We’ve all stood before an incredible sunset or a breath-taking landscape and wanted to immortalise the moment.
Whether you’re a beginner or a professional photographer, this precious advice from the experts at National Geographic will help you capture the beauty of nature in your photographs.
- Take advantage of overcast days: the diffused light of the cloud cover enhances colour saturation.
- Take your pictures early in the morning. In this way you can avoid the crowds and take advantage of the beautiful dawn light.
- Take advantage of the sunset to take pictures of wheat fields or wild flowers: the golden light of the sunset will make the light field brighter and give the picture a warmer atmosphere.
- When taking pictures of details, try from different angles (from below, from above, from the side) to find the most interesting composition.
- When talking closeups of animals, use a very open diaphragm, which will give less depth to the image field and make the subject stand out from the out-of-focus background.
- A good tripod will allow you to take better pictures in low and dramatic light. But don’t be afraid to take pictures by hand with a long exposure: you can sometimes get some very interesting effects.
- When taking pictures of birds look for a natural background, without any manmade objects that could draw attention away from the main subject.
- When taking pictures of plants, to create a stronger more interesting image, look for a point where there are many grouped together.
- Wild animals tend to blend into the landscape, so pay attention to the background, by focusing on creating contrasts,
- If you want to take a picture of lightning – an extremely powerful and striking image – you need to be both very patient and lucky, because you never know when it will strike! A good strategy is to leave the shutter open for a few seconds and keep the diaphragm closed. Naturally, in this case, a tripod is a must.
