So you’ve decided on spending a day of photography. Great stuff, but what to photograph? Well hopefully this post will give you some ideas.

Packing your kit bag

So what kit do you need to pack?

- A Camera. Well obviously, but any camera will suffice, you don’t need
the lastest and greatest Digital SLR camera.
- A tripod or other solid support is going to be useful for the day. A sturdy support can come in handy numerous times during the day.
- Supplies. Make sure you carry a bottle of water and a snack. Photography can be thirsty, and hungry work…

So let’s plan our day…

Early Morning

How about getting up nice and early for that sunrise shot?

People may think you’re mad getting up at such an hour, when seemingly sane people are tucked up in their warm beds, on a cold winter morning. But when that sun rises up over the horizon spectacular views can be seen, and photographed. Other than the cold winter is a perfect time to take a sunrise shot as the sun rises much later ( so you don’t have to get up so early )

A trip to your favorite viewing point in your local park may be easiest. Or what about taking a trip to Windsor Great Park – http://www.theroyallandscape.co.uk/ for a sunrise shot of the Castle. Since the dear roam around you may just get the chance to get a photo of a stag dear with the sun rising in the background.

Check before hand for possible locations and obstructions to your photo. Google maps is a great way to check where to be, and know where the sun is coming from in relation to landmarks.

During the day

Places to visit

Virginia Waters
Close by to Windsor Great Park Virginia waters is perfect for some waterfoul shots. I’ve seen kingfishers on a few occasions but they’re almost impossible to photograph without specialist equipment, hides, and many many trips waiting.

Welford Park http://www.welfordpark.co.uk/
This closes to the public on the 28th of Feb this year, so not long left to go and see the amazing display of snowdrops in flower.

Wellington Country Park – www.wellington-country-park.co.uk
Has great woodland walks and nature trails. There is also a range of activities to keep the kids amused so you can make it a family day out.

So some tips on things you might want to photograph.

1. Get down low.
Shoot from a low angle to capture the entire landscape but also to get those snow-drops as a main focal point in the photo. On a sunny winters day the sun streaking through the trees can make a powerful photograph of a woodland scene.

2. Get close
Why not try some close-up or Macro photography. Fill the frame with the details of that snow-drop, or fungus on a tree trunk. A tripod is very useful when doing this to keep the camera steady at such a close distance.

3. Shoot the kids ( with your camera! )
While on a family day out, why not get some photos of the kids for the album?

Evening

When the sun sets many photographers will pack their cameras away in the bag and go home. They are sometimes missing out capturing some of the most visually exciting images to be shot. Just because there is no daylight, it doesn’t mean there are no good photos to be captured.

Taking night photos is a lot easier than you might think. Sometimes the results can be breathtaking and also slightly strange at times. You do not need lots of special equipment either.

The following equipment is very helpful in night photography, in addition to the tripod I mentioned earlier.

- A shutter release cable or self timer is almost always used to prevent camera shake when the shutter is released. Virtually all cameras have a self timer so you don’t have to go out and buy anything.
- Manual focus, since autofocus systems usually operate poorly in low light conditions. Newer digital cameras incorporate a Live View mode which often allows very accurate manual focusing.
- A stopwatch or remote timer, is handy to time very long exposures where the camera’s bulb setting is used.

The first thing to do is check that you can turn off the camera’s automatic flash. Most Compact cameras have a symbol that has a lightning bolt within a circle with a 45 degree line through it – just like a no entry road sign. This turns off the flash and ensures the camera will perform long exposures. You can check to see what the longest shutter speed is in your camera’s manual.

With most night photography, total darkness at night isn’t necessarily the best time to actually do ‘night shots’. Late dusk is usually the preferred time. This is when there is just a bit of light left in the sky after sunset or before sunrise for the early rising photographer.

The advantage of shooting at this time is less large areas of black in the image, this cuts down on excessive contrast and adds more colour to the image. The residual daylight that is left will also ‘fill in’ the large shaded areas that are not lit by artificial lighting.

With extremely low light levels, moving subjects such as people walking will not register in the photo so long as there isn’t much light shining on them. With long shutter speeds and moving cars, the headlights and taillights will register as long coloured streaks of light across your photo. The cars themselves are not light enough to show on the photo. This effect can also be used to shoot fairground rides as the lighting on the rides will show whilst it is moving.

1. Wrap up warm!

Easily overlooked, but it’s going to be cold out there. If you’re going to be out for a while taking photos, remember you’re not moving about much for a lot of the time while you line up that shot. So gloves, hat, a good warm coat, and some good sturdy boots. Layering clothes is best, and a couple of pairs of socks in some good walking boots will ensure you’re comfortable and have some of that all important grip.

2. Safety first.

Make sure someone knows where you’re going, how long you’re likely to be, and they have your mobile number.

3. Equipment.

Obviously this depends on what you own, and what you’re out photographing. But if you have a tripod, make sure you pack that. Also if you’ve bought some filters for your lenses pack those too.

Also in your bag make sure you have a lens cloth for wiping any water spots off the lens, and some plastic bags plus elastic bands. You can use the plastic bags to put the camera in, and the elastic band to close the opening of the bag around the barrel of the lens as a make-shift barrier from water.

Batteries don’t last as long in the cold so take a spare if you can. For best results keep the battery in your pocket to keep it warm. Try not to keep putting the camera in and out of your pocket though. The change in temperature may just cause condensation on the lens, the best cure for this is to wait until the condensation clears in the open air.

4. Getting the perfect exposure.

It’s time to hit the camera manual for this one. Find out if your camera allows you to set “Exposure Compensation”. Cameras work out the write exposure for a scene using the built in meter. Now these meters are designed to work out the exposure based on everything being roughly 18% grey. Now if the photo you’re taking is mostly snow the camera thinks it’s lighter than it is, so under-exposes. So what you end up with is a dark picture with grey snow. Not the desired effect.

So try setting the exposure compensation to +0.5EV or even +1EV and you should see the results look much more natural.

Some cameras have an option of “snow shooting mode” if so this is the perfect setting to use.

5. Shoot in the “Golden Hours”.

For the best results shoot early morning or mid-late afternoon. In winter this means 8-9am 3-4:30pm for the best results. The light is warmer and gives a scene more colour. Shooting first thing means untouched natural looking snow, also with clear blue skys watch out for some great sunsets! As in the shot below, look for the sun streaking through trees to create interesting shadows.

6. Cut out the glare.

If you have one, try putting a UV filter on the lens. This will help cut down glare off the white snow.

7. Experiment with Flash.

If it’s snowing, flash may be the last thing you want, as the flash bouncing off the snowflakes, so try with it off. But experiment, try with it on for some shots too, you never know what may happen. In fact for shots without snow falling it adds extra light to the closer details in the frame balancing against the bright background.

8. Add foreground interest.

When taking a landscape photo try adding something in the photo to drag your eye into the shot. If you’re taking a photo of a frozen lake, try to get that branch fallen from the tree in shot. Or how about that colourful flower in an otherwise snowy scene? Below is an example of using foreground interest, in this case a fallen branch on the frozen lake.

9. Rule of thirds.

The rule of thirds is a description of the idea of how a photograph should be split to give the best composition. The idea is to divide the frame horizontally and vertically using 2 lines on each equally spaced. This gives 4 intersections. The concept is that you should place significant objects in the photo on the intersections and lines. So the horizon on the bottom line so the ground only takes up the bottom 3rd of the frame. Many cameras allow you to turn on a feature often known as “gridlines” to aid with this. Taking the previous shot as an example, see how the horizon lines up with the top line of thirds and the tree is located around the bottom right intersection of the lines.

10. Nature Etiquette.

The most important rule of photography… “take only photographs, leave only footprints”