Landscape photography requires detailed planning

This is not a new revelation, it is a known fact.

Landscape photography is very unpredictable which means that your chance for a great photo is very slim!

In order to up your chances of success, it is important to plan your photo session.

Here follows a story of don't do like I do, do as I say!

I noticed these wooden stilts in Shenzhen Bay during an internet search and decided that this could be a great scene for some long exposures. Slowing the water down to the point that there are no ripples visible will create a very special photo.

So, we decided to go the next morning for a sunrise shoot. But, when we arrived, we found a very different scene.

It was low tide!

What I envisage as a sea of water, was at this time of day, at this time of year, just a huge mudflat! For the next 4 hours, there will be no opportunity for the planned long exposure photo.

The best photo I could come up with was the photo at the top of this blog entry.

But then I noticed that line of mud to the left of the stilts, raised above the rest of the mud. I decided to investigate it from close up.

I found that it is in fact, a barrier created with sandbags. The weathered sandbags in the early morning light had an interesting texture, enough for me to change my plans for the day!

This saved my day

Here are a few tips for planning your landscape session

• One of the best tools available is The Photographers Ephemeris. This mobile phone app will give you information on how light will fall on earth at any location day and night. Only thing is, it needs internet access as it uses google maps for its map rendering.
• The most comprehensive global tide table is tide-forecast.com. This is what I was supposed to use that previous night in order to know what to expect on arrival!

Hope this helps in your next landscape outing planning.