Photographing New Locations

Many photographers have a tendency to visit the same locations for outdoor photography to the point that we run out of good photo opportunities. But how do you go about exploring new locations? In this premium video lesson, Outdoor Photography Guide’s pro photographer Matt Bishop shows you how to discover and scout new locations to expand your photographic thinking.

To search for new locations, Matt recommends using Google maps. Matt and his dog Alfie explore a mountain waterfalls in the forests of Italy. He starts out packing the proper gear: protective waterproof clothing, backpack, and tripod.

For camera gear, he includes filters, spare batteries, a full frame camera with a 15-30mm lens, and a second full frame camera with a 70-200mm lens. He suggests that to spark your creative process, you want to take your time and scout the various vantage points. The cascading river is fed by several waterfalls.

For his first composition, Matt starts with a wide angle lens, sets up low to the ground and captures the dynamics of the waterfalls plunging toward his lens. In new locations, you should look for intimate details to visually capture a feeling. By varying your settings, you can create abstract compositions.

For another angle on the waterfalls, Matt climbs into the swirling water and shoots an upward angle to capture the power of the flowing river. When you explore new locations, try to capture your photographs from several angles and with different lenses. Matt chooses his 70-200mm lens and hunts for small details, creating an image with wispy leaves in the foreground, water flowing in the background. Later, he captures an abstract pattern of autumn trees.

In photographing new locations, the main goal is to take advantage of everything you see and choose your compositions carefully. In this video OPG’s professional photographer Matt Bishop shows you his process as he explores the waterfalls of Italy.