The Photographer's Notebook

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the value of setting goals to grow and develop as a photographer. In that article, I discussed some essential tips to keep in mind when setting development goals.  One of the points I mentioned was how important practice is to the developing photographer. Practice will help you grow in your technique and as an artist. 

Before starting a photography project, it's essential to consider how much time you have to dedicate to your project. Any attempt at the process of learning will result in positive gains but remember it's a lot more fun when it doesn't feel overwhelming. Choose something that you're passionate about. If you can commit to one passion project, you're more likely to be motivated to pick up your camera even on days when you don't want to. Passion is a powerful motivator! 

Here are a few ideas for photography projects this year: 

1. Daily or weekly project

Project 365s or Project 52s are fantastic ways in which...

Don’t let winter keep you away from doing what you love! Winter offers beautiful and unique opportunities for the landscape photographer. Snow-kissed mountain peaks, frost flowers, ice bubbles and more! It’s all stunning and begs to be photographed.  Here are a few ways you can capture stunning winter landscapes. 

1. Don’t shy away from the cold

Winter is cold. I get it. I live in a climate where 15 degrees Celsius is considered balmy enough for a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I know what it’s like to be cold most of the year. I’ve learnt to embrace the cold and become comfortable photographing in cold temperatures. The trick is dressing for the weather and layering. It is a lot of work, but it’s well worth the effort. Some of the most beautiful atmospheric elements come hand in hand with the cold. Clouds, fog and steam off feezing water are all prevalent during the winter season and can create stunning winter scenes. 

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Back in August, I wrote about My 3 Favourite Landscape Photography Techniques. In that post, I mentioned night photography as being one of my favourite landscape photography techniques. There’s magic in the night sky. It’s captivating with shows of star-studded skies, the Milky Way, meteor showers, moonlit mountains and dancing skies filled with the aurora borealis. It’s all breathtaking and completely worth sleepless nights with groggy mornings…nothing an extra cup of coffee can’t fix!

Here are some tips to help you successfully capture the magic in the night sky.

1. Focus manually

Under dark skies, it's likely, your camera is not going to be able to autofocus. Manual focus is often necessary. During the day, practise setting your lens to infinite and capturing a few exposures. Examine whether or not your image is actually in focus. If your image is in focus with how you’ve lined up infinite, then that’s where you’ll want to...

Several weeks ago, I wrote about My 3 Favourite Landscape Photography Techniques. A few weeks after that, I discussed How to Capture a Static Landscape Image. This week, I want to elaborate further on that first post and talk about long exposure photography. Long exposure, in landscape photography, is a creative technique in which movement is showcased. Most often, long exposures showcase movement in clouds and water. Long exposure photography is gorgeous, and once you try it, I think you’ll fall in love with this technique. If you are interested in trying long exposure photography, I have a few tips to get you started.

1. Use a wired cable or wireless shutter release

I think when you are learning a new genre of photography that you should jump right in and get started even without having all the fancy tools. If landscape photography is something you find you enjoy, I highly recommend your first landscape photography specific purchase be a shutter trigger release. Wired...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about My 3 Favourite Landscape Photography Techniques. In that post, I talked about my three favourite techniques for capturing a single landscape scene. One of the methods I mentioned was static exposure. Static exposure is essentially photographing a scene as it is, and freezing it, as you see it, in time.

When I began my landscape photography journey, I had very little knowledge about how to capture a good landscape photograph. I had never photographed a landscape scene before. Also, I'm a mom photographer and was used to chasing my children around snapping images with wide-open apertures. My child subjects didn't stand still like a landscape scene. As I explored landscape photography, I quickly learned that my approach to capturing a landscape image was different than the approach I took when photographing my children.

Static, or regular exposure, of a landscape scene, is the most basic of captures when it comes to landscape photography. However, this...

There are many different approaches a landscape photographer can take when capturing a single scene. This is, in my opinion, where much of the artistry in landscape photography is born. I’ve been asked before if I ever get bored of shooting the same scene over and over again, and my answer is always, “Absolutely not!” Weather conditions, light, and seasons change. Those changes add beautiful differences into a scene. However, a photographer does not necessarily need to wait for a different day to capture a scene differently, as it unfolds. There are three ways in which a photographer can capture a single scene that will yield a different look with different results.

In the below three images I’ve captured the same scene, the iconic Three Sisters in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. However, I used a different technique in each of these images, which resulted in different looks. Below are three different ways a landscape photographer can capture a scene with...

Landscape photography is no small feat! I’m usually weighed down by an incredible amount of weight as I trudge out into my beloved mountains. You see, I like to be prepared just in case I need this lens or that lens or this filter or that one. Part of my enjoyment when capturing landscapes is when I explore creative techniques, so I like to have some tools to do that.

If you are interested in landscape photography, I think the equipment you have is enough for you to start learning and immersing yourself in nature. So don’t let gear limit you when you’re first starting. Over the last several years, I have built up some lenses and tools to help me capture landscape images with my vision for a scene. Here are some of what I take with me while I’m out capturing landscape images. 

1. F-Stop Guru Backpack

Having a great backpack to hold all my gear is essential when it comes to landscape photography.  I wouldn’t get far without this. I must be...