Plan and Time your Nature Photography Outing:
A Guest post by RayRanga
Stunning shots can be created in the wilderness when mother naturecooperates. While I tend to agree with that mostly (look for a future articleabout thriving on cloudy days), its much more than just weather. Its all aboutTiming! There are certain tricks that can help alleviate conditions due to badweather.
So what do I exactly mean by TIMING? Lets approach this with a time scale. Iwant to look at timing from a seasonal perspective to closer to the actualphoto shoot all the way to that moment when you hit the shutter.
Long Term
The best possible weather is preferred when shooting a location. Rain isgenerally good to avoid. But thats not to say that sunny blue skies are themost ideal conditions. Every location and every subject is highlighted atvarious times of the year. First, decide where you want to go and what you wantto photograph there. Find out what is the best time of the year at thatlocation to photograph your subject of interest. When you are new to this, theenthusiasm and excitement takes you places and sometimes the weather doesn’treally cooperate. Don’t worry or lose hope. I have had that happen to me. Whatdo I do? Read on… Something that I have started doing from this year isI listed out the places I wanted to visit in 2011. After extensive research, Ilisted out the subjects I am interested in shooting and the best time of theyear, i.e. month, to visit each location. For example, January is probably notthe best time to photograph waterfalls in Oregon, the rains are going to bepretty much keeping you indoors. On the other hand, January is a great time tovisit the Death Valley National Park. Oregon waterfalls are perfect to shoot inlate spring when there are overcast days with lesser rain, which is the idealweather for the falls. There are no guarantees when it comes to weather, butwith good planning the chance of success can be maximized.
Short Term
Many of us who don’t photograph landscapes and wildlife for a living visitplaces hoping to capture stunning images during our vacation travel. We want tobook ahead of time, find deals on airline tickets, hotels and rental cars. Thatmeans you are going to have to gamble a bit with the weather and hope for thebest. The tradeoff here is to wait enough to get a reading on the extendedforecast while trying to keep things within budget. Ideally if its possible, Iwould wait till a week before and plan. If only we could all plan last minute…
On the Day
So you have done all your phenomenal research and you end up at your dreamspot to click away and fill up that 32GB SD card. Now what? Understand yoursubject and correlate that with the weather that has been bestowed upon you. Ifall you have is an overcast day, chase waterfalls. You can shoot the entire daywith the cloud cover posing as a soft box. With some creativity, a lot moreoptions open up. If you are set to have bright blue skies, I’d shoot arounddusk and dawn and scout locations during mid-day.
The Final Moment
You have found your spot and setup your gear and tripod ready to hit thatshutter. It might seem like a trivial thing but the exact moment you hit theshutter might make or break your shot. When shooting sunsets on the beach, trywaiting and time the waves. A receding wave going back towards the ocean looksmore pleasing on the shot. Wait for the wave to come in all the way, and hitthat shutter when the wave hits the farthest point inland, so that your shutteris open when the wave starts to recede. While shooting wildflowers, wait forthe wind to subside. It will help you from having those flowers blurred out.For whatever reason, when you can’t set your camera on a tripod, breath controlcould go a long way. Hold your breath exactly at the instant you hit theshutter, this minimizes shake in addition to other tools such as a fastershutter speed and image stabilization. But most importantly,don’t forget to have fun out there and share your comments on how you plan andtime your shots. Ray Ranga travels to some of the most scenic placesaround the world to photograph breath taking landscapes and wildlife. He alsoloves to teach photography and offers lessons in the Bay Area.
