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Guide to Outdoor Photography

Whatever genre of photography your favour, chances are it will sometimes lead you outdoors. Sports, portraits and wildlife photography can certainly produce stunning results inside, but there really is nothing like getting out into the big wide world to really open you up to some wondrous photographic opportunities.

Landscape photography is the best-known facet of the great outdoors shooting list, but this does not mean it is the easiest, far from it. The landscape is not static, but constantly changing – you could photograph a scene on one day and return the next, only to find a completely different mood and set of circumstances. You could even take a shot from the same place every day for a year, and you’d be unlikely to go home with two images that were exactly the same. The fluid nature of the constant changes in our environment are what hook landscape photographers: the way in which the light interacts with the land can easily become a source of fascination – it reveals the essence of a place, waiting to be explored by the photographer.

The main complication with landscape photography is that you cannot move your subject – instead, it is you, the photographer, who must move, spending some time finding the right viewpoint from which to photograph. When composing your shots, there is much to take into consideration. One of the most well known guides involved has to be the rule of thirds: the rule that involves dividing the scene in the viewfinder into thirds, and striving to have key elements in the composition falling on these lines. This makes an image aesthetically pleasing and maximises impact, as it takes into account the way we ‘read’ images.

Foreground detail can be effectively included, providing a link to distant details in the landscape, such as a boulder or rocky outcrop tying in with a remote mountain range. Bearing concepts like these in mind when composing your image will mean that you’re more likely to come away with a photograph that has real visual impact.

Many landscape photographers will tell you that the key to taking successful landscape photos is making the most of available light. As the late Belgian pictorialist photographer Leonard Misonne once asserted: “Light glorifies everything. It transforms and ennobles the most common place and ordinary subjects.”

Most photographers agree that landscape shoots best take place at the beginning or the end of the day. At these times, photographers can expect to see the warm read and orange hues of the sun warm up their shots and inject some atmosphere. Sometimes, a spectacular sunset or stunning cloud formation will grab your attention, and just beg to be given centre stage in your photograph. In these situations, don’t be afraid to point your camera skyward, keeping just a little of the landscape on the horizon in the frame to anchor the image and provide context. On other occasions, the sky may be dull; this is a time to look for details in the landscape before you and perhaps concentrate on creating rather more abstract images, with very little or no sky in the frame.

Although you may think that a pure blue sky looks great to the naked eye, the truth is it rarely ‘makes’ an image. An empty pure blue sky can look glorious, but it should be shown in moderation. Better yet, save taking that shot until you’ve got some interesting clouds in the frame. Whether they are mere wisps or big fluffy cumulous formations, clouds can transform a photograph, creating a sense of drama and depth, or simply breaking up a great blue expanse. Maximise their impact by investing in a circular polariser: rotate until you achieve the desired effect and voilà. You instantly have pure white, bright clouds juxtaposed against a dramatic, inky blue sky. A polariser can also be used to eliminate unwanted reflections or glare from water or other reflective surfaces in the frame. See our boxout on page xx for more advice on filters.

In terms of the right equipment for the job, you don’t necessarily need a DSLR to take great pictures. While a good-quality camera will help produce good results, it is you that will make the picture, not the camera. Landscape photography is about perception: see the image first and then raise your camera to your eye. Digital compacts are now of very high quality. Try to find one with a viewfinder as well as a viewing screen, as this is really helpful in bright conditions.

It’s important to develop your own style of landscape photography when tackling this challenging genre – pay attention to the rules and guidelines available to you, but learn to appreciate when to bend or break them to create something new.
The same rule can be applied to portrait photography, where stepping outside of the studio can bring a whole new dimension to your work. By learning how to work with available natural light you can begin to shoot beautiful portraits in completely natural surroundings and inject a breath of fresh air into your images.

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