Using Flash in Nature and Landscape Photography: A Guide

On a cold winter’s evening, I photographed atop the Front Range of Colorado. The light was fading and I wanted to get home to eat and drink. The hills were now in the dark tones of the blue hour.

Just as I was about to give up and go home, I noticed a single juniper perched atop an outcrop of rocky rock, perfectly silhouetted in the deep blue mountain sky. I was tempted to ignore this scene, so I sighed. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. So, I put my tripod back in place, walked to the scene, and composed a picture. The shutter clicked as I walked over.

The image looked good – with nice blues and a black foreground, but it needed warmth to balance out the cool tones. “If only I had a beam to reach above the horizon …”, I thought.

Then: “Wait for a second …”

I didn’t even need the sun, I had a remote-controlled flash in my bag. All thoughts of food and beer were forgotten as I took it out and placed the light on a small boulder to my left. I set the power to 1/4, and then fired.

Looking at the glowing image on the back of the camera, I thought “Better.” It was still not right. It was too cold – the light didn’t have the warmth that I wanted. After digging through my bag I found a package of gels. I applied a half-cut of CTO (color temperatures orange) to the flash and took another picture.

“Now we’re speaking,” I murmured. A warm beam of sunlight had been cast across the rocks in the foreground by the flash. It didn’t matter that the sun had disappeared 45 minutes earlier; I was able to recreate it using a little artificial lighting trickery. After a few adjustments of the brightness and position of the flash, I had a great shot. Eventually, I was able to go home. This is the picture I took:

Flash is usually confined to studio photography. When it is outside, it’s usually used for portraiture. Artificial light has so many more possibilities.

With a little creativity, flash can enhance your landscape and nature photos. This article will give you some tips on how to use flash for landscape and nature photography.