↓
 
BlogSlider2017-1
BlogSlider2017-5
BlogSlider2017-2
BlogSlider2017-7
BlogSlider2017-3
BlogSlider2017-4

Dan Bailey's Adventure Photography Blog

Exploring the World of Outdoor Photography with Tips, News, Imagery and Insight

Dan Bailey's Adventure Photography Blog
  • HOME
  • POSTS
  • ABOUT
    • INTERVIEWS WITH ME
    • DAN’S FLYING BLOG
  • WORKSHOPS
    • UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS & EVENTS
    • 2018 FUJIFILM X PHOTOGRAPHERS NATURE & TRAVEL SUMMIT – Oct 31-Nov 4
    • AERIAL HELICOPTER GLACIER PHOTO TOURS
    • BROWN BEAR PHOTO TOUR
    • ONLINE INSTRUCTION
    • TESTIMONIALS
  • GEAR
    • GEAR I — USE
      • CAMERAS
      • LENSES
      • LIGHTING & FLASH GEAR
      • LIGHT SHAPING TOOLS
      • ACCESSORIES
    • GEAR I RECOMMEND
      • MY AMAZON STORE
      • CAMERAS
      • LENSES
      • LIGHTING GEAR
      • LIGHT SHAPING TOOLS
      • ACCESSORIES
      • CAMERA BAGS
      • COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
  • STORE
    • BRAND NEW – BEHIND THE LANDSCAPE EBOOK
    • X SERIES UNLIMITED
    • iOS APPS
    • BOOKS
    • eBOOKS
    • ONLINE VIDEO COURSE
    • PRINT SHOP
    • AFFILIATE PROGRAM
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • CONTACT

Tag Archives: landscapes

Post navigation

← Older posts

Shooting Against The Light

Posted on February 6, 2019 by DanFebruary 6, 2019

For those of you who used to shot film, you might remember that there was a basic set of instructions printed on the inside of the box. They pretty much said, “For the best exposure, stand with your back to the sun.”

In most situations, this will generally give you good results, especially in especially pleasing light. Of course, that’s not the only approach, nor is it necessarily the best approach. When you shoot with the light off to your side, you start to accentuate your shadows, which highlights shape and texture. Sidelighting can be a very effective photography technique and it can lead to dramatic results.

What about backlighting? Shooting straight towards the sun can be a tricky proposition, but it can also yield very interesting lighting effects and compelling compositions.

The main benefits of shooting straight towards the light is that your camera is often pointed at the most brilliant colors of the scene. You can use this to your advantage. At dawn and dusk, the low sun illuminates the sky and any clouds that are present with a bright colorful glow. Even if you don’t include the sun in your composition, you can focus on these especially bright hues.

The other obvious benefit with backlighting, is that’s the exact light you need for creating silhouettes. As an added plus, you’ll find that when you do this, you’ll see that the direct sunlight often creates a halo effect, which illuminates the edges of your subject. The intensity of this effect is increased the closer you are to your subject. You can see this in the two images above.

This type of situation also allows you to create a sunstar. You get this look by hiding the sun behind an object in your frame and having it just peek out a little bit, and by stopping your lens down to the neighborhood of f/16.

Another cool effect with backlighting is that it will accentuate any kind of haze, dust, rain, hoar frost or falling snow in your scene. It’s also the right kind of light for creating sun flares.

If you scroll back up to the lead off picture in this post, you can see this effect with the hoar frost crystals that are being lit up by the sunlight. They actually become little tiny points of light themselves, taking on a visible shape that mirrors the aperture of your lens. (See below.)

With translucent subject matter, such as leaves and foliage, the sunlight will shine through the object and illuminate then with increased vibrancy, just like slides on a light table.

Keep in mind that shooting against the sun comes with one big inherent challenge: the potential for greatly increased contrast. Keeping the direct sun out of your frame will help reduce potential problems, shooting closer and using long lenses can help as well.

Perhaps the biggest problem solver is to shoot in wintertime. The high reflectivity of snow in your scene will go a long way towards eliminating any contrast issues. Even with very bold light, you’ll still be able to discern color and detail in your shadows.

 

Finally, I love shooting portraits against the sun. The dramatic warm light at the end of the day creates a wonderful backdrop for a great expression or personality or when capturing particular memorable moments in life. I find that this effect is accentuated when using long lenses.

When using this technique, I would recommend eliminating the direct sun from your frame. Hiding it behind your subject can produced a very pleasing, warm lighting effect. It still produces very strong, bold look, but it won’t overpower and kill the scene. That’s what I did in the second portrait of my dad below.

As you can see, backlighting can give you some gorgeous looks. Get in the habit of looking straight towards the sun, especially when it’s low in the sky, and you’ll open up new creative possibilities with your photography.

 

Follow @Danbaileyphoto
Posted in Creative Tips, Featured Images | Tagged backlighting, Creative Tips, creativity, landscapes, nature photography, outdoor photography, photography, technique | 1 Reply

Extreme Telephoto Landscapes

Posted on January 21, 2019 by DanFebruary 21, 2019

Although wide angle lenses are often touted as being the ideal choice for shooting landscapes, don’t discount your long glass for this purpose. You can achieve stunning results by using telephoto lenses for your nature scenes.

Long lenses let you isolate specific portions of your subject matter and focus on one particular aspect, shape, pattern or color scheme. This narrowed-down view can help you clean up your image and achieve much more simplicity in your compositions.

In addition, long lenses give you increased relative size of the subject in your frame and greatly compressed perspective. You can apply these characteristics with great creative advantage by portraying prominent, striking subjects against bold backdrops. You can also use the extremely shallow depth of field inherent in telephoto lenses to throw your background elements way out of focus.

I find that using lone lenses really accentuates the concept of abbreviation in your photography. By only giving your viewer bits and pieces, you force them to think about the rest of the scene and imagine what’s outside the borders of the frame. You can also highlight specific details in your scene that might otherwise go unnoticed by most viewers who pass by the scene.

I love shooting with long lenses, and in fact, one of my favorite tools for landscape photography is my 100-400mm lens. I use it to capture both close and distant scenes, isolate intriguing elements and create powerful, distraction-free composition.

Here’s a selection of images made with my 100-400. Of course, you can use these techniques with any kind of long lens, whether it’s a fixed short telephoto or a workhorse zoom like the 70-200.

I hope some of theses photos inspire you to try shooting your own extreme telephoto landscapes.

If you’d like more lens tips, download my free mini-guide, USING LENSES- a Guide for Getting the Most From Your Glass.

Moonrise over

Follow @Danbaileyphoto
Posted in Creative Tips, Featured Images | Tagged Creative Tips, creativity, landscapes, lenses, outdoor photography, photography, telephoto lenses | 1 Reply

When Magical Light Repeats Itself

Posted on January 7, 2019 by DanJanuary 21, 2019

It’s almost like clockwork. Right at the beginning of January here in Anchorage, we often get days of ice fog and very cold nights, which leaves a thick layer of hoar frost on all the trees. It’s a beautiful sight; so surreal. My friend refers to this time as Anchorage being in “full bloom.”

One one particular day two years ago, January 4th to be exact, I was exploring the local trails on my snow bike. The air was a brisk zero-ish degrees, and on this clear afternoon, the light was low and bright as it cast its warm glow upon the thick winter landscape.

As my good fortune would have it, I popped out into a clearing just past 4:30pm, just as the light was about to hit its peak. Hopping off my bike, I pulled my X-T2 out of my camera pack and shot a few photos of the pink, orange light that was kissing the treetops.

The image above was shot that day, as was this image below, which I love so much, that I included it as one of the featured examples in my brand new eBook, Behind The Landscape. 

Later that week, I wrote a blog post called You Never Know What Kind of Magical Light Will Befall You, which celebrated this kind of incredible and often fleeting rendezvous we occasionally have with amazing light when we’re out in the world.

Fast forward to this past Saturday

January 5, to be exact. I was out exploring the trails on my snow bike under a fresh blanket of hoar frost that had built up the night before. The ice fog hung heavy over Anchorage, so I hadn’t stopped to take any photos during my ride.

However, as luck, serendipity, good fortune, happenstance, or by some happy coincidence would have it, I found myself approaching the very same clearing in the woods just after 4:30pm.

As it often happens, the fog had begun to lift just before sunset, and I suddenly caught sight of a flurry of pink treetops through the forest above me.

I smiled to myself as I crossed that very same bridge across the creek and found myself in the very same place, during the very same time, just one day away from the very same date when I captured those photos two years ago.

Hopping off my bike, I grabbed my camera, the X-T3 this time and spent a few minutes tromping through the snow capturing photos of the magical light before it faded. I only had a single lens with me, my XF35mm f/2, so I wasn’t able to shoot the exact same vantage points and compositions, but I did recognize the scenery, including that notable tree that earned a place in my eBook.

What are the chances? Have you ever experienced this kind of event when magical light repeats itself?

Follow @Danbaileyphoto
Posted in Featured Images | Tagged Alaska, Anchorage, landscapes, outdoor photography, photography, winter | Leave a reply

My 10 Favorite Blog Posts I Wrote in 2018

Posted on January 4, 2019 by DanJanuary 4, 2019

Happy new year! Now that 2018 is officially a wrap, it’s been fun to look back and remember all the adventures, projects and fun times that the past year brought. With my 50th birthday trip to Islay, 2,674 miles of … Continue reading →

Posted in Featured Images, Featured Post, Personal and Pro Insight | Tagged adventure photography, articles, blogging, Creative Tips, creativity, landscapes, outdoor photography, photography | 1 Reply

My Brand New eBook is Here – BEHIND THE LANDSCAPE

Posted on November 29, 2018 by DanNovember 29, 2018

I’m excited to announce the release of my brand new ebook, BEHIND THE LANDSCAPE: A Manual for Seeing, Composing and Processing Captivating Imagery. In this comprehensive eBook, I take you behind-the-scenes during the creation of sixteen of my favorite landscape images … Continue reading →

Posted in eBooks | Tagged Creative Tips, creativity, digital imaging, eBooks, instruction, landscapes, mountains, outdoor photography, photographers, photography | Leave a reply

Shooting the Great Smokies in Black and White

Posted on November 5, 2018 by DanNovember 6, 2018

I just got back from the Great Smoky Mountains, where we just finished our third Fujifilm X-Photoraphers Nature and Travel Summit. These 4-day intensive workshops are specifically designed for Fuji shooters. We teach photographers how to get the most from … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Tips, Featured Images | Tagged autumn, black and white, Creative Tips, Great Smokies, landscapes, nature photography, outdoor photography, photography, waterfalls | 4 Replies

Experimenting with Monochromatic Color Photography

Posted on October 15, 2018 by DanOctober 16, 2018

When searching for our subject matter, photographers often look for scenes with diverse color palettes and wide tonal variation. By using a mix of contrasting hues and strategically placing small instances of hot colors against cooler backgrounds, you can create … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Tips | Tagged Alaska, Creative Tips, creativity, landscapes, outdoor photography, photography | Leave a reply

Post navigation

← Older posts

Check Out My Brand New How-To eBook!

Join Over 35K Followers!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on FlickrFollow Us on TumblrFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Google+

Beautiful Photography Themes for WordPress

Photography Business Software

Published Books

5.0 out of 5 stars on Amazon.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"A page turner!"

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"AN ASTONISHING ACTION-ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHY HANDBOOK!!!!!!"
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"This book was a like an intensive workshop - full of great insight"


A Great Pocket Field Guide!

Top Posts

  • My 4 Favorite Lenses for The Fujifilm X Series Cameras
  • 4th Generation X Series – My Full Review of the Fujifilm X-T3
  • Master Your FUJIFILM Camera With My X SERIES UNLIMITED eBook
  • Luminar 3 Now Supports Fujifilm X-T3 and Nikon Z Cameras
  • How to Use the PRE-SHOT ES Setting on the Fujifilm X-T3
  • Review of the Fuji XF 27mm Pancake Lens
  • How to Use Fujifilm’s New Focus Bracketing Feature
  • My 10 Favorite Blog Posts I Wrote in 2018
  • FUJIFILM TIPS and TRICKS – My 10 Favorite Settings for the X Series Cameras
  • X Series Evolved – My Full Review of the Fujifilm X-T2
  • Testing High ISO Performance with the Fujifilm X-T2
  • Full Review of the Fuji XF 18-135mm Weather Sealed Lens
  • Full Review of Luminar 2018 for Mac and Windows
  • Shooting Higher ISO Settings on the Fujifilm X-T3
  • Comparing Nikon Speedlights: The SB-700 vs. The SB-5000
Load More...Follow on Instagram
Shop Blurb Online My Pick for The Best Beginning Photography Book



Blogroll

  • Living Vertical
  • Music by Dan Bailey on iCompositions.com

Fujifilm Stuff

  • Fuji X-Forum
  • FUJIFILM X Series Official Site
  • Scoop.it – Fujifilm X Cameras

Outdoor Stuff

  • Eric Parsons Epic Adventure Blog
  • Fatback Alaska
  • Jill Outside
  • Revelate Designs

Photographer Blogs

  • Bret Edge Photography Blog
  • Carl Battreall- Alaska
  • Dan Carr Photography Blog
  • David duChemin: Pixelated Image
  • Deborah Sandidge
  • Joe McNally Blog
  • Karen Hutton
  • Russ Bishop

Photography Stuff

  • A Photo Editor
  • About The Image
  • Action Photo School
  • DigitalPhotoPro Magazine
  • EP- Editorial Photographers
  • FinePrint Imaging
  • Lightstalking
  • Moose Peterson's Photography
  • Mountain Light- Galen Rowell
  • National Geographic Traveler Photography Tips
  • Nikon
  • Outdoor Photographer Magazine
  • Peta Pixel
  • Photo District News
  • Photoshop News
  • PhotoshopSupport.com
  • Professional Photographer Magazine
  • Profotos.com Magazine
  • RescuePro Recovery Software
  • Rob Galbraith Digital Photo Insights
  • Stock Artists Alliance
  • Strobist
  • The Compelling Image
  • The Luminous Landscape
  • The Phoblographer

Categories

  • Adventures with Dan
  • Books
  • Camera Gear
  • Creative Tips
  • Digital Imaging Tips
  • eBooks
  • Emerging Pro
  • Fast With Light
  • Featured Images
  • Featured Post
  • Guest Post
  • How To
  • Industry News
  • instruction
  • Interviews
  • Lighting
  • Media
  • My Early Years
  • Personal and Pro Insight
  • Press, Interviews and Info
  • Publications
  • Reviews and Recommendations
  • Trips and Expeditions
  • Uncategorized

Archives

Tags

action Adobe adventure photographer adventure photography Alaska Anchorage articles assignments aviation backcountry biking books camera camera gear Chugach Mountains Creative Tips creativity digital imaging digital slr eBooks flash fujifilm Fujifilm X-T2 Fuji X-T1 Fuji X10 Fuji X20 instruction landscapes lenses Lightroom LowePro mountains Nikon outdoor photography photographers photography photography business photography gear photo industry Photoshop Reviews and Recommendations software stock photography travel photography winter
©2018 Dan Bailey Photo Read my disclosure and privacy policies here. - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑
>