Eight Skills to Become a Qualified Outdoor Photographer

Lead: For photography, it seems to be different from other art forms, because no matter how many times you shoot, photographers can always find and record new things in the same shooting location. Here are eight tips for you to become a qualified outdoor photographer. Let's go and have a look!

1, pursuing the most beautiful light

Although light is nothing special in some people's eyes, this view is not true for a photographer. At different times of the day, light often has completely different "personality and characteristics". Only those who understand and master the changes and characteristics of light can inspire the most beautiful side of nature. Usually outdoor photographers like to divide the shooting environment into the following categories according to the different light, including soft light moments in the morning, strong light moments at noon, cloudy and cloudy moments, golden moments and blue moments. No matter what lighting conditions, it has its unique charm. However, most photographers still love the golden moment and the blue moment, which is the softest time at sunset, and the images taken at this time often have more vivid colors and contrast. In addition, these two moments are also the most suitable time for silhouette shooting.

2. Enhance the sense of depth by increasing the foreground.

Don't think that landscape photography can only present famous mountains and rivers in the picture. Adding objects such as people or vehicles as the foreground in time can not only bring a stronger sense of depth to the image, but also make the landscape photos that might have been slightly boring glow with different vitality. In addition, these elements can also play a role in guiding the audience to achieve and present the contrast effect.

3. Flexible use of various natural and artificial reflections.

If you are a photographer who is new to outdoor photography, then you may ignore the importance of reflection during shooting. Whether it is natural reflection such as lake reflection or reflection produced by man-made objects such as windows and mirrors, if properly applied to landscape photography, it will add luster to your works. For example, some outdoor landscape photographers even park their cars in a specific position in order to introduce reflections into their pictures, and then take pictures from the car's mirror. As for the reflection in the natural environment, if you are lucky enough to meet a calm water surface, the natural landscape that is symmetrical up and down will have a great visual impact.

4. Look at the world from another angle

We have to say that human beings are creatures with such habits. We always like to find a comfort zone of our own. Once found, they are unwilling to seek new breakthroughs and challenges, so that they are finally bound by it and lose their original creativity. For photographers, this also applies, and we will habitually look at the world from another angle. In order to rekindle the spark of creativity, as outdoor photographers, we should not forget to constantly try and change our perspectives to enhance the diversity of our works. To this end, sometimes we even have to lie on the ground and shoot at a low angle, or focus on the distant view and blur the foreground. Once you learn to look for different expressions before shooting, you will find that you can always see more than others in the face of the same scenery.

Don't forget to look outside the camera bag.

If you are a typical travel photographer, you may have a set of commonly used equipment in your camera bag, which you will take with you every time you go out to shoot. If this is the case, you can try to bring some different equipment before going out next time to see what other equipment can be used besides the camera bag. For example, install a fisheye lens or a super wide-angle lens, or try a long exposure shot with a tripod. One of the great pleasures of outdoor photographers is to take more creative shots by changing equipment.

6. It is also a good choice to have some artificial light at the right time.

Although natural lighting conditions are particularly important for shooting scenery, don't be bound by this. Just after dark, you are ready to close up and call it a day. At this time, if you are still wanting more, you might as well take out a flashlight or headlight that can illuminate at hand and fill the natural scenery with artificial light. The ideal state is to have a close friend as an assistant to help you light up, so the shooting will be more effective.

7. Take inspiration from the night sky

Even without the help of nobles, the night sky after sunset can still provide us with huge creative space, such as the Milky Way, the starry sky and even the aurora. Compared with the daytime, the night sky is more colorful. Some photographers like to use wide-angle lenses and large-aperture tripods to push up the ISO of the camera to capture the splendor of the Milky Way, while others tend to lower the ISO to show the charm of the star track at the lowest shutter speed possible. No matter which subject we prefer to shoot, the first thing we should do is to stay as far away from the city as possible to minimize light pollution. In addition, shooting the night sky requires photographers' own skills and equipment more harshly than during the day. Of course, if it is really difficult to avoid light pollution, it is also a good choice to shoot colorful skies before sunset.