This is awesome check this out this is why you need to stay out
i think i got it looks great doesn't it but there are three things that are stopping you
from taking better photographs and these are getting in the way of what really matters but
to show you what i mean i'm gonna head out right now and take some photographs
Now first things first you need to warm up creativity is very much like a muscle and you
need to warm up that muscle whenever you go out on a shoot you'll probably find that when you take
those first few photographs they won't actually be that good and this doesn't matter don't worry
about it it's because you haven't warmed up yet i do this all the time i take some pretty average
photos in fact i'll show you some of the ones that i got on the shoot today and then hopefully
we'll get some better ones as we go on and this is why you'll see me take so many photographs
especially at the start of the shoot i'll just get my camera out fire off a load of different
photographs and it kind of helps me warm up and helps me get into the groove after all no one
else is going to see your bad photos but you so it doesn't really matter oh by the way that isn't
the first tip that's just like a bonus tip to get us started now once you've warmed up the creative
juices will start flowing but then you need to think about what the concept is of your photograph
is it a clear and concise photograph of something or is it a jumbled mess now if you look at this
scene in front of me it's massive and there's a lot going on there's sheep there's a lake there's
the mountains in the background and there's clouds you can put a super wide angle lens
on and get a photograph of this and this place lends itself to wide angle shots really nicely
but you can also put a zoom lens on and start picking out the details it might be the windy
road it might be the hut or it might be the mountains in the distance or it could be a beam
of light hitting one of the cliffs as well so just think about what the concept of the photograph is
i'm pretty sure i jinxed this place every time i come to it
so if you ever come to Llyn Y Fan Fach, drop me a message to make sure i'm not going to be there on
the same day otherwise the light will go like this that's a bit better anyway onwards and upwards
it's amazing how things can change in the welsh mountains i think i've got a really nice time
lapse from earlier before these clouds came over i'm quite happy with it i looked on the back of
the camera and it looked great so hopefully it looks really good what i might do as well
is get another time lapse of it now and then show you the two side by side so you can see
the stark difference and there's only been like 30 minutes between the two time lapses
so i've just seen the rain and it's properly coming in oh no
i might have really misjudged this look over here that's range house there's more that way as well
now the next thing to think about is falling into the rabbit hole of gear acquisition syndrome i'm
sporting an a74 i swapped it out for my a7 3 and i probably shouldn't have so i basically spent 2 000
pounds on a camera that's only a little bit better than the a7 3. think about how you're going to
spend your money you're going to spend it on gear or you're going to spend it on going to locations
it doesn't feel as glamorous and you don't get that hit of endorphins when you buy something but
actually going to a location and doing a really nice hike or driving to a fantastic landscape
location there's nothing like it and when you start doing this you'll be addicted to that
instead of addicted to buying gear or that's the plan anyway i have to say i'm pretty much addicted
to both but i'm trying to stop buying things as much as i used to this a74 should see me for the
next four years my a73 saw me for five years so they should do the same that's the plan anyway
whether i'll stick to it or not is a completely different thing it has got so dark and dreary
i'm definitely gonna get soaked i'll take a photo this way to show you what i'm looking at and
what's probably going to be falling on my head quite soon yep it's time to get
a move on now it has started raining so i might have to switch over to the gopro soon
but if you're in the market for a camera maybe you're a beginner and having that principle
of buy once and buy the best this for photography is not really the right way to go about it
photography is really modular and you can build up over time so you don't have to
remortgage the house you don't have to blow all your credit so maybe you start with the basic
a6000 t3i or the nikon d5300 and then you buy some lenses for that maybe over time you build up to
more pro lenses and then you upgrade the camera body you don't have to do it all in one go and
you can take some amazing photographs with a basic entry camera right i'm getting absolutely soaked
it's starting to tip it down if we look this way that's the lake just over here
and that's where i'm meant to be going but i'm half tempted to turn around
now even though it doesn't look like i'm going to get that classic sunset i actually really like
conditions like this it's moody it's stormy and it kind of tests you tests your camera skills and
it's actually just a lot of fun being out in nature i've got a compass and a map
as well so i am prepared just in case i get stuck in fog and clouds but yeah i just love
this it's getting so rainy and wet oh sure this hat has shrunk probably put it on the
wrong setting on the washing machine or something like that just feels smaller than it did before
i've just spotted something there's some light beams coming in over there there's obviously a
little gap in the clouds it's just lighting up a bit the landscape i have to photograph that
this is why you can never really leave a place unless you know a huge front's
coming in and it's going to be completely wiped out and if you can see this band of cloud here
that's got such a strong line and then
the mountains and the hills are all just layered up underneath it i love this it's awesome
another bit as well
now this actually leads on to the third point and the third point is kind of connected to the first
point as well so it's kind of all intermingled but when i first started doing landscape photography
i would turn up to a place expecting to get a really good shot i knew how the camera worked i
knew how to expose properly for a scene but i just wasn't getting that good a shot so i was really
confused and it took me a while to work out that i was going to those locations at the wrong times
look at that fog coming through
now i think that's fog not rain yeah that's just low cloud i think the point that i'm getting to is
that you really need to start planning your shots if you're serious about landscape photography
plan to go to a certain area keep an eye on the forecast maybe have a few weekends open and when
the forecast looks good go to that location and in saying that if the forecast does change go to
that location anyway as you can see because i was persistent and i just came to the location anyway
i'm getting some really good photographs this really isn't going according to plan
that's where i'm heading up there on the peak
and that's where i've just come from
how cool does this look there's some patchy blue sky behind these clouds
that are whizzing through and they're reflecting off the lake
oh and on the other side there's some patchy light coming through looks like it's coming this way
but i'm not 100 sure i might have to work my way along the ridge i'll show you what i mean this is
what's coming my way i think so i just need to get into place before they get here this looks it's
ah i'm speechless i'm gonna try and move a little bit further up because i think they could hit this
so let's get a move on here we go come on come on come on come on take it take it
this is awesome check this out
this is why you need to stay out ah i think i got it i'm not 100 sure but i think i got it but
get it again get it again
come on take take take
and like that it's gone ah i am so glad that i came out tonight and i persevered through
that rain i just hope that photo comes out i was struggling at the super bright sky
and then the darker surrounding but the way that light hit here was absolutely fantastic
scenes like that get me laughing like beavers and butt head
i think that's the last of it not 100 sure but i think that's the last of it
but then again i did say that over there and then look what happened
foreign