Before you go on an outdoor photography trip, make sure you have everything you need. Ask yourself these questions step by step to learn how to prepare for a specific situation!

1. Where will you do your outdoor photography activity? 

By knowing exactly where you will be doing your outdoor photography activity, you can: check on the weather forecast and sunlight amount on the particular place beforehand so that you will be able to decide on what outfit and protections you need to wear in case there is extreme weather going on the particular place, and any additional equipment you will need to bring with you. 

2. What is the main object of your picture? 

Will you be focusing on one object or person with an outdoor landscape as its background? Or do you just want to wander around and take a picture of the nature and landscape itself? If you want to use a person as your main object, make sure you give them enough information so that they can prepare for any weather conditions that may arise on set. You'll be much more likely to use manual focus and low exposure in most of your shots if you have an object or person as the main subject. If, on the other hand, nature and landscape are your primary subjects, you'll be much more concerned with adjusting the lighting that your camera will receive at any given time. Furthermore, the main object you will photograph will aid you in determining the proportions you will use in each of your photographs.

3.  Timing is the key!

Before you begin your outdoor photography journey, make sure you know what kind of lighting you want to achieve in your photos by following the first two steps to identify. This is important because the lighting you want to achieve in your photos is directly related to the time you will need to choose to go to the intended location. Do you want to work in a soft lighting setting? Do you want to use high-contrast lighting, or do you want your shoot to have a dark feel to it? You can predict when is the best time or date to use a sun calculator and weather forecasts websites that are listed on the helpful links page in order to achieve the amount or type of lighting you want to use.