CAPTURE DRAMA
Christian Scheiffele (cs-photography.org) shares his tips for achieving maximum impact in wild landscapes
“Use extreme perspectives to exaggerate vast horizons and highlight scale”
1 Research the location i often use google Maps to find interesting locations in an area. Look out for lakes, rivers, forests or mountains – explore the map. if you’ve found one save it for later, creating a pool to fall back on. Look up each place on photography platforms to get inspired.
2 Arrive early There may be many photographers at famous spots, so scout the area early to find a good composition. When shooting with a wideangle lens it’s important to find foreground interest. i aim to have as few man-made structures in the frame as possible.
3 Choose the right time Photos taken during daytime aren’t very appealing. When light becomes oblique, it throws long shadows and produces warm, attractive colours. use apps to find the position of the sun at specific times and locations. For sunrises it’s important to consider where you’ll stay for the night to get to your spot rapidly.
4 Sunrise or sunset? This also has to be chosen wisely, especially when capturing mountains. For example, decide if you want front or back lighting, the latter giving nice colours in the sky but less visible mountain detail. in the mountains a sunrise/sunset behind you can be much more interesting, achieving the famous ‘alpenglow’.
5 Train your eye The eye must be trained for good photography. Be active on photography platforms to get inspired by new locations and to find out which kind of look you want to achieve. The more you analyse pictures from other photographers, the better you’ll become.