Location scouting, composition and breaking out of your comfort zone with Thomas Heaton

 

 

Landscape photographer and educator Thomas Heaton has an excellent YouTube channel where he regularly uploads great content that follows him as he works to both capture great images and inspire other photographers to do the same. He recently went camping with the twin hopes of spicing up his landscape work and just experiencing a change of pace. After all, as he says, "sometimes it's just nice to get away."

Visiting an area he's never been to for a bit of location scouting and camping was Heaton's original plan, but as you can see in the first video below, that all changed when the light suddenly became very favorable. As Heaton rushed around trying to find the right composition, he finally came upon one he considered "simple." Rather than the typical wide, sweeping vistas he shoots that have recently left him feeling "unfulfilled," he was happy to try his hand at something more subdued and muted.

In part 2 of his "Tress in the Mist" video, Heaton finds more very atmospheric compositions as he continues to explore the hilly environment. He eventually makes his way to a quarry which was his primary reason for camping in the area, and the scene is quite spectacular. Besides the cool visuals, Heaton goes into more detail on composition, location scouting and finding scenes that speak to you. He also gives an excellent real-world example of how important polarizing filters can be, especially in reducing glare and reflection, an effect you cannot replicate during post-processing.

While he does a lot of photography on this trip that is out of his wheelhouse, he considers that a very good thing. Encountering different situations than what you're used to forces you to be creative and helps make you a better photographer overall.

During his trip, Thomas used a Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L and 70-200mm f/4L lenses for his still photography, and filmed video with a DJI Phantom 4, Canon G7X and GoPro Hero 4.

To see more of Thomas Heaton's work, visit his website. You should subscribe to his YouTube channel as well, because he is consistently producing great, inspirational content.

(Seen via Reddit)