Five Essential Tips to Know for Woodland Photography

Are you struggling with photographing in forests? Here are five tips to get you started.

In my brand new video, I share five basic tips I have experienced myself while photographing in different forests. I do not pretend to be the master of woodland photography, but my interest and passion for the forests have most certainly exploded since summer. I especially prefer to photograph the Danish forests, as they are my “home.” I shared an article with thoughts on that a few days ago.

One of the tips I share in this video is how to decide on what lens and focal length to use. You can certainly get great woodland photos with an ultra-wide lens; however, none of the photos I have released from forests since summer has been wider than 24mm. There are several reasons for this. One is to exclude all the specular highlights coming down through the treetops from the sky. Specular highlights tend to draw attention, and unless that part of your photo is the main attraction, you will need a way to exclude them. You can do that by moving farther away from your subject and using a narrower focal length. In this way, your angle of view decreases and you show less of the treetops.

Another tip I share is to not depend on the fog. Fog is amazing for creating a certain mood, and it works perfectly to separate the different layers in your forest scene and reduce the complexity, which you inadvertently will get in the forest. However, by relying on fog, you also lock yourself down to a very specific type of woodland photography and automatically limit your creativity. Try instead to depend on light. Wait those extra 10 minutes it takes for the sun to throw its light on your subject, and use light and shadow to your advantage.

Check out the video above, and let me hear if you have any woodland photography tips to share.