Hello everybody today i'm in Llyn Y Fan Fach in South Wales now on days like this you'd
be tempted just to stay at home and suck it off completely but you're missing a beat there these
days are perfect for location scouting and i've got quite a few tips that i want to give you about
location scouting and why it's so good but first i'm going to hike up to the top of the mountains
and hopefully the clouds won't come in before i do
cool got some waterfalls nice now when you get waterfalls like this with a nice easy
platform to set your tripod on you can't miss an opportunity like that
even at f 2.8 iso 200 it's one tenth of a second so i'm going to stick it on the tripod
it's been too close since i've had a coffee and i don't want to get a shaky image straight away
now with this waterfall i don't want to go too low because i want to get the top of the first
one i'm also going to shoot in the portrait orientation as well and i've got a polarizer on
even though it probably doesn't seem it because i'm not the exposure up on this camera it still
is quite dark so i don't need any nd filters or anything like that i'm using the polarizer
just to take that glare off the water so i'll show you what i mean i've got the polarizer on
that's polarization makes it quite dark and then no polarization that makes it quite bright
so it's just cutting out the reflections so with this one
just keeping it simple i'm staying in average priority and then just playing with the settings
i'll try that i'll probably i want to get that tree in but i don't think 28 is wide enough
let's see what it's like without the polarization i kind of like it without the polarization because
you get the line in the water as opposed to just blackness on the bottom of the frame
all right let's even get closer i'm thinking somewhere there and then
maybe zoomed in just a kind of uh just a different looking shot let's go there
now i don't know about you guys but i always do this i find a really nice location
like these waterfalls just get carried away take too many shots
and before you know it like half an hour has gone
can't beat a nice reflection and before the wind gets on it i'm going to take a photo of that
lovely
oh man google you lied to me it looked a lot flatter than this man
said it already but i definitely need to get to the gym but the views are fantastic
now this rescue shelter is quite interesting there's a fire in there and it does smell quite
fresh so i don't know if people were staying in it last night now it will make quite a good
kind of foreground subject so i'm just going to head back this way and see if i can get
that compressed against the cliffs in the background
could almost do it going back a bit further
i'm gonna focus on the building and then just make sure the cliff
is in and a tiny bit of the sky but not too much because that sky is pretty boring cool
now this is one of the great things with location scouting not only is it a chance to
get out and about but you can get some original photographs whilst out on that location scout
the other thing with it as well is if you do go for a sunrise and you miss it
just say you're going location scouting it'll just sound like you know what you're talking about
what a fantastic day time for some snacks didn't finish my uh
tangy wine gums the other day so i'll have one of those get some sugar in the system
and try not to get diabetes
ah that was a big sweep probably shouldn't have eaten two now the forecast did say that
there wasn't gonna be much wind about and i was hoping to get a reflection on this lake
with these three peaks in the background down on the beach over there looking that way that
would probably look pretty cool however the winds come in and it's chopped that lake up and also
with the sun rising not at this time of the year but in the summertime i'm guessing the sun will
rise over there somewhere maybe i should check it on the app really so i've got photopills open and
if we look at this i can see the sun is behind here somewhere however if i change the date now
if you look at that at six o'clock in the morning the sun would be above this peak and probably get
the sunlight hitting these mountains here let's have a look on the other side so for sunset this
bay probably wouldn't get the light maybe it would maybe the cliffs up here would get it
but not much else so with photopills you can see exactly when the sun is going to be really good
now the next tip is linked to this but i want to get to the top of the ridge first just to
see what it's like up there because looking down to this lake i think that'll be a fantastic shot
so oh it's getting stick now and all i'm doing is just complaining
but i'm british and that's what we do best
i mean how fantastic is this
so i put the wide angle lens on it's the 15 millimeter from nissi just to get this grand
landscape in it's huge and there's no way to fit it all in unless you shoot a pano or you
shoot it on a super wide angle lens like this 15 millimeter this will be absolutely fantastic in
the summertime imagine the sun rising over there casting light on all of these different outcrops
that'd be fantastic now i just love getting out in the open and as long as you have enough layers on
you can pretty much hike for as long as you want i've got long johns on or as they're commonly
known now base layer just to make them sound cooler i've got decent hiking boots probably got
about four layers on the top my hat gloves and uh i'm nice and warm and even walking up this track
i was a little bit too warm now this leads me on to my next point which kind of linked into the
point that i was talking about down the bottom which is you need to do these location scouts
just to see even what the phone coverage is like because if there's no phone coverage
and you're coming out to do an astro shoot or you're doing a sunrise or sunset you're going
to be walking in in the dark or you're going to be walking out in the dark so you need to
know what the signal is because when it's darker you could roll over your ankle you could break
a leg you could fall and as long as you're conscious and you have your phone with you
if there is a phone signal and you know there's going to be a phone signal there you can call
for help if on the location scout you find there's no signal that's when you want one
of those gps sos beacons something that will alert somebody to you being in distress and
this is vitally important when you do come out to locations like this i love this this is fantastic
now the one problem i always find is i just want to photograph everything
there's so many cool things in this world's photograph like for instance even though
there's no sunlight on it this ridge looks fantastic with the clouds coming over the top
now i keep going on about photo pills but it is an absolutely fantastic app
it's not the only planning one you can get you can get the photographers ephemeris
you can get planet pro and they're all really good you'll be able to plan what you're doing
when you're out on a location scout like this and work out where the sun is going to be
and what time of year it's going to be there so whatever you do get one of the planning apps
it doesn't matter which one you get but just get a planning app it'll help you out so much
i think there are some free ones as well now when you do come to a location don't be scared
of venturing off the normal tourist routes if there are railings or if there are cliffs you've
got to use your common sense and you don't go over those railings and you don't go anywhere near the
cliff so for instance here you could walk around the lake you could come up and out of the lake a
little bit you can choose different locations to get more unique and more creative shots along this
route there are some fantastic shots to be had and when there's lots of light about and you're doing
your location scout without any pressure this is when you can find those locations if it was pitch
black i wouldn't know where to go now all of these tips are really interlinked and they all are kind
of pointing in that direction of planning your shoots what i was saying about earlier finding
locations to shoot from and having no pressure this is a massive one imagine you came to a
location like this you're chasing the light you might have been a bit late from work it's a real
struggle to find those locations and find those compositions if you've planned all of that in
advance you can come to that direct location take a shot and not worry about it and then you'll get
that good light you'll have pre-composed the shot and then hopefully you'll get the shot
so where i was talking about safety these are the cliffs that you don't really want
to get near so if we look across over here that's super steep there and the path is
really close to the edge in doing a location scout you really see what
the problems are and what might cause you concern or what might save your life well
it's really closing in now i was hoping to get to that other ridge but uh this cloud is coming down
a lot now now i've just spotted if i can get this quickly quick quick quick quick quick i'll get it
ah the other one's doing it now
in doing a location scout you can work out what kit you'll need
i found out from that location over there that a super wide angle works really well
and then to pick out the details in the cliffs a telephoto works as well i've got the 85 in my bag
i don't really need it i haven't used it at all today now i've been out for quite a few hours so
i'm probably going to be in a bit of trouble when i get home but hey ho it's worth it just being out
in an environment like this and location scouting is basically an excuse to get out into the wild
you'll get out with your camera you'll learn a lot more about the camera and you'll be building up
the hours that you're using that camera and that practice and that experience in using the camera
out and about will really play dividends when you are chasing that light because you've got
all of that experience in using your camera and i'm trying i think i missed it come up come on
that's looking all right where are you there we go
the two peaks keep on going in and out of the clouds when they pop out of the clouds and
you've got that separation with a cloud behind it and the cloud coming over in front of it
i think it looks fantastic wow but it keeps coming and going really quickly anyway i'm
rambling on now and i could be shooting here for hours but i gotta head home