How To Photograph Everything

A successful composition both highlights key visual elements and artfully represents a photographer’s view of the world.

MONUMENTS
STRIKING AND OFTEN ACCESSIBLE, monuments and other landmarks hold a powerful attraction for photographers. Since they’ve already been depicted so many times, the challenge of creating distinctive images of landmarks can be steep. Rise to the occasion with shots that don’t just say “I was here,” but that also offer insight into the monument’s meaning and impact.

A frame-filling shot of cherry blossoms, or a sweeping panorama of a field of single-color wildflowers, can wreak havoc on your camera’s automatic white balance—even the smartest DSLRs and ILCs will try to compensate for that overall color cast. Switch to a manual white-balance preset for the lighting conditions, whether sunny, overcast, or cloudy.

Shafts of sunlight can light up details, although flowers’ hues often shine brightest in overcast conditions.

For starters, the quality of the light can make or break a portrait of a place. The magical golden and blue hours surrounding sunrise and sunset are excellent times to shoot. Shadows add depth and dimension, so consider including them in your composition.

Consider exploring landscape-enhancing options, such as novelty lenses (for example, tilt/shift, fisheye, or a selective-focus LensBaby), an infrared-modified camera, and post-processing special effects (such as black-and-white conversion, panoramas, or HDR). You don’t have to rely on special effects, however: Think of a story you want to tell or how a place makes you feel, then immortalize your personal experience of a landscape that speaks to you.

As always, it’s not just what you shoot, it’s how you shoot. If you’re photographing over a body of water, try slowing the shutter down so the water blurs.

When you’re shooting a sunset, the literal star of the show is a given. Think of elements in the foreground as the supporting cast. They need to be good in their own right, of course, but above all, they’re there to showcase the star. Look for rocks jutting out of the water, rolling fields, or silhouetted buildings, be they skyscrapers or beaten-up shacks.

Photographers the world over are total suckers for sunsets. And why not? They regularly provide some of the most beautiful light shows in nature, almost everywhere. Plus, they are relatively easy to capture with basic gear. The tricky part is getting images that express your personal take on this universal subject, so get creative and get clicking.

A special time to document a foreign destination is the blue hour: the half hour at twilight and dawn when the sun is below the horizon, but there’s still light in the sky.