Take your outdoor captures from snapshots to photographs with these tips

Adapt Network has 7 tips for great outdoor photography that will help take your outdoor photography to the next level and ensure that you take images that capture nature the way you remember seeing it.

Firstly, composition is key. Neville Elder, a guest writer at Adapt, says to not "point and shoot." Although you may have a full day of hiking ahead of you and feel the need to rush, Elder says that you have to plan ahead for good photo opportunities to ensure that you are able to slow down out in the field and think about your composition. It's better to slow down and come home with less images, but better ones, than to come home with a bunch of mediocre images. You can use Google Earth to scout out the terrain in advance for potential photo opportunities so that you don't waste time on an average location when there is a great one further ahead.

The ambient light can make it tricky to tell how your images will really look when you're out shooting. If you're worried about getting the right exposure out in the field, use your camera's automatic bracketing option. Most cameras have this option, don't be afraid to use it. You can always delete the exposures you don't want later on, or you could even use the bracketed exposures to make an HDR image.

Again, it's difficult to tell what your exposure situation is out in the field. There's a lot going on, your camera's display isn't very big, and ambient light can mess with your eyes and your camera. Elder says to grab a light meter to do incident light readings. Incident light reading is measuring the amount of light before it bounces off of your subject. Different colors and materials react to light differently, which can make it difficult for your camera to meter an entire scene correctly, so you need to measure how much light is actually hitting the scene. 

To see the rest of Elder's excellent tips for better outdoor photography, check out the full article.

(Seen via Adapt Network)