10 Essential Tips for Capturing Stunning Landscape Photos on Your Next Hiking Adventure
Crashing waves along Lake Huron at Bruce Peninsula National Park.
There’s nothing worse than being at the right place and the right time, but you don’t have your camera… or you’re at the right place at the right time and the photos you took with the automatic settings on your camera just didn’t do the brilliance that you saw justice.
Here are 10 essential tips to help you capture magic during your next adventure!
Plan Ahead - Choose a trail that either has a lookout, or an area of interest. What are the photo-worthy locations along the trail. Do some research about the terrain, and whether you want morning light or evening light.
Pack Light, Pack Right - Having a camera backpack is excellent for adventures. One that fits your camera body, a couple of lenses and whatever else you’ll need (rain gear, snack, water bottle). Essentially you’ll want to bring your DSLR or mirrorless camera, a versatile lens (such as a wide-angle lens for landscapes, and maybe a telephone to zoom in on areas of interest), extra batteries, memory cards and a sturdy tripod.
Timing is Key - Figure out how long it will take to hike to the locations along the trail. You’ll want to be there about 30 minutes before the sun sets (or 45 minutes-1 hour before the sun rises) to get yourself all set up. The magic will happen within the 30 minutes AFTER the sun sets and 30 minutes BEFORE the sun rises. You can also choose to photograph during the golden hours of sunrise and sunset when the light is soft and warm, casting beautiful shadows and enhancing colours. These times offer the best lighting conditions for landscape photography.
Compose with Care - Pay attention to composition principles, like the rule of thirds, leading lines and a foreground/middleground/background. Experiment with different angles and perspectives to create interesting compositions that draw the viewer into the scene.
Use a Tripod - This is especially important if you have a beginner’s or intermediate camera. The ISO capabilities might not be that amazing and you could get a lot of noise in your images if you have to photograph at a high ISO. Using a tripod will allow you to photograph at the lowest ISO setting (100) and to get the best quality photo. You’ll also need a tripod if you plan to bracket the scene. Additionally, you’ll need the tripod if you’re doing long exposures for smooth water effects or cloud movement.
Master Manual Settings - Knowing how to adjust your camera’s aperture, ISO and shutter speed settings will allow you to have full control. That means you can create softness in a waterfall image, capture a starry night, have your subject stand out with a shallow depth of field. Additionally, having full control will enable you to fine-tune your images and achieve desired effects, like emphasizing motion blur or maximizing depth of field.
Focus on Focal Points - Identify key focal points within the landscape, like a striking rock formation, winding trail, windswept tree, or reflective bodies of water. You can use focus techniques to ensure sharpness from foreground to background.
Capture Dynamic Range - To retain detail in both shadows and highlights, consider photographing in RAW format and bracketing your exposures. This will allow you to blend multiple exposures later in post-processing to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image.
Embrace the Elements - Adverse weather conditions are excellent to create visual interest and drama in your landscape images. Moody skies, fog, rain and snow can take your landscape images to the next level.
Stay Patient and Persistent - Landscape photography requires patience and persistence. Don’t be discouraged if conditions aren’t ideal or your first shots don’t turn out like you had envisioned. Sometimes it can take time before the magic happens, so stick with your plan and I promise you, the magic will come.
If you follow these essential tips, you will be well on your way to capturing stunning landscape photos.
A reflective body of water in the foreground of a sun about to rise at Georgian Bay Islands National Park.
Photography Workshops for Beginners
Ontario photography workshops for women in Muskoka, Algonquin Park, and Georgian Bay.
