As landscape photographers we are often inspired by the images we see from others, it's what makes us get out there and want to take those great photographs for ourselves, inevitably all too soon the forums are full of the same images, not because we are copying the pictures that inspired us but because those images are so good we want them for ourselves too. So how do we avoid repeating what has already been "done to death" after all, it may be that this is the first time you've visited the much photographed location, so what may be the same old familiar to others, it's a whole new experience for you.
The photograph above is of a location that is extremely popular, you may recognise it as Malham in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park, my office, it's even a location we use on our Tripod & Wellies Landscape Photography Workshop, which you can find out more about at www.tripodandwellies.co.uk and a location I have photographed many times over, yet somehow every time I shoot it I always get different images.
No doubt that it's a good idea to bag the "iconic" shot, after all it's probably what brought you to the location in the first place, but once you've done that, have a wander around, look at it from different angles, for example, you would be amazed at how different an image can look by just moving a foot either side from where you may be currently standing, or lowering/raising your tripod and getting a completely different perspective. Try going at different times of the day as that the light changes and different times of the year throughout the seasons.
The image above was composed in the usual way for this location, but by using a 10 stop filter the exposure time was much longer than normal, so I was able to capture the movement of the clouds as the shutter remained open for two minutes, so creating something different from an often photographed location.
Remember, photography is a subjective art, what works for one person may not work for others, but that doesn't make it wrong, it just makes it different and you will never know which way is better untill you've done something different and it's a lot easier than you may think.
Don't forget to check out my main website www.hanrahanphotography.co.uk for more of my work, thanks for stopping by.
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