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Digital Scenery and Nature Photography

Scenery and Nature a great way to show off your photography skills with some breathtaking shots. Although the art of taking a good scenery photo isn't relatively hard, but finding a scenery worth taking might be the biggest challenge. A lot of the time a person might not have the time to check out the nearest forest or rural field, so taking these might be particularly hard for a person that might live in a city or urban setting. We have hope for you though because honestly that is where I take most of my nature shops with the conflict of a city. A great mountain and lake setting would be ideal but truly how many people have already done this. That is why you need to get creative with angles, subjects, and foreign objects to spice up your photos and make them greatly unique.



  Jump to a Scenery and Nature Subject  
-Location Urban-   -Location Rural-
-Using Exposure and lighting-   -Focus Anchor-
   -Panoramic Shots-



The Question of Location (Urban)

Taking Pictures in the ParkSo we present the great question of "what do I do if I live in a urban setting?" personally I shoot most of my nature photos in a fairly big city, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of nature? Well maybe but they make great photos, and what is the definition of nature anyway. Getting back to my point, adding conflicting objects can add contrast or an abstract look, such as if you capture a grouping of trees surrounded by a cement setting.


Another idea is to go to a local park and take close up shots of simple things in there natural state. Or try adding some people in the background possibly out of focus to give the setting some character and some conflict. To dive deeper into the term conflict I am referring to the shots in nature that have objects or subjects that don't belong in a nature setting of photography (by most standards). A great example of this would be a rusted scrap of metal laying in a field, because although the metal scrap could never be rusted and wheathered without nature it still shows a external struggle of human creation vs natural creation. Another good example of this is to show a person surrounded by nature, such as a man in a business suit in a park, because obviously his means are usually somewhat opposite of nature (once again by most standards, no offense to anybody wearing a suit and walking through a park)



Once Again the Question of Location (Rural)

If you do have sometime to get out there and get some full shots of nature or if you just live out in the country, then here are a few ideas to help out the process. Think about what you want to find, something with a lot of ornate content and complex textures or something simpler like a good horizon line field (a field spanning straight across the earth). Also something to take in to account is the time of year, usually a great time to take pictures of plains is summer or winter, spring and fall might flatten out the the texture and give it a boring look. A forested area looks great in a spring, winter, and summer, a simple maple tree setup looks great in fall with all the blending colors. One more idea is to try taking a picture of a lake with the scenery being reflected in the water.



Time of the Day

You can call this the lighting section because hopefully you have already disabled flash since you're not going to be needing it. The time of day you shoot your photo in is a huge aspect to taking great scenery pictures. The positioning of the sun makes all the difference, if you want the shade to fall toward you or away from you, or if you want the sunset to fall behind the scenery or shine upon it. A great look is to catch sunlight coming from the side which gives it a more defining decorated look with contrasty shadows. Also a good technique is to shoot the sun through a series of trees, making those bright lines cut through the forested area.

During sunset, sunrise or night you are going to have to change the exposure time, (how much time the shutter is open) this will let more light into your camera. Also if the day is a bit to grey then turn up the exposure time to a about a second and it will brighten up that dull setting.

If you are taking photos nearly at night time then you will need to use a setting of 6 to 30 seconds of exposure time depending on how bright it is outside. (remember when using high exposure times its safer to use a stand so your pictures don't come out blurry)



Using a Focus Anchor

Not all scenery needs to be a vague collection of mountains, houses, trees, and so on, you can create a focus point in the photography. It will really pull people into the photo and give people something to focus on. Just like in Macro photography the place in which you put the perspective point of focus is called an anchor. The kinds of anchors are
  • Anchor Right or East
  • Anchor Left or West
  • Anchor Top or North
  • Anchor Bottom or South
  • and Center
This is simply where you put an interesting object that stands out in the picture, usually with something like trees or a nice rock formation you would anchor left of right at a pretty close distance. For something like a flower(s) or a stump it would usually be an anchor bottom at a very close distance.

Besides Anchor points you also need to know if the picture is going to have a foreground or background point of focus. The difference is if the scenery lays in front or closer (or) lays in back or further away from your digital camera. A tiny house off into the distance could make a great background anchor middle photography, or a wooden fence would make a great foreground anchor bottom picture. Whatever the focus point it is up to you in what would look the best for your picture. Remember where the sun falls on the point of perspective can also determine if it should be a foreground or background subject.



Panoramic Shots

Almost every new camera should carry a stich function, but if your digital camera doesn't it also can be done in photoshop. Stiching lets you take three pictures consequetively and then your digital camera will blend colors and put the pictures as one. This feature is great and for the most part works really well in most digital cameras. One way you can use this is to capture a full length sunset or scenery spanning across a wide range. Another way is capture a large amount of space and crop what you like later into a smaller photo. In order to get your panoramic shots perfect try to pivot on your feet with out lowering or raising the camera, you can also use a stand and that would work great too.



Make a Profit from your Photos

If you love doing freelance digital photography, then wouldn't you want to get paid to take pictures. Becoming a freelance digital photographer is much easier than your thinking, there is no expensive equipment involved, you just need the internet and a digital camera. Business owners and potential buyers need freelance photographers to take their pictures, this is where you come in, you can sell your photos for a profit. Depending on how much you work, you can make some solid money, and the market isn't saturated because this is still a new business/career choice. Everything can be learned even if you don't have the greatest photography skills you can still do great. The resources you need are something we do not possess but there are websites dedicated to giving you the tools and information necessary to get started in a few days. If you are serious about this careerClick Here! to get started, and I wish you the best.