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Peering through the lens of a camera at 5.00am may not appeal to some, but often the benefits of getting out of bed at such absurd timeframes are obvious to any photographer, be it amateur or professional. The light produced by any sunrise or sunset is exquisite, beholding and often emotional for some, especially passionate landscape photographers. They go wild for the right light.

But whether you’re a keen enthusiast or just an eager traveller looking to improve your photography skills, anyone can acquire the knowledge to capture fantastic images, in any light, by following a few basic “unspoken” rules in photography. The very first of which is “light rules”…literally.

Light will always dictate the mood and the vibrancy of your photographs. No matter where you are, light filters through not only clouds and the atmospheric haze we call glare, but often reflects off the very subject you are trying to capture. Beaches are invariably the offender here, where bright sunshine in the middle of the day, reflects heavily off the water and the white sand. These reflections in turn create very high contrast light which can play havoc with your cameras light meters and settings. Knowing how to use your cameras controls and settings manually to control this light and therefore get better images is not as technically difficult as some may think.

For example, when we are outdoors and looking into a shadowed area and then we look across at a bright highlight, such as the suns glare, besides the need to squint, the iris in our eye adjusts automatically to allow for the change in light, so to us this extreme light isn’t as noticeable through our own vision. We recognize a brighter subject, but not what our vision does to allow us to see it. Cameras have the same iris as us, but we have to control it to harness the right light, it’s not always automatic. If you don’t learn how to take this light into consideration in your camera’s settings, when you get your film back or load up your digital images onto your computer, you may find yourself asking “what happened here?”…or “I can’t see anything”

Often even if our shots are OK, we never look to learn what we can do better, we just assume the camera wasn’t working properly. In reality, the camera is fine, it’s our understanding the limitations of how the camera does what we ask it to do, that leads to errors or unrealistic expectations.

A great way to gain hands on knowledge and the know how to squeeze every last drop of effort out of your own camera is to go on a photographic safari tour with a professional photographer. Many professional photographers love teaching the “tricks of the trade”, to anyone who will listen, about everything they do to capture their shots.

Look for someone who will actually take you to a certain picturesque location, a well known beach, or waterfall or similar, and demonstrate the art of composing a great photograph, using the right films, focus and settings to get the best results, and some technical tricks like using flash to brighten up those contrasty shadows on a hot sunny day.

A photographic safari will often also show you what techniques photographers use to produce beautiful exhibition quality prints and should provide a well comprised tutorial handout or guide book for you to take away with you from the tour. Then, armed with a new found outlook on your photography techniques, and a number of new skills, you too can produce captivating images, to hang on yours and your friends walls, or if you’re really keen, to offer for sale via a website or some other medium.

Australian Landscape Photographer, Steve Rutherford is recognized internationally for his outstanding landscape photographs. He offers easy, informative, personalised one on one and small group tours throughout the Cairns and Port Douglas region of Australia, teaching enthusiasts and travellers alike how to shoot like a pro.

For more information on Steve’s work and his photographic safaris visit - www.steverutherford.com.au