As landscape photographers, we are used to getting out of our warm beds early in the morning, getting to the location and also composing before the sun starts to rise. But what if we arrive after sunrise? Is there any other way to go home with good photos?
In my latest landscape photography vlog on YouTube, I wanted to capture breathtaking scenes with trees covered with salt mist. Although clear skies have been predicted, it’s the hour before sunrise and sunset that usually presents us with great opportunities. We just need to make sure to complete the final composition before sunrise as there won’t be a chance to get strong shots with harsh lighting. Or are there possibilities?
Forget your planned photo shoot date
When the weather conditions turn to something that no longer has anything to do with what you originally planned, it’s time to forget about your plans. It doesn’t make sense to try to photograph trees with hoarfrost when the sun has thawed and when the light is already too harsh for the interplay between glittering frost and shadow.
There are many different motivations that make people go for landscape photography. Whatever your favorite reason may be, I guess enjoying nature and improving your photography could be pretty high on your list. How about doing exactly that? Forget about the superior conditions you had hoped for. They are gone and will not come back. Instead, focus on what is, pushing the red line that sets you back as a photographer and improving your photography by trying something different.
Find what to focus on
In the video mentioned above, you can see that I received extremely harsh light on a winter day in the Alps. Due to the snow reflection, I found it quite difficult to see anything on my camera screen. and that makes it impossible for me to use autofocus. But I ignored all the obstacles and focused instead on the possible. And the longer I stick with them, the more possibilities I see.
I focus on contrast, texture, form and shape. Anyone who has tried to photograph in harsh light in a snow-covered landscape knows that the difference between highlights and shadows isn’t the only problem. What’s missing is that enchanting mood, given off by the soft light.
Light change
After taking a quick launch shot, I found a small stream, surrounded by trees, providing some shadow areas. It was frozen, with delicate patterns drawn on its surface. There’s still frost in the dark, which gives me a great opportunity to include textures in my composition and the background light, which shines through the trees in the distance, creates amazing contrast and gives energy to the image. I decided to position the camera behind a small hill to control the amount of light entering my frame. Finally, positioning the camera in the dark helped me convert the harsh light into soft light that enchanted my composition. It is comparable to having harsh light outdoors and taking pictures indoors with the door open.
Pattern is your friend
Since it was quite cold that day and the night before, everything was frozen, resulting in spectacularly beautiful veins on the surface of the water. My first attempt was to find some great samples in the dark, to capture more abstract and close-up landscapes, but the sun was already too high and the number of shadow areas was decreasing by the minute.
Darkness is always a great opportunity in extreme lighting situations, but we don’t need to just take pictures in the dark. In the end, I decided to do an intimate landscape composition in harsh lighting conditions. There are wooden stakes from an old fence that still work well. They added nice diagonal lines to the layout.
I was about an hour late that morning, but I have to say, I had a lot of fun being out there, and I got some photos that I’m pretty happy with. The whole adventure with more photos and lots of landscape photography tips is revealed in the video linked above.
