Landscape photography is largely determined by the weather you experience in the field. Many times we do not achieve the desired conditions, which can be especially difficult after investing time and money into a photography trip. Here are five things you can do the next time you’re in adverse conditions to get great photos no matter the weather.
One of the most satisfying experiences in landscape photography is when everything comes together: you’re in a beautiful spot, the clouds are lighting the fire with light, and you patiently establish a beautiful composition. ready to shoot. The reality is that this rarely happens, and most of the time, the conditions can be challenging, leaving us feeling discouraged. Worse, it can leave us coming back from an expensive outing feeling like we didn’t live up to our expectations.
I recently spent over two weeks photographing a winter wonderland in the north of Norway and was constantly challenged with the rapidly changing weather and dim lighting. In the meantime, I’ve come up with the following five tips that you can use to maximize your time and effort when conditions are unfavorable and still get great photos.
Find color
One thing you’ll learn very early on in any genre of photography is that soft and diffused light can make colors really pop. Many times, scenes with specific colors look even better in gray and overcast light than in sunlight. I admit that this is very easy to do in Lofoten as many of their buildings are built with vibrant colors. Not to mention, the white snow fields make the colors stand out even more.
No matter where you are and what season you are in, many times plant life, foliage, patterns or even people can become the focus of your photos. Note that, regardless of color, location or subject matter, color is important here. The blue ice contrasts with the black sand in Iceland, the purple flint petals in front of a waterfall in Alaska or the orange foliage created by the discolored cypress trees in Florida.
Sometimes, adding a human element to your images can add scale, depth, and in this case, color. This is not something I do personally, but when the conditions don’t give the scene much of a benefit I was hoping for, why not branch out and try something new. Just make sure the person is wearing something colorful to stand out.
Break the rules
One of the golden rules of landscape photography is to shoot at dawn or dusk to capture the golden hour. When conditions are cloudy and overcast, most of the time, this light won’t be strong enough to illuminate your scene. So sometimes, you have to break the rules and shoot during the day.
While the light is getting brighter and brighter and you see those colors really starting to pop in diffused light, you can also notice how quickly the light can change. Many times, especially in coastal scenes, clouds can move extremely fast, causing speckled areas of light to cascade across the frame. The image above was taken when a large afternoon storm swept through Colorado a few years ago.
This light can be really dramatic at times, even in the afternoon. All of the above images were taken during overcast, fast-moving days when light occasionally shines through. It’s important to be ready when that fleeting light hits your scene.
wait for it
Patience is great to have in all aspects of life, especially if you are a landscape photographer. To follow up on the final photography trick at midday, you might find yourself waiting for the last bit of light to break through the clouds. I did a lot of this in Norway. Some days, the conditions don’t change enough to warrant a wait, but when they do, you can get amazing results.
I found this place while walking around the famous Reine town in Lofoten. It’s a photo that’s certainly been taken many times, but what caught my eye was this “wave” of snow framing the bottom half of the photo. I parked my car here and watched the light change for over an hour. In my experience, coastal weather tends to change faster than average, and fortunately I had time to kill because my entire trip was dedicated to photography, which I highly recommend it if you can skip it.
My patience paid off when the clouds began to open just enough to reveal this iconic mountain scene by Reine. I even captured some energy with a bit of snow blowing into my lens. This ended up becoming one of my favorite images of the entire trip.
Find details
Dramatic lighting over vast landscapes can be absolutely breathtaking, but many times, if the light is dim and gray, those exact scenes might not even be worth taking out your phone. Next time you’re in a situation like this, try pulling out your telephoto lens of choice and start looking for smaller scenes. You will notice that lighting conditions can be less important as you get closer to a particular composition.
Look for patterns in snow, mountain layers or simple minimalist scenes.
This doesn’t necessarily require a telephoto lens and is mostly about finding smaller details in your scene. Maybe you’re in a forest, but a particular type of bark creates a unique pattern, or you’re standing on a beach and pointing your lens at the sand to find ever-changing patterns beneath you. .
Abstract
This might be the trickiest tip in this article. It’s something I still struggle with because it requires me, as a photographer, to see the world differently than I’ve been used to during my career. Huge scenes with waves, mountains, flowers or anything in between are second nature to me at this point. However, finding those abstract patterns and layouts remains a challenge.
With that said, it’s a challenge I’m willing to face, and you should be the next time you find yourself shooting in bad conditions. Many times, small details can shine in diffused overcast light.
While I have provided some examples here, you can find a lot of inspiration from natural landscape photo contest results also. Many of the photos that have done well over the past two years in that contest are what I consider to be both abstract and minimalistic. There’s a lot of inspiration in those galleries; I highly recommend checking them out for ideas.
As always, thanks for reading and I’d love to know if you have any other tips that I haven’t included here that have successfully hit you on your adventure. Feel free to share a few pictures of your own in the comments section below. I look forward to seeing them.
