When photographing beautiful landscapes, the temptation is always to shoot your composition nice and wide to fit in as much of the scene as possible. In this video from Mads Peter Iversen, he takes us on a winter wonderland trip looking for simple but effective minimalist compositions using a telephoto lens.
I adore snow and all kinds of wintery scenes; it just adds this pleasing aesthetic to your images and really gives them an extra dimension. Using snowy scenes for minimalist images is a no-brainer, and Iversen has done a great job with this video.
Starting off at a stunning lone tree surrounded by snow and gorgeous light, you can instantly see the potential that this first composition has to offer. The scene is very dynamic, and there are plenty of different ways Iversen can capture this scene. Iversen's first step is to work the scene, by finding his composition, finding the best foreground, and so on.
Iversen discusses how this tree is one he has wanted to photograph in these conditions for a long time, and that resonates with me. In this recent article, I discuss how it is a great idea to photograph the same subject across multiple seasons.
Once Iversen captured the first lone tree, he moves on to another lone tree which again is set in a dreamlike setting with amazing textures on the snow-covered ground. The light allows those textures to stand out as the light and shadows create a more dramatic scene, but yet Iversen maintains the minimalist vision.
The last scene is a tower in a more distant subject, and Iversen's goal is to capture the sunrise behind the tower. This is a good example of how a telephoto lens can be used for compression, where you can make the sun seem larger against a foreground subject.
