![]() New growth is starting on the plants, and flowers are emerging from the previously brown and muddy ground. I quickly grabbed my camera and headed out to make images of the spring wildflowers juxtaposed in their blanket of snow.Įven when the weather hasn’t gone bonkers, mid-spring is still a great time to make images. But the sun had emerged and the landscape was bright and beautiful. We woke after a cold night to 10cm of snow on our tents and the surrounding tundra. I was once guiding a wilderness photography workshop in far northern Alaska in early June (that’s spring in the arctic), and my group and I were hit by a late season snowstorm. Some of my best spring landscape images have been made during the crazy weather of the season. This constant change is a blessing and a curse when it comes to photography. Spring is also a finicky season that comes on strong with warmth and sun, only to be followed by a late snow-storm that covers all that new life in a layer of half-frozen slush. One day, it seems the world is still half covered in snow, and the next, wildflowers are appearing from the ground in a wild burst of color. ![]() Here in Alaska, spring comes late, and happens fast. Mid-Spring Landscape Photography – Find the Color The image below is a five second exposure stopped down to f22 at ISO 100. Last, using a remote shutter release, shoot one shot after the other and cross your fingers that lightning pops while your shutter is open. Then, stoop down your aperture to get the longest shutter speed you can. To capture the drama of a thunderstorm, use a tripod and compose your image. When the meadows and forests are still brown, you can often look to the skies to find drama. In the early spring, when the world looks a bit sad and brown, you need to break away from the typical formulas of landscape photography, and create new things.Įarly spring is also a time of drama as spring storms roll through the landscape. Here, a vertical pan blur allowed me to create a much more abstract image of the same trees pictured in the previous image. 1/4 or 1/2 second is often about right for purposeful blurs.ĭone right, purposeful blurs will create painterly images, or abstractions of color and light from an otherwise bland, brown landscape. Try for a long shutter speed that will allow you to blur an image by moving your camera. A quick jiggle of the camera allowed me to create this painterly shot of some aspens in the early spring.Įxperiment with your camera settings. These were images made in creative moments, when I was playing with textures, details and blurs.Īnd there is my first piece of advice for photographing the days of early spring: be creative.Ī mud puddle of recently melted snow may not be particularly interesting at first glance, but what if it holds reflections? Suddenly that puddle gets a lot more interesting. Of the few images I found, I was surprised to see some old favourites in there. However, there are stories in that muddy landscape, full of newly melted snow. As I sorted through my Lightroom catalog looking for images to accompany this article, I found I had very few shots from the early days of spring. Rivers aside, this is not a colorful time of year. Eventually (and sometimes catastrophically) it breaks up into chunks and floats away down the river. The term refers to the way the ice on the rivers begins to crack, and melt. Here in Alaska, we refer to the early days of spring as “breakup”. Early Spring Landscape Photography – Embrace creativity ![]() ![]() Really though, if you’ve got a wide angle zoom and a mid-range telephoto, you’ll be set. But I’ve used 14mm and even 500mm lenses to create landscape shots during the spring. For most of my work I prefer lenses in the moderately wide range, around 24mm or so. That said, it’s a good idea to be able to cover focal lengths from wide angle to moderate telephoto. When it comes to gear, seasonal landscape photography is no different from any other type of landscape photography. A quick note on equipment: The best lenses and best camera for spring landscape photography are… whatever you own. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |