Bad location? No problem!
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Too often I hear photographers complaining about the location that didn’t inspire them. They blame their failure on the location instead of themselves and they always say that if only it would have been a little prettier, the photos would have looked different. Right, but what about when you have a beautiful location, but you are still blind, creatively speaking?
The location of a photo-shoot is a major element in any kind of photography. But it doesn’t mean that what seems unappealing to the naked eye will look bad on camera. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of a bad looking place.
Shoot at night
This might feel like it was in your face all along. Well, it was. If you don’t like how a location looks during daytime, why not show up at night and take a few long exposures? You might be in for a surprise. City lights or moonlight can make a very big difference.
Open your eyes
The fact is, even if you were abandoned on the most beautiful island in the world with a truckload of camera gear, you would still have a hard time getting good photos with your creativity turned off. If you make the effort of opening your eyes, you will start noticing things you haven’t seen before, even if the location is very familiar.
Use colors
Even the darkest and gloomiest places have some color in them. Look for it, match it between elements in the frame and use it skillfully.You can also enhance a certain color in post-procssing to make things more interesting, and no, that would not be cheating. Keep in mind that your camera sees color in a different way, and often where you don’t. Also, some colors look better in different seasons. Cool colors look better in summer, and warm tones are better for autumn and winter.
What strikes you about the place?
There has to be something that sticks out, no matter where you are. The problem is, it can be something as little as cracked paint in a wall. That’s why I mentioned the importance of keeping your eyes open. That one element that catches your attention could be powerful enough to play an important role in your frame, as long as you don’t turn off your creativity.
Move around
It’s often a question of inches when it comes to framing. It’s very easy to feel like moving around isn’t worth the effort or that you just want to get out of there because you feel no connection to the location. Don’t give up before you’ve tried a number of different perspectives. It you still don’t see anything interesting, change focal lengths. What might not look good from a wide angle point of view could reveal itself as an interesting detail, and vice versa.
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