Have you ever been on holiday and witnessed the most amazing sunset of your life and photographed it only to return home to find that your attempt to capture it is, to say the least, lacking and flat. Or have you never really been able to share with your family and friends the mighty crash of a wild sea pounding a desolate coastline, as it was when you made your shot. Well to become a landscape photographer does not happen overnight and there are some basic tips to take on board on your journey towards that perfect shot.
If you are serious about your subject matter rather than just taking a snap it pays to research your chosen location. Visit the area at different times of the day making sure you know where the sun rises and sets, how the changing light affects the colour and mood of various parts of the area. Finding good vantage points are important and can dictate whether you use a tripod or maybe lie down or just stand to achieve your perfect picture. All this before applying the lens.
Locations are very important. You will spend most of the year choosing a vacation destination that offers you the best opportunities as a landscape photographer so as to arrive home armed with photos you can share with people and be proud of. Times of the year are of great importance as the seasons play a vital role in determining light, colour and temperature. For example that idyllic Tyrollean holiday you took last spring in a picture postcard Alpine village where you snapped the green rolling landscpe with its flower covered mountains teeming with nonchalant cattle and sheep roaming freely will be very different six months later. The snow will have made everything take on a different complexion that changes every detail. The village you stayed in now takes on a Christmas card feeling whether photographed by day or by night. What was a lush green rolling landscape is now blanketed in a shroud of snow teeming not with cattle or sheep but with skiers. Both of these seasons give one the opportunity to explore and recreate the changing images of your chosen location.
When one is planning a photographic holiday a good tip is to check out local professional photographers as a friend of mine does on his annual photographic pilgrimage to his beloved Devon. In doing this he garners ideas from the professionals, trying out locations he would ordinarily never have dreamt of. Happy snapping.
