Nature Photography How To

Winter is just about here, and with it comes great opportunities for beautiful landscape photography. One of the downsides is that this final season of the year is frequently accompanied by weather that is downright awful.

Bad winter weather not only means protecting yourself and your gear from the elements, but also frequently confronting dull, gray lighting conditions that aren’t conducive for compelling images. So what to? Read on.

In this behind-the-scenes tutorial from Danish landscape pro Mads Peter Iversen, you’ll learn a variety of techniques to use when the weather doesn’t provide the light you hoped for. Iversen is shooting in the Faroe Islands, a North Atlantic archipelago about halfway between Norway and Iceland.

As you might suspect, things are pretty bleak as Iversen and fellow nature photographer Nick Page go about their work. While watching the episode you’ll pick up some very valuable tips, and learn what Iversen means when he says, “there’s a difference between bad weather and bad conditions.”

One of the challenges when shooting in bad weather is that important background elements, like mountains in the distance, may appear somewhat washed out, partially obscured, or not visible at all. Iversen demonstrates how to take a different approach to landscape photography when these things occur.

One solution is to concentrate on interesting foreground subjects like rock formations and reflections on bodies of water. In the latter case, the techniques described for using long exposures are particularly helpful.

As you’ll see, there are a variety of other important camera settings to consider, as well as some very helpful suggestions on composition and creating specific moods for telling the story of the scene before you.

There are more great tips on Iversen’s YouTube channel and in a tutorial we posted from another pro, explaining how to add beautiful tones to images shot under flat, boring light.