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My name is Nina and I am a Surrey-based photographer and photography trainer. I am often asked how I find great locations for my outdoor shoots so I thought I would create a blog which gives some guidance on how I find my locations.
Location choice is very important but I also want to make clear that you do not need to pay for grand locations – you can absolutely shoot at places close to your home. Here are my top tips for how to find, and get the best from a new outdoor location:
I’m lucky with my photography. It’s almost all on location, but I mostly get to choose the location myself. They’re places I’m familiar with, that I’ve scouted regularly for several years. So I know what to expect when I show up, where the light’s going to fall at different times of day or year. For a lot of photographers shooting on location, though, you’re often in locations you’re only just seeing for the first time.
Photographer and YouTuber, Rob Hall, recently shot a wedding at a venue in another state he’d never been to before. But the first thing he did when he arrived at the location was to go and location scout the area. In the 8-minute video, Rob talks about how to do that and why it’s so important.
Location scouting is an important part of planning the shoot for both photographers and filmmakers. In this video, Jakob Owens of TheBuffNerds shares seven tips to help you become a location scouting pro. They will help you not only find an ideal location for your photos or videos, but also take into account all aspects that can be important for your project.
There’s generally two approaches to landscape photography. The first is to just turn up and just photograph what you see as you notice it. It’s a somewhat haphazard, but very therapeutic way of shooting landscapes. And while you’re happy if you come home with great shots, it’s the journey that’s most important. The other type are the landscape photographers that plan ahead. Neither method is better than the other, and both are equally valid. If you want to plan ahead, though, location scouting is vital.
This video from German photographer Michael Breitung talks us through his location scouting process and why it’s so important to him. It really can make a big difference and offer you a lot more consistency and reliability when you head out to create images.
No matter if you’re shooting photos or videos out of the studio, location scouting is one of the essential steps. Ted Sim from Aputure meets Jeff Shepherd, a veteran location manager and a great professional at his work. Jeff has worked on the shows like Shameless, Parks and Rec, Straight Outta Compton and many others. In this video, he shares his top eight tips for location scouting like a pro.
For anybody who shoots outside of a set or the studio, location scouting is almost a necessity. Whether you’re shooting video or stills, if you have a specific look in mind for the final result, you need to have a suitable location. Sure, you can skip the whole planning thing, and just drive around while shooting in the hopes that you’ll eventually find a spot. For some run & gun styles of shooting that might actually work, but for a lot of things, it doesn’t.
Location scouting allows you sort out shooting spots in advance. It lets you plan ahead and account for things that would otherwise be impossible to foresee had you just stumbled across it while out shooting. This free checklist from StudioBinder, helps make your location scouting life a little easier by reminding you of the things that you may need to check when at a location.
Every photographer will eventually develop their own method when it comes to scouting locations and deciding which model to work with. For Los Angeles based photographer, Van Styles, that means choosing a model first, then finding a location he feels works best with the model’s look and is appropriate to they type of shoot he’s doing.
In the quick clip below, Styles shares more details on his approach to location scouting and what he looks for in a model (hint: it’s not all about how they look). Additionally, the photographer also shares a handful of tips on working with models, selecting wardrobe, and posing techniques.
We don’t get to witness a solar eclipse very frequently, so when one is scheduled to happen and you want to photograph it, you have to be willing to put in the footwork to make it happen. For some firsthand experience on the matter, check out this quick video from RedBull. The behind the scenes action takes you on location to the Isle of Skye (Scotland), as photographer Rutger Pauw does some location scouting for a solar eclipse photoshoot with professional athlete, Danny MacAskill.
Gotta love hiking through the mountainous damp back country while lugging around a beastly 800mm lens!
Most of my photography is outdoors. As such, I’m always looking for new locations. Sometimes I spend a day location scouting, specifically to find new places to photograph. Sometimes, I just get lucky on a random day out somewhere.
When you’re going somewhere new, it’s difficult to know what to shoot. It’s easy to miss the good stuff. Here’s five essential tips from Adam Gibbs that can help make your new location blues disappear.
How do you avoid the dreaded ‘identikit’ landscape image problem? You know, when you think you’ve found an epic location and then check Instagram and discover hundreds of almost the same but possibly better images?
What you need is a new method of location scouting, and in this video photographer, Dave Morrow walks us through a few ideas on how he finds amazing locations that aren’t already all over everyone else’s feeds.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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