A guide for the landscape and nature photographer.
Time or budget might not allow for an epic photo adventure to Iceland or the Southwest. Yet, I bet you can find a destination beyond your backdoor to explore in the length of a day. I’m lucky to live in New Hampshire where in a few hours I can reach the mountains, lakes, city, or ocean. Visiting either of these make for a fun, photography day trip.
I explored the Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine, on my last day trip. I left the house at 3 am and made it home for lunch.
Set a Goal
So you want to explore and photograph the outdoors. Whatever your purpose—for fun, exercise, adventure, to build your portfolio—it will influence how you will plan your trip. What you will do with your images will determine location, subject, style, and the gear you will bring.
Shooting for Print and the Web
You can rely on your smartphone or a compact camera to create for social media and the web. But, you will need more resolution for print.
Take vertical and horizontal shots to fit the layout of magazine covers and spreads. Leave negative space in the image to account for text. Make a shot list of all the images you think you will want to gather from your trip. Make a variety of images to tell the whole story.
My goal was to photograph the movement of water around the rocky coastline of Maine. I planned to share the images on social media and this blog.
Choose your subject
Decide what you want to photograph. Your subject will drive your preparation. It could be a beach, ocean, lake, mountains, city, wildlife, town, people, buildings, a landmark, and so on.
I focused on water and rocks.
Consider your style
Determine how you will capture your scene. How will you make a photograph from your vision? Your vision embodies your style, comprised of composition, color, exposure, perspective, focus, and more.
Tell the story through light
Plan to arrive an hour before sunrise. Stay a half-hour or more after sunset to catch the blue hour.
Tell the story through motion
Blur water, traffic, or another subject to emphasize movement. Freeze a bird in flight or a ski jumper getting air.
Tell the story through moment
When your vision hinges on a specific moment, calculate when your subject will enter the frame. Plan to be ready to shoot when a train emerges from a tunnel or a child steps across rocks in a stream. Be vigilant for unexpected moments. Look up from your camera and observe what is happening around you. Keep your ears open.
Tell the story through others
Your presence in the scene might influence the moment. You can be a silent observer, or an active participant. Let’s say you are photographing a fishing operation. You can stand on the dock when the boat rolls in, or you can stand on the boat and capture the fisherman at work. Include people to show scale and add a human element to a landscape. This is a great selfie opportunity! Doing so allows the viewer to see themself in the frame, making it relatable.
Tell the story through perspective
Your vision can include many ways of seeing. Shoot from above or below. Draw attention using leading lines that point to your subject.
I crouched down low to compose the image below. It exaggerates scale and captures the detail in the rocks.
I experimented with motion using long exposure. I captured the tide using shutter speeds between 1/2 and 30 seconds. I sought to capture the shadow detail in the rocks as well as the intense color and light of the sunrise.
An experiment led to a happy accident. I rotated my variable neutral density filter incorrectly which resulted in the rainbow effect seen in the image below.
Scout your location
Think through all aspects of your vision to select a location. Consider the terrain, atmosphere, time of day, directions, gear, and your safety.
Google Earth is great for exploring, whether you have a place in mind or just getting started. You can zoom in to the street level and tilt your perspective to get a sense of the topography. I like to scan coastlines, search forests and city streets for interesting landmarks.
Determine the direction of the light
Find when and where the sun and moon will rise and set using a variety of apps. I like Sun Seeker and PhotoPills, and many like The Photographer’s Ephemeris. Be sure to check tide information when visiting the ocean. Waterfalls are fullest in the spring and reduce to a trickle by summer’s end. Check when a water feature freezes in winter. I drove to Lake Willoughby in northern Vermont in December and never checked if it had frozen. I got lucky. As a deep, glacial lake, it freezes late.
Do your research on the web, social media, hiking and trail websites and more
Search the web to surface all the information you can about your spot. You’ll find the best angles that others have photographed. Don’t stop at Google. Search social sites like Instagram, Facebook, Flickr and 500px. Check for subreddits specific to your state or area of interest. Scan postings on outdoor photography groups and forums.
Search trail apps and websites, park services, and conservation organizations. I follow many of these organizations, photographers, and outdoor enthusiasts on Instagram. I gather ideas for my next adventure by following their content.
Don’t forget to tap into your own network of family and friends. Others’ work might uncover the best time and season to visit your spot. Bring a fresh perspective to a highly-photographed location.
I scanned instagram hashtags for #maine and #marginalway. I looked up area photographers and accounts for images of my subject. I searched “Maine” on the web and Google Earth, and plotted maps to find a location within a two-hour drive. I used the Sun Seeker app to view the position of the sun in relation to where I’d be on the Marginal Way. I checked the weather leading up to the trip to ensure conditions were favorable.
Pack your bag
Gather your gear and map your journey. Check for potential road closures and limited access. Put together plan B in case things don’t go as expected.
You will need a tripod if shooting in low light or planning a long exposure. How much you can carry on your trek will determine the amount of gear you can bring. Which lenses will you take? Will you need filters? Flash? A reflector? Pack extra storage cards and batteries to charge your equipment and phone.
Consider your safety. Can you call for help, and extract yourself if you stumble into danger? Pack a headlamp and flashlights when going off the grid and when any part of your trip is during the dark. These are also useful for light painting! Bring food and water, hiking equipment, bug spray, sunblock, and maybe even a satellite phone and space blanket. Let at least one person know when and where you are going.
Check tire pressure, fluid levels, and gas-up if traveling by car. When using a phone to navigate, take a GPS back-up in case you lose your cell service or your phone battery dies. I bring a printed map and directions, just in case.
Plan for the worst-case scenario and what you might do if you have to abandon your adventure. You can salvage your trip if you can’t reach your destination or conditions are not what you hoped for. Nothing is worse than hiking short of the summit when the pretty light comes and goes, or traveling down a class IV road to find it’s been washed away, or the mountain air clots with haze from a nearby forest fire, or the sky clouds over while waiting for the Milky Way to rise.
Photograph details and small scenes when you can’t make the big shots. Experiment with a creative technique when you land on plan B.
I have shown up late to a sunrise on more than one occasion. Reach your destination a whole hour early. The sky was lighting up when I was 20 mins from the Marginal Way. I almost stopped at Hampton Beach instead, thinking I’d have more time to prepare and compose my shot. I decided to risk missing the red part of the sunrise. I chose the rocks and water over the sky.
It takes longer to get into position in the dark than in daylight. It will take even more time to compose your perfect shot if you are seeing your environment for the first time. The good light and deep color are fleeting. Set up your tripod, ready your lenses and filters, and dial in your settings 20 minutes in advance. This way, when the glow begins, you are ready to click the shutter.
Enjoy the adventure
You’ve prepared, you’ve packed your gear, and you are on your way. Keep an open mind, and don’t despair if things don’t go as you hoped. Each adventure is a new experience. Try something new and different, and come home with more than photographic proof. Aside from photography, you’re making time to commune with nature and the environment. This is time spent that you won’t regret, because you are doing what you love to do.
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