I have been a photographer since the mid 90s; from shooting sports, to portraits and landscapes, I’ve seen a lot through my lens … but there are three things that really get in the way of what matters the most …

Taking a photo is easy; pressing the shutter button at the right time, when pointing at the right thing, for the right reason … this is the hard bit.

So pretty much everyone has a camera nowadays, but there are very few actual photographers … and you can be one when you really put some time and effort into honing your craft.

Find a subject

Pointing your camera at a scene can be the first mistake you make. Ultimately it is something you have to do to get a photograph of said scene, but if you just take shots without thinking about them, they can become confusing and cluttered.

I tend to have a look at a scene before even thinking of taking a shot. I’ll look at that scene and wonder what could be the subject of the photograph. If I can’t see one, chances are I am either not looking at the scene properly, or there isn’t a photograph there … it normally tends to be the former …

Once I look at a scene properly, with the right focal length, I can normally pick something out that I want to photograph.

It could be a tree, it could be a mountain or a lake … it could be a bit of human influence or it could be a smear of colours in the sky.

As long as there is a definite subject in the frame, and there is no mistaking what the subject is; if you have got a good exposure and the image hasn’t been unintentionally blurred, this will normally be a good photograph.

If you have a chance to now, look at your favourite photograph you have ever taken … we all have those favourites …

This is one of my favourites I took back in January 2022. It’s of Henrhyd falls in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales.

Is it technically perfect? no

Does it follow the “rules” of photography? No, not all of them.

However it has a definite subject.

There are a few things competing for your attention as a viewer, but they all do tend to point into the frame to the waterfall.

The waterfall is also the brighter part of the image and the water at the bottom leads your eye up to the waterfall, the sides of the cliffs point down to the waterfall, the log on the left hand side points at the waterfall and the one on the right scoops underneath it. So there is no denying that the waterfall is the subject.

Llyn Y Fan Fach with sheep — The subject ins’t clear in this one

This next one is clearly of a steep mountain side, and if you look closely, you can see a couple of sheep towards the bottom. But the actual subject of the image is not that obvious.

This is why the waterfall image is much more impactful than this one.

There is no clear subject so the image doesn’t really have purpose.

On a side note, if you are feeling particularly lazy, or you don’t like going on huge hikes to get the shot, you might like this article on 5 Lazy Ways to Get Great Photographs, it is pretty self explanatory but it takes the effort out of photography!

GAS

With photography, I have always been a bit of a nerd. I love getting into the technical aspect of it. From the settings to the cameras, lenses and accessories. It is a great hobby/profession to really geek out with.

However, if you solely focus on this, you’re kind of missing the point to photography, and unless your a natural, your images probably won’t look that great.

When I first started, it was all about the gear. I would obsess over lenses, over new cameras and over decent tripods and accessories … but if I had spent this time behind the camera and worked on my understanding of compositions, I would have been a lot better, a lot quicker … it was with a film camera in the mid 90s, so that process would have been slow relative to today’s learning curve (due to the instant feedback we get from digital cameras), but it would have made the learning process faster than the actual time I spent getting really bad photographs!

So try to spend your money on experiences instead of new bits of kit … I know it will be hard, but if you keep doing it you will start to be addicted to hiking to different locations instead of obsessing about that new shiney camera that is coming out soon …

But in saying that, if you are after a new bit of kit, click here to see what I use and what you could upgrade to …

Going at the right time

The third thing that I often mess up, is going to a location at the wrong time … I end up calling those days scouting sessions, but most of the time, I have just got the planning wrong, or I haven’t got lucky with the weather.

Cregennan Lakes — The same location at different times of the year

These two photos were taken at different times of the year and with drastically different weather conditions and lighting. This shows that you can go back to the same location time and time again and get completely different photographs.

Landscape photography can be frustrating and can be infuriating, but when you do get a great shot, it makes it all worth while … and if you get a few, you’ll end up being addicted to getting more of those experiences.

If you like what I do and want to support me, just keep watching my videos over on YouTube. In fact, why not click here and binge watch all of my latest on location landscape photography videos? That would really help the algorithm get my videos out to more people!

…if not, no worries, and I hope you enjoyed reading my rambling thoughts …

Thanks

Mike Smith