Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
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:
Location scouting is one of the important parts of a photo shoot. There are a few ways to do it and in this video, Walid Azami suggests for of them. They’re all very efficient, but don’t come without some drawbacks. Walid reflects on both the good and the bad sides and gives you a whole lot of tips to make your location scouting just perfect.
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.
A lot of photographers are perpetually worried about location. It can be quite an issue, especially if you live in a place that isn’t necessarily photogenic. However, the photography duo Rachel and Daniel of Mango Street teach us in this video that you can create beautiful photographs just about anywhere.
PIXEO is a new crowdsourcing app designed to help you find the perfect locations. Whether on vacation or planning a trip specifically for photography, PIXEO wants to be your one-stop shop for finding where to take your camera.
At the moment, it’s limited to iPhone users, and it has quite a small community. At the moment, the website says it has 480+ users. But those users have uploaded more than 13,000 photos of over 10,780 locations around the world. And it’s only been live for a couple of weeks. So, there’s plenty of time for it to grow.
I can almost guarantee that, in terms of modern-day travel, there’s no such thing as secret location anymore. And unless you’re willing to travel hundreds of kilometers deep into the alps or rainforests of distant lands, you’re not going to be the first to discover a picturesque scene.
A recent article from Annabel Claire discusses whether photographers should share the locations of their photos, and to what extent it becomes beneficial over being detrimental.
So is there really any reason to keep the location details of your latest photo a secret?
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 many of us in the northern hemisphere, we’re getting to that time of year when the weather isn’t so great. Sure, autumn (or “fall”, if you prefer) is here now, the leaves are changing colour, and we’re getting a great array of colour. But, we’re also getting the occasional day of rain. Or far more than just the occasional day if, like me, you’re in the UK.
Landscape photographer Simon Baxter uses days like these for location scouting. In this video, he explains how he finds new locations to explore, and the things he’s thinking about while surveying the scene. Simon also explains why does this during those bad weather days.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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