Canadian landscape photography Archives

Best Spots in Canada for Nature & Landscape Photography this Spring

Spring brings with it one of the best times in the year to head out and capture some beautiful, nature-rich landscape photographs. Lucky for us, in Canada we’re blessed from east coast to west coast with loads of picture-perfect locations to shoot! Planning a photography getaway with just you and your camera? Our LDExperts in the Photolab are sharing their must-visit places to capture stunning shots of Canada’s natural beauty this spring.

Dempster Highway

Photo by @anatoletuzlak

Planning a road trip this spring? The 740 km bucket list journey from Dawson City, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories offers incredible scenery, wide open spaces and remote beauty. It provides the perfect opportunity to cover all of Northern Canada in a single trip, and there are several picturesque locations to snap beautiful landscape shots. The best part of the journey? It even traverses the Arctic Circle! For aerial shots that capture the pure vastness of the terrain, consider bringing along a drone to take some epic shots from above.

Gros Morne National Park

Photo by @mattmolloyphoto

For a diverse range of landscapes, look no further than Gros Morne National Park. A UNESCO World Heritage Site covering 1,805 square kilometres, it offers views like no other. Soaring fjords and moody mountains tower above a diverse panorama of beaches and bogs, forests and barren cliffs. If you’re lucky, you’ll even get a chance to capture a shot of some local nature, like a moose!

Kananaskis Country

Photo by @tyler.in.alberta

Situated to the west of Calgary, in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies, Kananaskis Country is a popular destination for Albertans looking for a wealth of landscape photo opps. Photographer Tyler Todesco captured this beautiful shot and had it printed on one of our aluminum mental panels: “I chose to print on aluminum because it gave the picture a lot of depth. I was really happy with how it turned out when blown up, the colors were extremely vivid.”

Vermillion Lakes

Photo by @jnigro64

This year-round 4.3 km scenic road offers wildlife viewing opportunities and breathtaking scenery. With Mount Rundle creating the perfect backdrop, it’s no surprise this is a favorite destination among photographers. Spring brings the added beauty of snow-capped mountains and clear blue lakes against a beautiful sunset.

Cabot Trail

Photo by @_thefrenchcanadian

Rising from the sea and clinging to mountains, the Cabot Trail will take you through majestic ocean vistas and quiet fishing villages. It is one of the world’s most scenic drives and if you’re looking for something more adventurous, it offers hikers a great experience with a rewarding view. A trip around the Cabot Trail is not complete without seeing the highlands from the water. We guarantee you’ll be stopping every 5 minutes to snap a photograph along this route!

Grand Beach

Photo by @riley.anderson.photo

Looking for a destination that offers great landscapes for photography and doubles as a beach vacation? Check out Grand Beach, Manitoba! Resting along the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg, Grand Beach is a freshwater beach with white sand backed by sand dunes that are 30 ft high. It is truly an undiscovered treasure in southern Manitoba.

Fogo Island

Photo by @newfoundlandoutsider

With a long maritime history, Fogo Island is the largest offshore island of Newfoundland and Labrador. With bright-colored houses, sea-cliff footpaths, and a lush forest set against a striking coastline, it provides the perfect landscape for picturesque photographs.

Tofino

Photo by @natasha_ann23

Surrounded on three sides by saltwater and emerald islands, Tofino is a great spot to capture the West Coast in the spring. Perfect for a weekend getaway, Tofino offers photographers an opportunity to capture sandy beaches, vivid sunsets and beautiful waves. The spring season also marks the return of the whale migration with Pacific Gray Whales and possibly Humpback Whales.

Victoria

Photo by @stephsnelling

If you’re looking to capture beautiful spring cherry blossoms, Victoria is the perfect destination. One of the most well-known places to photograph spring blossoms is along View Street in the heart of Downtown Victoria. North of Victoria, The Butchart Gardens erupts into a sea of vibrant colour each spring and offers tulip displays and fragrant blossoms. For photographers looking to capture the floral beauty of spring, Victoria is definitely a must-visit.

Don’t leave those gorgeous shots lying on your camera or laptop! At the London Drugs Photolab, we’ve got a wide range of printing and enlargement options. Or create a photo book to showcase your best spring photography. Our aluminum metal panels are also great for making the vibrant colors in your spring shots really pop. Unsure of what the best option is for your pics? Head to your nearest London Drugs store and speak to one of our LDExperts in the photolab!

5 Photography Tips for Stunning Landscapes

As winter turns to spring, outdoor landscapes begin to bloom and blossom with stunning photo ops. If you’ve got your photography equipment ready to go, here are some helpful tips to ensure you capture your next outdoor masterpiece.

1. Near and Far, It’s All Relative

When photographing stunning natural landmarks such as mountains, try to capture not only the hero of the image but also its immediate surroundings. That way you can give the viewer a greater sense of scale.

As you’re framing your shot, have a look around you to see if there’s something closer than your hero subject that will help you tell a better story in your shot as a whole. A wide angle lens like Olympus’ 9-18mm ultra wide angle lens will increase the space differential, helping you to better tell that story.

In this shot, while it would have been easy to photograph just the water and lighthouse, taking a step back and including the rock formation in the foreground gives the shot a better sense of space.

If you’re having trouble finding foreground subjects, consider using people. The human element can drastically change the feel of the image too, because then the person becomes the image’s hero!

2. Shoot at the Best Times of the Day

Did you know there are better times of the day to photograph landscapes (apart from when there is good light and the sky is clear and blue). There are four specific times of the day that pros love to shoot — provided the weather is ideal. These are called the golden hour and the blue hour, and both of these phenomena happen twice a day — in the early morning and in the late afternoon.

Golden hour occurs just after sunrise and before sunset — when the light is softer and bathes everything in a soft yellow glow that is very pleasant to photograph. Most things (including people) look better when photographed in this light.

The blue hour occurs after the sun has dropped below the horizon and bathes everything in a soft blue light. This light creates a nice contrast to the warmth of golden light, and can make your image feel colder. The blue hour is a particularly good time for shooting urban landscapes and cityscapes, as it make landscapes look very dramatic and colour-rich.

3. Add Drama to Your Shot by Slowing Down Your Shutter Speed and Getting the Most Out of Your Filters

Because there is generally plenty of light during the day, using slow shutter speeds can be challenging. This is where your Neutral Density (ND) Filter will come in handy. Slowing down your shutter speed allows your camera to capture the flow and movement of things rather than the sharp features people would be most used to seeing. For example, waterfalls and streams can look stunning when slower shutter speeds are used. Just remember to pack your tripod!

A polarizing filter will allow you to remove the reflections off reflective surfaces such as water or glass. This is particularly useful when you’re trying to make your images look cleaner. Additionally, you can also stack filters so that you combine the effect of an ND and a polarizing filter!

In this shot of a waterfall, notice how it is difficult to see the detail in the waterfall. Because of the way it was shot, it looks like the water is flowing rather than stationary. This is because this shot was taken at a slower shutter speed. In this shot, the camera was set to a shutter speed of two seconds. This allows the camera to adequately blur the waterfall.

By slowing down your shutter speed, notice that rather than seeing the waves of the sea crashing on the beach, you instead see a serene flow? This was a 30-second exposure. Just remember that you will need a tripod to achieve this result as you will not be steady enough to handhold the camera.

This is the same shot, however a neutral density (ND) filter was used to allow for slower shutter speeds. This shot was taken at 30 seconds and allows for the water to be less distracting ensuring that the viewer concentrates on the heroes of this shot – the bridge and the mountains!

A polarizer will remove reflection from the surface of the water so that you can see the detail underneath. Notice how you can see detail of the rocks underneath the water?

4. Get Lower to Accentuate Your Perspective and Subjects

Sometimes when you take a landscape shot, it just lacks that extra pop? It could be that you are simply not getting down low enough. Vistas that stretch for miles on end can be exaggerated by the simple act of photographing from a lower perspective.

Mirrorless cameras with articulating screens, such as the one found in the Olympus E-M5 Mark II, will allow you to get lower without placing undue stress on your back or knees.

See in this image how the camera was positioned close to the surface of the sand so that you see the footsteps leading toward the shipwreck? Shooting lower allows you to accentuate your perspective as well as provide the viewer with something interesting to follow in the shot – in this case, the footsteps.

5. Converging Lines Will Always Help Frame Your Shot

Ever noticed when you look at some pictures how your eye is lead to look toward a certain direction? This is often because of a phenomenon called converging lines. Due to perspective, if edges run parallel into the distance, those edges will seem to appear to get closer and closer as the distance increases. A great example of that is when you look at train tracks into the distance. Identifying converging lines in your shot is an essential skill for landscape photography that will take your game to the next level!

In this photo, the lines made by the buildings guide your eyes toward the right side of the image. This is a great way to use landscape features to lead the viewer’s gaze.

London Drugs carries a wide range of equipment for all your photography needs. Come talk to one of our experts in store, or check out our camera equipment online.

Enter For Your Chance to Win One of Two Aluminum Metal Prints, Featuring Stunning Canadian Landscapes by Photographer Brandon Born #Canada150

We’re teaming up with Canadian photographer Brandon Born to give away two of his prints featuring incredible Canadian landscapes.

As an Alberta-based photographer, Brandon loves adventuring in the great outdoors, capturing the natural beauty of Canada, from the Northern Lights to the famously picturesque backdrops of Banff National Park.

In Awe by Brandon Born

“I chose these images for the giveaway prints because I wanted to share the simpler scenes that we see in Canada. Both day and night we are blessed with beautiful light and colour. It’s not a necessity to travel to Banff or Algonquin to see a spectacular scene. Simply stepping out into your backyard or driving out of the city a little ways will take you to a marvelous location. You will be astonished by all that Canada has to share, from the mountains, to the coastlines, to everything in between.

I have been fortunate enough to have travelled all around North America and many other parts of the world, but something has always brought me back to Canada. The colours, the smells, the people: Canada has something that nowhere else does. It’s this ‘something’ that I want to share with the world and motivates me to keep on capturing the beauty that surrounds us.

In a Field by Brandon Born

Whether it’s the mountains in Banff, or the auroras that light up the night sky, I want to use my camera to show the world what makes Canada such an incredible country. I first printed with the London Drugs Photolab 3 years ago and was extremely impressed with how accurately their aluminum metal panels showcased my images. It was a great way to share my work with those around me.

I love printing on metal because of the crisp and vivid colours it portrays. The London Drugs Photolab’s high gloss metal panels are perfect for sharing the vivid colours that Canadian landscapes are so famous for and I’m very excited to be able to share these landscapes with all of you!”

If the walls of your home are looking a bit bare, fine art photo prints, such as aluminum metal panels, are a creative way to spruce up your space. The durable, high-gloss and fade-resistant surface brings images to life, making them a statement piece in any room.

Brandon will be drawing two giveaway winners on his Instagram account at noon MST on June 29^th, 2017. Each winner will receive one of Brandon’s prints on our aluminum metal panels. The first draw winner will receive a 24×16 aluminum metal print of “In Awe”, a self-portrait image of the northern lights in Northern Alberta, and the second draw winner will receive an 18×12 aluminum metal print of “In a Field”, an image of one of the spectacular Albertan sunsets that captivate onlookers throughout the summer.

Want to win one of these amazing prints to hang on your walls at home? If you’re a Canadian resident, enter for a chance to win by heading over to Brandon Born’s Instagram and:

Comment on Brandon’s Instagram giveaway post, tagging 3 friends
Follow @LDPhotolab on Instagram
Follow @BrandonBorn on Instagram

Good luck!

See more of Brandon Born’s work on his website or on Instagram.

Best Spots in Canada for Nature & Landscape Photography this Spring

Dempster Highway

Gros Morne National Park

Kananaskis Country

Vermillion Lakes

Cabot Trail

Grand Beach

Fogo Island

Tofino

Victoria

5 Photography Tips for Stunning Landscapes

1. Near and Far, It’s All Relative

2. Shoot at the Best Times of the Day

3. Add Drama to Your Shot by Slowing Down Your Shutter Speed and Getting the Most Out of Your Filters

4. Get Lower to Accentuate Your Perspective and Subjects

5. Converging Lines Will Always Help Frame Your Shot

Enter For Your Chance to Win One of Two Aluminum Metal Prints, Featuring Stunning Canadian Landscapes by Photographer Brandon Born #Canada150

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Best Spots in Canada for Nature & Landscape Photography this Spring

Dempster Highway

Gros Morne National Park

Kananaskis Country

Vermillion Lakes

Cabot Trail

Grand Beach

Fogo Island

Tofino

Victoria

5 Photography Tips for Stunning Landscapes

1. Near and Far, It’s All Relative

2. Shoot at the Best Times of the Day

3. Add Drama to Your Shot by Slowing Down Your Shutter Speed and Getting the Most Out of Your Filters

4. Get Lower to Accentuate Your Perspective and Subjects

5. Converging Lines Will Always Help Frame Your Shot

Enter For Your Chance to Win One of Two Aluminum Metal Prints, Featuring Stunning Canadian Landscapes by Photographer Brandon Born #Canada150

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