Want to take photos like Peter Lik?
When it comes to landscape photography, no one has it quite as figured out as Peter Lik. From equipment, to location selection, composition, post production, sales and marketing, Peter Lik is the complete package. The number one landscape photographer in the world with dedicated galleries and sales in the millions of dollars.
Well, not everyone can be number one, but by walking in the footsteps of Peter it’s possible to learn a lot, and get some great shots along the way. As in real estate, location, location, location, is vital to taking great photos. Ideally you want a strong focal point, an attractive background, and dynamic lighting to make a great shot, but there are just not that many places on earth that offer all three of these at the same time. Some of them are well know, others less so, consider this shot:
Twilight Reflections
It’s taken at a very remote location, which is both good news and bad news. Good because it is free of the crowds that so many other places are infested by, bad because its a long drive from anywhere. Once there, there are a number of variables to deal with: the tide, the sun position, the clouds, the wind, all change from day to day and time of year. It’s important to remain flexible and take what nature offers with gratitude. For a few days each year, the sun sets right in that distant hole in the rock. I will be returning to this location to document the event. Contact me if you’d like to come with.
Sacred Sunrise
The location for Peter Lik’s Sacred Sunrise offers a different challenge. Several of them actually. First and foremost, it is a popular spot. Any time remotely during tourist season you will be hard pressed to even see the sunrise through this arch much less photograph it. How to get there.
Arriving just before the dawn and the scene looks like sardines with tripods. To even have a hope of “getting the shot” you need to arrive hours before sunrise, hike to the location with a headlamp, and compose the shot in darkness. As you can see my composition is a little different than Peter Lik’s, standing a few feet further to the left. Why not make an adjustment? Move over a few steps and mimic the master? It’s simply not possible when the scene looks like this:
Even if you manage to get the premium spot, there are technical challenges. Whereas Peter Lik uses a Seitz 160 Megapixel Panoramic camera that costs $40,000, chances are that you do not. Even with a super-wide angle lens like Canon’s EF 16-35mm f/2.8L, you will not be able to see the entire arch, not even close, and backing up further is not an option because of the crowd. So you’ll either need a fisheye lens, or take multiple exposures from left to right to stitch into a panorama later.
But the challenge doesn’t end there. Shooting directly into the sun creates exposure problems, so in order to see both the sunrise in the background and the arch in the foreground, either bracketed exposures or HDR will be needed. To get my photo of this location took 6 separate exposures all stitched into one using Adobe Lightroom. How many other’s were able to replicate this shot? Not many. There is another spot to stand that yields a very attractive photo, but I won’t reveal that here. Contact me for more detail on this spot.
Nikk’s Hut
Another very popular spot near Jackson, Wyoming. Every day you’ll find a swarm of photographers all bunched up on the couple square feet from where Peter Lik took his shot of this iconic Mormon barn in the shadows of the Grand Tetons. But the light is different every day, so instead of simply copying Lik, I followed the light and shade to what looked best. Aesthetics are subjective, but for what its worth, my shot looks better! Not an easy thing to one-up Peter Lik, but I got him this time.
These are just a few of the Peter Lik locations I’ve managed to track down, and my ‘hit-list’ is still growing. Let me know if you’d like to join me on a future photo safari.