Spring Photography Tips

With sp

ring coming into play, a lot of plants are blooming outside and birds are trooping and the cold weather, in general, is going away. It is time to shoot those spring photos and I would like to offer some spring photography tips to make you get the best photos you can with spring season coming in. We have this kind of a season two times a year in many locations where you get fairly cool temperatures and it’s okay to be outside when you are not sweating all over the place or even freezing. That’s basically autumn, fall and spring. With spring coming up now, let’s look into some easy spring photography tips: –

1. Table of Contents

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   Time for close-ups and super wide angle shoots

If you are like me, you most probably stick to one particular lens. Everybody has their own kind of favorite camera that never leaves the bag and mine is a wide angle lens which hardly leaves my camera. If you have a macro lens, this is the time to get really nice close-up shots of flowers (even though flowers can be cliché when it comes to photography because everybody takes photos of flowers) and insects as they do pollinate. However, don’t forget about the wide angle shots where you can have a really strong foreground. What I mean by that is if you have a really nice flower or patches of flowers that are blooming; you can get your wide angle close-up to those flowers on the foreground and get a lot more depth when it comes to getting something in the background maybe like a cool mountain range or something like that. You have those flowers as a strong foreground option but then have the background and this makes it look really cool.

Don’t forget the wide angle shots and obviously don’t forget the close-up shots as this is probably the best time to take the close-up shoots because a lot of things are coming in the bloom and it just makes for a really overall spring feel.

2. Forget about the horizon

I don’t mean that you make all your shoots really crooked in a way that they need to be rotated and fixed in post-processing editing. But forget the horizon means for example if you have a flower as an example again (spring is always associated with flowers and stuff like that), don’t photograph them from the top looking down at them. That’s a shoot that everyone does and they start looking more general. It’s a shot that everyone gets. This is the time you can play with your camera and gets really down low and then shoot up into the flowers so that you don’t see anything else besides the flowers and a really nice sky. You can have a bunch of like roses and such but you basically shoot from down-up towards the sky and it just makes for a really nice feel, plays with the perspective and makes the flowers look really large which is kind of cool and that’s something to play with; don’t just take a normal shot like everybody else who is standing over a flower or something else for that matter. Always try to experiment with different levels and perspectives of your subject.

3. Wildlife

This is the time when wildlife including bears, birds and all kind of animals out there and this is the time if you ever wanted to photograph wildlife and maybe you are not set up for it or you don’t have an exactly long telephoto lens, this is the time to try it and just camp out a little bit and wait for different birds and animals to come along and just enjoy the weather that’s happening right now. But you will concentrate on wildlife as everything comes out after being snowed for months during the winter season. But as you do this, obviously be safe especially if you are in areas inhabited by bears and other animals.

4. Be prepared for muddy conditions

We all know the slogan, “spring flowers bring May flowers” and so the condition is going to be characterized by heavy rains. That’s what happens when spring rolls and there are a lot of showers, storms and stuff like that and as such you should be prepared for muddy conditions by wearing the appropriate boots and water waders if you can but in general, be prepared since it’ not going to be like summer when the ground is rock solid because it’s so dry outside. You should also make sure that your equipment is prepared as well. Don’t set your camera back down on a muddy surface and such stuff. Be prepared as far as equipment and your dressing are concerned.

5. Shoot those killer sunrise and sunset photos

This is kind of an easy and general tip and everyone gives it out as far as tips go but this is the time to get those killer sunrise and sunset photos. When taking the sunrise photos, it’s good to note that the sun rises a little bit earlier but you still get very nice warm glow on the sunrise and it also enhances those normal photos that you’d want to take. For example, if you want to take the flower photos that we were talking about and shoot at midday with the sun overhead, no clouds in the sky and with harsh shadows, it’ll not look flattering as when you have that really nice side light coming from the rising or setting sun and it’s going to look totally different photo. That’s what sets a lot of people apart by their willingness to get up early and get those shots or stay out and capture really nice sunset photos.

When it comes to sunset photos, the sun sets a little bit later in the day and it’s a little bit easier to get those photos especially if you have a full-time job out there and you can’t run out there before your workday ends.

6. Try out using a polarizer

If you haven’t used a polarizer before, it’s good to know that they are very good for darkening the sky when you have those normal days when there is a cloudless sky and you really want to darken that sky just a little bit to kind of enhance the blue color. Also, if you want to do a lot of photos near bodies of water such as rivers and lakes, a polarizer can help cut off the glare off the river or the lake and give you less dramatic water when it comes to the shadows. A polarizer cuts off the glare really nicely and a lot of people who shoot landscapes use polarizer for that particular reason. That’s one way to easily and quickly enhance your photos using a circular or a regular square format polarizer.

7. Rain isn’t always a bad thing

This goes along if you want to be prepared for the muddy condition. A lot of people don’t even take their cameras in the bag and venture out when it starts raining but spring photos can bring a lot of cool things out. It can enhance those flower photos for example, with a little bit of water on them and make everything look nice and clean and if you have a certain pattern of clouds and they start breaking apart and there’s a little bit of sun, you might catch a really awesome rainbow which will be an awesome addition to your photo. I’ve noticed that I do not have my camera with me every time I see an awesome rainbow and that’s another quick side tip, especially in springtime. Make sure you carry your camera with you as much as possible and make it a part of your baggage when you leave your house in the morning, you never know you might grab a cool photo on your way to or from work.

8. Just get out there

This is the easiest tip you can follow to get better photos and is for everyone who is doing photography. None of these tips will help you if you remain on the couch and fiddle with the settings of your camera all day long or if you always talk of going out and capturing cool photos. You must get out there and get those photos and even if you get out and come back only to find out that the ones you shot aren’t as great as you’d want, at least you did something and had some fun.

With these tips, you can enjoy a good experience during the spring season and enhance your photography skills. Just follow them and enjoy your moments out there in the field.