Spring Photography - Capturing the season
Creative tools and tips that help you photograph nature as she awakens
Last week I had the honor of hosting a live webinar together with OM System, where I talked about my favourite creative tips for capturing spring. In this post I wanted to write a bit more about the topics I covered.
A thing to note before we dive in to these creative tips and tools: These are not automatically “the right way” to take a picture. If you feel inclined to utilize these tips, you need to adapt them to fit your photographic style, and use them in a way that helps you tell the story you want to tell. That will look very different for everyone. In this article I share how I use them.
So take them, change them, and make them yours!
If you missed the webinar, it was recorded and is still available to watch:
Grain & Fern is a free, reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a subscriber, join my chat, upgrading your subscription, purchasing my editing presets or buy me a coffee☕
With winter coming to an end to the sound of snow dripping and birdsong, the days are growing longer and warmer. I even saw a butterfly the other day!
Each time a season shifts into another, I like to sit down and make a list of the things I associate with the new season. This helps me be aware of that subjects I want to capture, that tell the story of nature.
Nature awakens all around us
One of the most important things to remember, is that spring is arriving everywhere, and that you don’t have to travel far to capture compelling images. Most of these photos are taking within 5-10 minutes from my house.
My own garden, the nearby park, a ditch on the side of the road on my way to work or trees lining a street during an evening stroll. Whether you live in in the city or on the countryside, in a house or an apartment, spring can be found.
Because nature always finds a way.
Shoot in ‘good’ light
This is true for all photography, if your light is not good, it does not matter how great your subject is, or what gear you use or how well you have the settings dialed in - you won’t get a great photo.
But what is good light? It depends on a few parameters: Your subject, your style and the story you want to tell. But in most cases, really hars, strong light shining directly onto your subject is less ideal. Of course, not having enough light / it being really dark also is not good.
I’ve written an extensive post on light that you can read here:
Drawing with Light
The morning light shines in through the kitchen window and is filtered through my hair, giving it a warm tone and making it seem like a golden lens flare dancing in my peripheral vision. It puts a smile on my face.
For me, good light is soft, and warm. So I am mostly out shooting during golden hour, either around sunrise or sunset. The light just wraps around my subjects like a blanket and it makes everything look absolutely magical.
As you can see, I also lean heavily towards using backlight. I just love the look of it, and I am not afraid to get lensflares in my images - they’re gorgeous!
But, I understand you can’t always be out during sunrise or sunset. Sometimes all you have might be a walk during lunch, and then the sun sits high, it’s harsh and the shadows are strong. So what do we do? Well, I have a few tips up my sleeve that I’d like to share with you.
