With great light and fascinating wildlife, how do you decide between landscape and wildlife photography?

posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 10:30 AM EDT

Professional wildlife photographer Morten Hilmer recently headed to Norway with the intention of doing landscape photography. However, despite the amazing landscapes and great light, it became a challenge to decide which type of photography to focus on when musk oxen wandered into the scene. Landscapes or wildlife? It's a tough choice. Why not both?

To allow Hilmer to capture both wildlife and landscape images, he travels with an extensive Nikon kit. You can see his full list of gear here. His primary camera is a Nikon D5, which is of course very good for wildlife with its fast shooting and excellent autofocus, but its sensor is excellent and good for landscapes as well. On the lens side of things, Hilmer has a pair of long lenses, a versatile Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 and also a Nikon 600mm f/4, for the times when ultimate image quality is a must. While those zoom lenses are great for wildlife, for landscapes he needs something wider. Hilmer opts to carry a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8E and Nikon 16-35mm f/4G.

All that great gear doesn't mean much without excellent photographic skills and nice shooting conditions, so sit back, relax and watch Hilmer explore a snowy Norwegian landscape.