Travel and landscape photography has always been popular, but since everybody now has a camera in their pocket and many are also choosing to take things further with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, it’s really taken off. Finding information on travel or landscape photography isn’t exactly difficult, but Taylor Jackson has combined all his knowledge into this three-hour “Ultimate” travel and landscape tutorial video.
In the video, Taylor goes over everything from tips on learning to “see the light” in the first place, the gear camera settings, dealing with problems you may come across on location and how to overcome them, as well as some specific techniques for you to try and experiment with. I’m not going to touch on every topic he mentions, but here’s a handy index with timestamps.
0:36 Overdramatic Intro1:40 Learning to See Light and Composition2:39 Important Foundational Element3:22 One Tip from Manny Ortiz4:23 Lenses, Cameras and Character Types16:30 Gear – Other Important Items26:12 Camera Modes (Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority)27:23 Camera Settings30:18 Light – The Most Important Aspect of Photography33:00 App for Golden Hour and Blue Hour33:37 Shooting into a Sunset36:56 Rule of 3rds, and My Take On It37:55 Let Me Tell You About My Boat40:59 Why I’m Shooting Less Through The Viewfinder42:14 Auto Focus Modes43:16 White Balance44:17 Viewfinder Vs. LiveView/Monitor44:36 Getting More Depth and Sharpness45:28 Why Use Long Lenses in Landscapes46:13 Blue Hour vs. Golden Hour46:39 General Handheld Shutter Speed Rule47:19 Waiting for Northern Lights in Iceland47:50 When Locations Just Don’t Work49:59 Showing Movement in The City / Slow Shutter Handheld50:51 Frames // Interlinked51:38 Natural Frames55:46 Polarizing Filters57:31 Mid Day Harsh Sun Photos1:00:00 Waterfall Long Exposures in Iceland1:00:13 LOL Whoops1:00:29 It’s Probably a Great Transitional Scene. You’ll Never Know.1:02:26 Very Important Japanese Toilet Content1:03:32 Long Exposures in the City at Blue Hour1:06:10 Times to Use a Super Wide Angle Lens1:07:22 Long Exposures WITHOUT a Tripod1:08:56 Shibuya Crossing, and Including People with a Super Wide1:10:19 Ice Caves, and Complimentary Images1:11:20 Panning and Capturing Movement1:13:20 Rooftop City Scapes1:15:04 Symmetry Reflections and Panoramas1:17:20 The Element of Random – City Photography from a Moving Car1:18:52 Photographing The Stars1:18:24 Northern Lights Photography1:21:38 Blue Hour City Scapes and Natural Contrast1:23:39 Blue Hour City Long Exposures1:26:16 Post Processing1:26:48 Get a Tablet1:28:49 Adobe Lightroom1:31:03 Photo Mechanic1:32:45 Adobe Lightroom Library View – The One Thing I Use It For1:34:44 Adobe Lightroom Overview – All The Tools and Sliders I Use1:41:45 Editing RAW Files From Video In Lightroom2:20:51 Making a Long Exposure From Multiple Frames2:29:12 Building and Editing Panoramas2:55:12 Adobe Photoshop – The Only Thing I Use It For3:04:49 Final Thoughts
Taylor uses the Nikon Z6 throughout the video, and he has actually made all of the raw files (48 of them) available to download for free (if you sign up to his mailing list) so that you can take a crack at editing them yourself. One of the things Taylor wants to emphasize with this video is just how much you can do with little gear. Equipment is very capable these days compared to what most of us were using a couple of decades ago, and it’s become much easier to go away somewhere and come back home with some great shots. What’s your biggest travel or landscape photography issue that wasn’t addressed in the video? [via PetaPixel]
