Landscape photography course participants photograping pack ice

Four weeks ago I was teaching in the landscape photography course in Kameraseura. The course was arranged in three parts: 3 hours of theory on Friday evening in Kameraseura premises, 5+ hour photography trip on Saturday, and 6 hours of theory in Kameraseura on Sunday.

I started the course on Friday evening with the presentation about landscape photography equipment (cameras, lenses, tripods and other accessories) and the art of landscape photography (i.e. planning, composition, how to use light, effect of different weather conditions,…). I had also asked course participants to bring two photos with them: one successful landscape photo, and one photo that had failed although the situation was fantastic. I provided feedback what worked and what could have be improved in those photos in my opinion.

Pack ice in Suomenlinna

On Saturday we made five hour photography trip to Suomenlinna with the target to apply the lessons from Friday. We were extremely lucky with the weather, that Saturday was definitely one of the best landscape photography days during this spring: There was pack ice on the shores and nice clouds in the sky during afternoon. At sunset time we had nice colourful sunset and interesting ice formations on the rocks, they were literally glazed with ice 🙂

45 minutes before sunset in Suomenlinna

Superb sunset in Suomenlinna

I continued the lesson about the art of landscape photography on Sunday. We also reviewed Saturday’s photos, and I explained shortly how I process my landscape photos in Lightroom and Photoshop. At the end I showed some tips for specific landscape photography situations.

I was, and based on feedback that I received, also the vast majority of students were satisfied about the course. But there were of course also items to be improved, e.g.: I had little bit too much material for Friday, part of that should have been left to Sunday. The feedback and related discussion of students’ images should have been more structured and efficient (e.g. next time I will probably ask students to send their Friday images to me in advance by email, so that I can prepare better).

In the feedback form I asked my students what was the most useful thing that they learned during the course, and here are some issues that were mentioned: The importance of planning in advance, use of neutral density and graduated neutral density filters, hyperfocal distance, principles of composition, how to utilize different light conditions, best practices for work flow and post processing, and how to read histogram.

Suomenlinna 25 minutes after sunset

One good thing about teaching is that you learn also yourself. When you need to crystallize your message, you need to think what is actually important and what is not. When I made my material for the course, I needed to think how I capture and edit my landscape photos, what is the actual (and the ideal!) process. The discussion, questions and feedback from students cannot be forgotten either, the teacher and other students learn also from each others. Thanks to all participants for your contribution to the success of the course!

If you got interested, I will arrange a new landscape photography course in Kameraseura next autumn or at end of November / during first half of December (i.e. when we should start to see some ice). The exact timing will be decided only after summer. If you do not want to miss that opportunity, send me email, and I will notify you when my next landscape photography course becomes available in Kameraseura web shop (this previous course was sold out about one month in advance).