DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Atmosphere and Light – How To Improve Your Outdoor Photography

Jan 20, 2018 by JP Danko 1 Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Woman peacefully swimming in calm lake near Killarney Provincial Park

This past summer I was camping with my family and one of the lakes we visited had a perfect jumping rock.

I knew this would be a great photo opportunity, so I brought my camera to snap a few photos of us jumping off of the rock and into the lake.

What I ended up capturing was a perfect lesson on why you need to look for atmosphere and light to improve your outdoor photography.

The Photos I Planned To Capture

My main focus was to just get a few snapshots of me and the kids cliff jumping into the lake – I thought that it would make an interesting and fun image.

Boy watches while man jumps from the rocky shore into lake near Killarney Provincial Park

My wife snapped these photos with a Sony a6300 and the kit lens in full auto.

In order to make the most of this session, it was no accident that we arrived at the lake for a swim just as prime-time golden hour was happening (around an hour before sunset).

Boy watches father diving into still water lake near Killarney

In fact, we had put off going for a swim all afternoon and had an early dinner, just to make sure that we were at the lake at exactly the right time for the best light.

Despite this, the lighting in this series of photos is average at best.

Even with the warm directional late day sunshine, these photos are taken looking away from the sun, which leaves everything looking rather bland – it’s really only the activity that makes them interesting at all (green trees and a clear blue sky are pretty boring).

A little later and shooting straight down, approximately perpendicular to the sun the light is starting to improve, but it’s still nothing special.

Man dives headfirst into lake near Killarney Provincial Park

The Photos I Captured By Accident

After my son and I were done jumping into the lake, my wife handed back the camera and I turned around to take a few photos of her and my daughter going for a swim behind us (they were not interested in jumping off a cliff).

Woman wading into lake canoers paddling

Instead of shooting away from the sun, we were now shooting towards the sun.

You can see that the look and feel of this series of images is drastically different than the first set.

The early evening summer sunshine combined with the haze of a hot summer day adds an amazing dreamy soft glow to the landscape and the long shadows accentuate every texture – in other words – atmosphere and light.

Girl in bathing suit on the rocky shore of lake near Killarney Provincial Park

The funny thing is that I took these photos as an afterthought – I was so focused on capturing a few usable cliff diving photos that I totally missed the way more impressive scene behind me.

Lesson learned – I think the stark difference between these two series of images shows how important it is to learn to see light and how drastically different a scene can look – even with the exact same light, only facing a different direction.

In hindsight, it would have been pretty easy for my wife to have walked to the other side of the cliff and photographed us from the opposite direction – into the sunlight. But at the time, I totally did not realize the difference it would have made!

People always wonder what the difference is between “good” photography and what I usually call snapshots. I think these two series illustrate the difference – the first set are snapshots, the second set are much better – and it’s atmosphere and light that are the secret sauce!

Girl treading water in lake near Killarney Provincial Park

What Do You Think?

Where you ever somewhere that you totally missed an amazing photo?

Which series of images do you prefer?

Do you think its atmosphere and light that are the true secret sauce?

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts!

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Fill flash explained – take stunning outdoor portrait photography with a flash Creating Mood And Atmosphere with Gelled lighting Creating a Si-Fi Rig For Strong Atmosphere Portraits Use Pre-made Gobo Textures To Give A Film Noir Atmosphere To Any Photo

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Atmosphere, family photography, golden hour, outdoor photography, outdoor portraits, outdoor shooting

JP Danko: from diyphotography.net

About JP Danko

JP Danko is a commercial photographer based in Toronto, Canada. JP
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.

To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.

JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.

« Canon invites dealers to secret mirrorless presentation – Full frame on the way?
A simple DIY way to turn your digital camera into a pinhole camera »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing
  • Nanlite announces powerful AC-powered FC500B and FC300B LED lights
  • The Laowa Aurogon is a full-frame 10-50x super micro APO lens kit
  • Watch: Amateur astronomer captures a rare giant fireball on Jupiter

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi 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: from diyphotography.netAlex 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

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave 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: from diyphotography.netJohn 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: from diyphotography.netDunja 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.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy