Forest Photography tips – finding compositions




Forests are wonderful places to capture great images but it’s a source of frustration for many photographers. In this video, I show some simple techniques using your camera’s live view to identify good compositions in the forest.

Music: www.jimmygelhaar.com

Original source


44 responses to “Forest Photography tips – finding compositions”

  1. I'm not sure I understand this. It seems people want to take photos but have no idea why and what for. They buy a camera and have to learn how to find compositions? Shouldn't it be other way around? You have an idea, inspiration, etc and then you buy a camera and go out to take photos?

  2. This was a fantastic help! I've just started getting into photography for my job and a large portion of my shooting takes place in wooded areas. The two problems you address are EXACTLY what I've been struggling to tackle. I'm excited to get back in the field and try some of your suggestions!

  3. A very good video taken from a slightly different perspective of showing the dynamics of light. It's these nuances that can make or break shot and it was nice to hear someone explain why not to stick to the obvious such as leading lines when the light isn't suitable. One for the intermediate photographer as well as the beginner. One of the best tools on the camera to help prevent glaring mistakes, such as large areas of sky, is having the blinkies turned on. Excellent and subscribed.

  4. I am also waiting anxiously for the second part. ๐Ÿ™‚ This is one of the few good videos around to show other people what I am normally trying to accomplish in the city, but then in an even tougher environment. Let's see how much my next portrait shoot in the local park improves after letting this sink in!

  5. Hello Sir! Big THANK to you for valuable and very good advice of portraying trees inside the forest/wood! Wishing you much inspiration and may you enjoy your great photography even more!
    Wishing you sir all the Best (always!)
    Best Regards,
    Charl (Sweden)

  6. Great tips! The viewing through live view is a great tip that I also use a lot. The walkthrough showing HOW you identify and build your compositions was very informative and entertaining even to a non-beginner.

    I would like to add my 2 cents coming from early frustrations with forest shoots when I started years ago. Keep in mind that just because there is a lot of forest around you, that doesn't mean you have to get as much of it in the frame as possible. You can also look for interesting objects and compositional interactions to create a focal point or subject in smaller scenes. Case in point: https://500px.com/photo/147480391/portrait-of-a-tree-by-bryan … I used the framing of two trees' shadows to highlight this little tree standing in front of a rock face. This sets the little tree as the foreground subject while maintaining background interest with the rock face as well as creating a spacial interest with the looming shadows of the trees.

  7. Thanks for your time and tips. I have been doing photography for a while, I always wish tips would be categorized as beginner, intermediate and advance. If an advance photographer watches a combination of tips, s/he might get bored as they know most of it. The beginner would not get all of it either, since they are not good enough yet to catch them all, they might need more explanation and get more out of it.
    Hope it helps. Looking forward for your next videos.

  8. Hi Stuart! I don't know if you remember me but I used to follow you on Facebook. We had different conversations on film photography, I now have my own film camera a Mamiya RB67 Pro S. bought it today. I am sorry I couldn't contact you any other way. Trust you are well. Regards Ken Holt

Leave a Reply