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Have You Considered A Selfie?

May 20, 2024

There is something truly special about capturing THE moment when you are visiting a spectacular location. As landscape photographers, we do have adrenaline rushes when the sky pops with intense colours. Who would have thought…right?

But sometimes, some images are lacking a little something: Scale

I am the first one to try to avoid any man made elements in my compositions…how about a human presence in a composition? Have you considered to be part of your own images? Some scenes are just so big that once photographed and viewed on a computer monitor, we really can’t tell how big the actual scene was. That’s when the presence of a human can greatly help as it can give more scale to the whole scene.

A Place Among The Clouds — Not only do selfies look cool and tell a fun story, they give more scale and impression of grandeur to any big landscape image!

WATCH YOUR POSTURE

When posing, watch your posture… Don’t simply go for that very static position! Try different postures! Try pointing at the main subject as if you are showing something to your audience, try raising both your arms to add dynamism or try to walk into the frame as if you are exploring on your own… All these different ideas are just a few you can try in order to tell a great story in your still images. Be creative, try different things…the end results will always be rewarding!

Harmonious Ending — I opted for a posture that would make people believe I was walking into the scene and enjoying the view!

USE A WIRELESS REMOTE

Most cameras are equipped with an internal 10 seconds timer, you could potentially be ok with that. But in some situations, you simply won’t be able to out run the 10 second timer for various reasons. The environment where you want to stand could potentially be slippery or have stuff in which you will need to walk over. You definitely don’t want to hurt yourself while on vacation! Right? What could be another option then?

The good news is some companies are making wireless remotes that can work to up to 50 meters. I don’t know about you but as far as I can tell, 50 meters is plenty! Anyway, I never want to leave my camera further away from me than that! I have trust issues and if there are other people near by, I don’t want to leave camera equipment unattended. Wireless remotes will generally have multiple frequencies to choose from and they are really reliable! Try to avoid infrared wireless remotes…those aren’t any good. Here’s a model I truly love from PIXEL and it’s also very affordable! CLICK HERE to see the PIXEL REMOTE! If you purchase one, just make sure it fits your camera...they have options for basically any camera models on the market.

Another option could be to use your camera’s mobile phone app…some camera manufacturers have included a Bluetooth function on their cameras and by connecting your mobile device such as a smart phone, you can use the camera manufacturer’s app to trigger your camera using your phone. You could also have a preview of the image you just captured on your phone and fine-tune your position in your composition that way.

One Great Outlook — For that image, I used the 10 second timer since I only had a couple meters to walk away from the camera. Of course I didn't manage to find the perfect posture on the first attempt...it required that I do some trial and error but the end result was exactly what I was looking for!

ASK A FRIEND TO HELP

Ok…let’s say you forgot your wireless remote at home, your camera doesn’t support smart phone connectivity and your camera’s 10 second timer simply isn’t long enough for you, ask a friend to pose for you! Or ask that same friend to help you create that image by guiding you into the scene and the pressing the shutter button on your camera when everything looks good and you are ready! I didn’t have my wireless remote for all the selfie images I did…I often asked my good friend and photography buddy Gina to help me! Thank you Gina!

Canada, Canadian Rockies, Mood, Snow, winter, winter wonderland — Here's one of the many reasons why you want to travel with a photography buddy...so he or she can help you take your cool selfie images! There is no way I could have made it to that spot in under 10 seconds...and no, I didn't have my wireless remote so I had to improvise a little here!

CONTRASTING COLOURS

It is a fun thing to be part of a landscape image but if you wear a dark jacket or shirt, the visual impact will basically be non existent. You definitely want to choose wisely what you’ll be wearing in such a way that your clothing will contrast greatly with the surroundings. That way, you’ll be the star of the show. Try to use a jacket that is the opposite colour of the scene…what I mean by that is if the scene is mostly blue, use a red or yellow jacket and that way, you are sure that you will be visible!

Before Light — It only made sense here that I had my bright yellow padded jacket on since the whole scene was composed mostly of cold tones. Blue and yellow being opposed colours makes that image work nicely!

ENJOY THE VIEW WHILE YOU’RE AT IT

How many times have I captured scenes without taking a few minutes to enjoy the scene with my eyes only. Don’t get me wrong, I do get so much satisfaction when I see these scenes on my camera and on my computer screen when I am back home…but being there in person and just enjoying it without a camera in front of me is really a great feeling too. Just stop for a few minutes and stare! Take a deep breath, screen the whole scene with your eyes, listen to the birds, the sound of the wind in the trees or the the sound of cascading water making it’s way down a fall…you won’t regret it!

'Till We Meet Again — I was standing there while my friend Gina was taking a few images and at that moment, I started looking at the whole scene and told myself: MAN! That place is so gorgeous! I stayed there a couple more minutes just to enjoy the view without my camera in front of me and it felt rejuvenating!

DON’T RISK IT ALL FOR AN IMAGE

In a social media era where people just love to do stupid things, please don’t risk your life for a single image even if you think that that said image will be the coolest one ever… Your life is worth much more than an Instagram post!

How many times did I see people taking chances by going way to close to the edge of a cliff or being seated with both legs hanging over a canyon. I always tell myself what if something goes wrong and I see them fall… I have to go somewhere else because it makes me feel so uncomfortable just to think about what could happen. One day I was visiting the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland and I told someone to not go that close to the edge and their answer to me was to shut up and mind my own business…

Please, be safe out there! If you have to make the first page of the newspaper, be sure that it’s for a good reason and not because you died while doing silly things for social media…

Capturing The Moment — It's perfectly fine to put yourself in the spotlight in your landscape images...please, just don't be silly and do dangerous things! Notice that even though I am standing close ish to the edges of the canyon, there is still a decent amount a distance between myself and catastrophe!

PHOTOSHOP COULD GREATLY HELP

Let’s talk deeper into the safety aspect of creating a cool selfie image: always make sure to play it safe! Make sure that where ever you want to stand is safe. That rock you plan on standing on near the cliff might not be strong enough to hold your weight. Take time to evaluate the situation carefully and if you simply don’t feel comfortable doing it…you should listen to your gut! In 2024, we have Photoshop! You could always stand at a safe spot near by, take a few different poses and capture a few images. And then later you could integrate yourself using the power of Photoshop. That’s a true win win type of situation because you’ll stay safe and you’ll still get the image you initially wanted.

Jeopardy — There was no way I would ever consider standing there and leaning on that tree for real...way too dangerous! My life is much more important than some Instagram fame! I simply integrated myself there later in Photoshop...which made for a cool but 100% safe shot for my portfolio!

…IN CONCLUSION

In conclusion, images with a human presence are truly fun in the sense that they tell an amazing story. I really love it when we can feel the scale and dimension of the elements creating a composition. It’s also important to have clothes that will contrast nicely with that said scene. But please, please, the number one thing to keep in mind is to always be aware of danger…don’t do stupid things! Photography is truly fun and so is being creative! But do not risk it all for some Instagram fame! Simply not worth it.