How to Photograph Landscapes on a Dull Day - Part One
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- Опубликовано: 25 янв 2020
- Living on the west of Scotland means lots of what many would consider sub optimal weather. Yes, we get our fair share of majesty and glory, but it's far from guaranteed. Oftentimes it's raining, misty, dull or simply overcast.
Now, in the middle of winter, it is not unusual not to see the sun for a full week.
I've decided to make a series of videos on how to shoot on days like these, wether you live here like us, or are just visiting.
If you're interested in more of my teaching, consider my eBook: Luminosity & Contrast; a complete guide to Black and White Photography.
expressive.photography/produc...
It is a masterclass. Easily the best e-book on photography I have seen. The images, the mass of information and the way you describe the key elements of vision, inspiration and “feel” as they apply to photography…it’s all SO good. I learned a ton just on my first pass. SEAN BAGSHAW
Fine edit, thank you very much Alister!
Great work love it thanks
Thank you! Cheers!
Dull days are my favorite days. It gives me a “blank canvas” to work with. When I get back to process the images I can process them exactly how I pictured the scene in my head.
I agree, they can be so productive
Ahhh yes !!
my happy place :-)
Switched to black and white when I moved to the UK, years ago. Embrace the gloom! Fast film, and fast lenses. Joy.
💯😀
So refreshing and informative, enjoyed it so much , thank you ! Now onto the next episode :)
I love your philosophy of rendering an image to the viewer. There is surely an individual, his character, his thoughts, and emotions that stand out. Your "in control of the time" narration is awesome.
Thanks so much, we really enjoy making these films and we hope they're getting better every week. Thanks again for your kind and encouraging comment.
To me that's far, very far from dull. Here it's like a complete grey blanket in the skies with no fog, no sun, no clouds
I really enjoyed this episode Alister, thank you. Your image of Loch Fada is one of the best I’ve seen.
Trevor Hughes sincere thanks, delighted to hear that.
Well, when you said you were next door lol My fav otter spot.. :)
Superbe moment....merci beaucoup 🙏😍
Hervé Baïs and thanks to you
I once was blind, but now I see. Thank you for the content. Look forward to learning more.
Eric Carter absolutely, at least we’re not Losing It :-)
Excellent video, a way i was looking for. Keep it coming.
Great to hear that. Thanks very much
Great Video and explanation. This " reducing expectations" helps me a lot. THX
Rene Löhrer brilliant, delighted to hear that. Those expectations will get you every time
Just found your channel Alister and pressed the button and bell. Really enjoy your thoughts and process within the vlogs. As for miserable and dull days, hell yeah, we just need more of it to make photos with mood and thoughts whilst standing there absorbing it all.
Paul Cronin delighted time hear that. Well, we’ve just got back from Morocco and it’ll be a culture shock to be back on the west coast from Tuesday!!
Expressive Photography I’m sure it’s a good shock and a welcome to some winter conditions.
Samsies
"Living on the west of Scotland means ... " ... you're living in a wonderful land ! Thanks for the video !
It really is! We are very fortunate. Thank you.
I really enjoyed your interpretation and processing on this image, I find your approach to black and white refreshing and individualized to the image. I had been revisiting some of my images since reading your book "Luminosity and Contrast". Now I'll pull some of the rainy day images from my last trip to Scotland as they tended to be my favorites.
That’s great to hear. It’s amazing how our favourite images are the ones close to our heart and not the most popular on social media. All the best
Your version of a dull day, is my favourite day. If we have atmosphere like that I sprint out the door. In Australia its the opposite, bright blue skies without a cloud. That is truly hard to photograph, about the only thing I have found I can do is photograph at 180 degrees to the sun and isolate a subject in the "belt of Venus" or get some glowing side light on some rock formations or similar. Also night photography opens up a bit.
I know for sure, yes, we're very fortunate here on the west of Scotland to get lots of atmospheric weather. Even this morning from lockdown was beautiful. I don't mind bright and sunny too much, high contrast light can work great with black and white for a start. Then in processing, you can darken them a couple of stops and reintroduce some local luminosity to make for quite mysterious images. When I started running workshops I'd go out and practise at mid day in the sunshine just to see what I could do. As I did in the rain!! Thanks for your input, very much appreciated.
tallaganda8
Sorry. It was a mistake. I love your videos and fhotography. Tank you.
Excellent and useful!
Great video. Same conditions here in the winter......some good tips on making the most of them.
Brian Aikens cheers man, more to come 😀
Perfect video, a way i was looking for. Keep it coming.
Ruud Maas that’s great to hear, very happy
Beautiful images. I love going out in these kind of conditions. 👏👏👏👏
Dave Reeves photography yeah, just as well in this country :-)
Expressive Photography indeed, Devon gets its fair share of dull wet weather
@@DivorcedFL absolutely, when I first moved back to UK I lived in west Cornwall and as soon as October arrived the weather took a dive
Thank you for posting this video Alister, we were due to visit North Scotland this coming late November and were wondering what we may encounter and how we were going to photographic the landscape. Your video has helped a lot I am looking forward to Part 2.
:-) November can be so beautiful. It's blue skies here this week, which is very unusual, but lovely.
An excellent interpretation of a dull day. The mist is key and, for me at least, is what actually makes the day far from dull photographically. Where I live we get dull days but rarely any mist so it is basically flat and grey at which point looking for detail type images is my strategy.
Martin Heathcote many thanks for that . Certainly as this series develops I’ll look at other things that can make these days not just bearable, but creatively stimulating. Thanks again for your comment
Thanks Alister. Excellent video and I do think your point of view is very valuable and can/ should be appreciated by more people. I also appreciated your use of luminosity masks. It’s not so difficult to know how to use them, just when and for what :)
Andrew Craven many thanks. Yes, it’s difficult getting the message out there. Just got to keep making them and hope people share and subscribe 😀
Only recently discovered your channel. Like the way you encourage us to get out when conditions are less than perfect. I live in Northern Ireland and our weather can be similar. I've bought your first couple of ebooks and finding them very useful.
Thanks so much for that. I tend to get out regardless of the weather, if I waited for ideal I’d rarely leave the house 😀
Greetings! I jumped over to your channel via the link on Adam Gibbs' vlog from Valley of Fire, happy that I did. Your acceptance of whatever nature has to offer at a particular moment is quite refreshing after hearing so much about golden and blue hours. Both are great, but winters here on Vancouver Island are more often than not overcast and gloomy. Like and sub for you today. Thanks for sharing!@
Gord Roberts that’s great, much appreciated. Adam and go a long way back and have had many a day in the field together in both beautiful and terrible light. It never changed our love of where we were or the friendship we share.
Thank you! I found this video very helpful and inspiring.
Dorothy Dahli brilliant, so pleased. Have a great day
I live in the US Northwest. The winters are much like Scotland's. I call days like the one you photographed " natural B&W" days. The climate is naturally colorless save for a splash of color in the grass or trees.
Thanks for your comment. I agree, it can often be very monochromatic, but like there we have moss covered woods which add a very welcome splash of colour. My next video in this series will cover that opportunity
helpful walkthrough, both practical information and exploring choices in composition and process
Thanks Mark, I appreciate your feedback.
What you have there - fog and mist in the mountains - are pretty much the best conditions you can have for beautiful landscape photography. It would be more interesting to see how you would take great landscape photos of a more mundane landscape, say the typical British rolling hills with some cows here and there, and dull light.
Fantastic Alister and the one thing you mentioned is its not all about the golden hour. I think a lot can be missed focusing on that. Agree in the west of Scotland you have to adapt 👍
Absolutely - I rarely shoot golden hour, give me a dreich day over glory light any day :-)
@@Alister_Benn Thank goodness a man after ma own heart 😁
Very neat video, I think I learned a few things, we'll see!
Jeff Trapp thanks mate, it’s all about the engagement and reducing expectations. I think you’re there
Really appreciating the thought processes and insights on your approach. We have dull days galore here in the midwestern US, but seldom get the magical mist, unfortunately.
mitymous1 many thanks for that. Atmosphere takes on many forms, mist is the most obvious, but the hazy recession with distance works in the same way. Diffusion. Also, rain, water, waterfall spray also work well in creating the feel of ethers light.
Hi Alister, found your channel via your podcast episode with Adam Gibbs. Great stuff! I have subscribed and are looking forward to your content. Have a great Sunday and stay safe! / Björn
That's great to hear, thank you. Lot's of new content coming twice a week.
Hi Alister, I really enjoyed this. Have just realised you subbed to me today and commented on my last one - thanks for that! As you will have seen, a couple of my images from that were very similar in style to those you showed in this. In fact I edited the minimal tree shot almost identical to your process apart from using the Nik filters. Really informative video and I look forward to watching more of your work now I've subbed!
Jamie Overland thanks very much, really appreciate. Yeah, misty, dull atmospheric weather just proves you don’t need mega light to mage meaningful photographs. Hell, look at anything by Michael Kenna!! 😂
Thank you for the inspiring video. As it is labelled as part one I am looking for part 2 but can't find it...I would appreciate it if you publish it!
Sorry for the slow reply, taking a break. Part 2 ended up being about shooting in forests: ruclips.net/video/ao1omXbwc20/видео.html
adapt or go home ... I need to write that on my hand
Once again very well produced video and really interesting listening to you and watching you work through an edit! On the downside I have been asked to do post processing video on so many occasions, and now I’m a bit nervous because you have set the bar pretty high lol 😂
Thanks mate, appreciate that. Sorry for the slow reply, this one seems to have slipped through the net.
My kind of images at the moment, also. The misty mountain shot at 7.39 - would like to see a square crop of that taking out the left hand side so that the image becomes about the two small trees and the dark diagonal hill on the right hand side, framed by part of the mid-toned hill that is in the middle
Thanks for that. Appreciate your feedback and suggestion
Thanks for the inspiration
Melissa Hall thanks to you, I get such pleasure from sharing the things I’ve learned over the years
Expressive Photography it is truly appreciated. I’ve been shooting for a long time, but I don’t get much practice & still need lots of tips!!
I totally get that, and we can all get rusty and repetitive. Hopefully these will energise you’re creativity. Thanks again
Hi Alister: Another wonderful video, and thanks again for showing some TK7 techniques. My wife and I were supposed to go to Scotland in May 2020 for two weeks but our plans had to change due to Covid-19. We are hoping to re-schedule for the Fall 2021. Keep safe and keep creating. Cheers, Keith Pinn (Barrie, Ontario Canada)
Thanks for that. Yes, it's been a tough time for travel plans. For sure, the landscape is still here waiting for you.
I can't wait. Do you provide any 1:1 tours in Glen Coe, Skye or Mull?
Keith Pinn hi. Yes, we do a lot of one to one trips, they are ideal for focussed development. We live about a half hour from Glencoe and Mull.
new sub excellent vlog indeed
Mark McNeill delighted to hear that, many thanks
Very helpful Alister, and a different viewpoint regarding high key than I have applied to my photos. We often get similar days on the coast of California, and your video got me wondering about blending two images, one with similar overcast as yours and one taken later after some of the mist has burned off and trees are clearly visible. Thank you.
Thanks man, sounds like a neat idea. I love how we can spark each other’s creativity. Have a great day.
This isnt exactly a dull day. landscape is fantastic too.
Yes, I get that - I love days like this. But many people call this crap light. I've had them on workshops in the past.
That's a nice video - what about the sequel?
Winter is coming 😀
@@Alister_Benn - If you live in Scotland then it seems to me you don't have to wait as long as that for photographically dull spells of weather.
And
Have you seen that Mel Brooks movie, The History of the World Part 1? It was a joke about the sequel thing. Are you plagiarizing that?
Well,on first looking at all your numbering in YT video titles, you might have dropped a ball, but it is so conscientious on better inspection (OC?) that I have to remove that hypothesis from my list.
Is the raw file of the high key image you started with still intact? I don't know if Camera Raw maintains the original.
Steve H hi, yes. Firstly it was a copy and you can undo the changes made in camera raw.
@@Alister_Benn thanks, I got concerned that once you flattened your image, you couldn't get back to the original raw file. So, Camera Raw maintains the file as it was when you opened it into PS.
Steve H when camera raw opens the file into Photoshop it is no longer the RAW file, it’s a TIFF. You can do whatever you want to it and the RAW file remains in the original folder on your computer. The TIFF or subsequent JPEG can be saved separately. You can always reset RAW files to their original state.