, ice, and more than a few challenges peculiar to winter landscapes. Iceland is no exception, and in his latest vlog, Nigel Danson shares tips for getting the most out of the white stuff.
“Let’s go to New Zealand!” Ka-ching, that’s a pretty chunk of change to shell out, but travel has become comparatively more affordable than ever before. If you are considering extended travel to invest in your landscape photography, you can save a ton of money without turning vagabond.
When you schedule a couple weeks for landscape photography, do you revisit locations from prior trips? It’s tempting to visit new places, but if you want to drastically level-up your portfolio quality, start investing more time in one spot.
Landscape photographers spend a lot of time outdoors at strange hours of the day to capture a few shots at sunrise and sunset. But have you considered exploring astrophotography to broaden your shoot options to include breathless starry nights?
Variety is king during a one to three-week landscape photography trip. Visiting a few points of interest per day ensures at least one spot will work out. But to take your photography to the next level, it’s crucial to revisit the same location many, many times — and not just for the weather.
2018 is old news, but that doesn’t mean we’re quite done learning from it. As you reconsider some of those New Year's resolutions, it’s important to revisit the previous year to celebrate milestones and shed some light on meaningful goals in 2019.
How many bags do you travel with for landscape photography? Two or three depending on the trip duration? How about one carry-on sized backpack for a year of travel?
There’s nothing quite like a sunburst to add that last punch to a fantastic landscape. Last week we covered the composition, settings, and environmental factors needed to snap a crisp sunburst. Today, we will finish up in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Nothing says sunrise or sunset like an explosive sunburst. The geometric pattern can double the interest in your photos when composed soundly, but you need to get a few settings in order. Here’s a guide to picking the right lens, mitigating flare, and composing the shot just right to create crisp, gorgeous sunbursts!
I hate being bored, not so much because of the restless sensation, but because I dread wasting time. Boredom just feels wrong, so I maintain a ready backlog of productive tasks. But could boredom be as essential to your creativity as hard work and tenacity?
How many bags do you pack for a landscape photography trip? While your camera gear is probably the heaviest part of your luggage, your clothing may be the bulkiest. But as any mountaineer or thru-hiker will tell you, it doesn’t need to be that way!
What would it be like to take a year long travel sabbatical to photograph the world? When I started in November, I expected it to look like my last five years of landscape photography trips — just back to back. After just two months of being location independent, it’s fair to say I was pretty far off the mark. Here are seven lessons I’ve learned.
Hiking is a natural part of landscape photography. A few friends have spent months “thru-hiking” the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. In preparation for this life-changing endeavor, they did frequent repacking called “pack shakedowns.”
How do you level up your photography skills? The obvious places might be to peruse work by other photographers or watch some YouTube tutorials, but these are actually the least effective ways to learn: your best learning resource is your own library of bad photos!
Probably the first advice you received as a new landscape photographer was to purchase a polarizing filter. But once you’ve mastered the polarizing filter on a few landscape photography trips, my recommendation is: take the polarizing filter off.
What’s the best way to explore Iceland as a landscape photographer? Many photographers swear by camper vans: you can drive up to the best location, scout it during midday, then stay overnight to shoot until sunrise.
When blending composite landscapes, it can be incredibly tricky to mask the exposures perfectly, even when the tripod isn’t touched between exposures. Luminosity masking is a radically powerful technique to create ultra-precise masks in a matter of minutes.
One of the most powerful ways to take your landscape photography to the next level is to blend — or “composite” — exposures of the same landscape from different times of the day.
What’s the best way to advance faster as a photographer? It’s probably not buying a new camera or even spending more time on your photography.
Since the film days, photographers have used dodge and burn to infuse drama into their images. Unfortunately, local exposure adjustments don’t always stack well and can produce the opposite effect.
“This shot just looks flat.” Even an image shot during dramatic lighting can look dull after global adjustments. But with some inspiration from light painting, you can bring the image to life in post-production.
Have you considered investing in your photography through a travel sabbatical? Although it might not be a possibility now, what if you started preparing over the next one to three years?
Like the “rule” of thirds, neutral tones are one of those principles that tend to emerge in spite of artistic differences, and by identifying them in a landscape, you can tint them to recreate dynamic weather, temperature swings, and time of day.
The list of motivating landscape photographers who regularly vlog keeps growing. And if you’re interested in vlogging yourself, there just might be a solid option for weight-conscious landscape photographers.
Most landscape photographers will agree that post-production is essential to the art, but while the debate of how far you should go is left to individual preferences, the question is how far you can go while maintaining the image’s believability.
How long do you spend looking at an image on Facebook versus an art gallery? The duration we spend admiring someone’s work depends on the context, but to what extent can you stall viewers on your own landscape photography?
What’s on your bucket list? It’s not too difficult to tour cultural icons that have shaped history, but what if you want to discover unique landscape locations that aren’t well known?
Some artists think better standing on their head. Personally, I produce better edits when I turn photographs upside down.
What does it mean for a photograph to tell a story? We usually think of street photography or portraiture as the best mediums for communicating emotions, but landscapes can tell a story too.
When you wrap up a landscape photography trip, what happens to all the photos that didn’t make the cut? If you're like me, you almost never see them again.
When you set aside time to learn as a photographer, how do you spend that time? Do you peruse your portfolio or browse through a respected photographer’s portfolio to break down why some photos “worked”? You may fall prey to a cognitive bias called Survivorship Bias.
There’s no shortage of bucket list destinations, but Scotland is a pretty special place. My first photography trip was to Scotland, and my last trip in the UK ended with the Scottish Highlands.
Planning a photography trip to Europe? It’s tempting to rely on public transit for city hopping, but as a landscape photographer, it’s rarely an option. Luckily, renting a car is incredibly affordable if you do some research.
We’re digitally surrounded by success stories in the field of landscape photography. A handful of these successful photographers keep my social media clogged with stunning work and wanderlust-inducing locations. So if you want to be a successful landscape photographer, you should imitate their successes, right?
