Scenic Portraits: Unlocking Location Potential

1. Introduction: You arrive at a breathtaking location. The light is perfect, the setting is magical, but somehow the photos don't capture any of it. We've all been there, inspired by a place but unsure how to turn that inspiration into images that actually work. That's where the scores comes in. I am Matas and together with my wife, Paulina, we are Yura's Duo photography. Over the last decade, we have photographed more than 300 weddings around Europe and worked with luxury brands like Hilton, Radisson, and BlasiaTv. In scenic portraits, we take you on a journey across some of the most stunning places in Europe, from glaciers in Iceland and lavender fields of France to golden rocks of Malta and futuristic structures of Spain. But this isn't just a travel film. It's a practical hands on course built to teach you how to see locations differently and create stunning portraits with them. You learn how to work with natural light, compose intentionally with balance and impact. Maximize the number of environments from cozy towns to wild nature, modern architecture, and urban parks. Create portraits that don't just show a place, they feel like it. This course is for wedding, portrait, and travel photographers who want more from their images, more emotion, more storytelling, more visual power. So if you're ready to start creating portraits that turn any location into masterpiece, then we can't wait to show you how. 2. Light: Let's talk about light. It's quite complex topic, and we could spend hours talking about it because there are so many different possible scenarios. But let's keep it to the core. Ideally, I would love to have a great light in every image, but we don't control all the things including light. We'll cover some of the most common scenarios you'll come across. First of all, how do you photograph a person in bright sunlight? Like in this image, for example? It's around noon, so the sun is high up in the sky, and there are deep black shadows falling on her eyes, under the nose and chin. And Paulina does not look very good in this light. If you want a person to look better in the direct sunlight, ask her to face the sun directly. Lift the chin up in this case, and she instantly looks much better. Nothing very special, but if you have a person in the image, the light has to be quite good on its face. What if it's too little light on the person? I like the background. It has nice, modern looking architecture. I've asked Paulina to step in front. I have good exposure on the architecture, but there's too little light on her. She's too dark. She's in the shadow. If I try to fix it, by brightening the overall exposure, it won't do any good because the sky would be overblown and still there wouldn't be too many details on her face. It's just poorly composed image. So if you want to use the building lit by the sunlight as your background, a person has to be lit by the sunlight, too. Notice how she's standing in the light and not in the shadow. This way, we have good exposure on the building and on her face. Exposure is good, but the light is still not flattering on the face. I could ask her to lift the chin even more up, but it would look very unnatural and force. So if you have a direct sunlight around noon in the summertime, it's really hard to get a good light on the face. In such case, we ask a person to put on the sunglasses, and it really helps in these type of situations. So if you are in a bright sunlight and out in the open, you have two options how to photograph people. First, is to make sure that the sun is fully lighting the face and there are no harsh shadows. Second, is to make sure that the sun is directly behind the person, so the face is fully in the shadow. And there's no middle ground in the harsh sunlight. If you have the person's face half lit, it always looks unflattering. Fully lit face looks good. Face in full shadow when the sun is behind looks good, but a half lit face is never a good option. Even if the person's face is half lit from the side, you can change your point of view, and the person instantly looks much better. The next thing you can do on a sunny day is look for an open shade. It means both the background and the person are in the shade away from the sun and there is no direct sunlight in the frame. Both the background and the person are equally lit. Another example where the sun is directly behind the bush and both the background and the person are in the open shade. Beautiful light on her face. You might not care about the light on a person's face that much only when the person is really small in the image, like me in this one. The image looks great despite the light on my face. Now, if you have cloudy overcast day, it's much easier to photograph because there is no direct sunlight and there are no harsh shadows, no matter from where you photograph. But at the same time, the light is much more boring and it's more difficult to create an interesting image. If you want to have a great landscape picture with a person, you have to come either late in the day or early in the morning during sunset or sunrise hours when the sun is closer to horizon and it gives a softer light. Now, if we are indoors, we're always looking for a window light. That means we turn off all the lights in the room, put a person in front of the window and use that light. As for man, you can have harsher shadows on his face because it's a classic masculine portrait look. In this image, there's a beautiful window light coming right from above the stairs. It's the one and only light source, so she looks beautifully sculptured. The shadows on her face are quite harsh. It works in the image because she's a bit far away from camera. But when you're shooting a close up female portrait indoors, make sure you have a beautiful, even light on her face. These are the most common scenarios regarding light that you'll come across in weddings. We prefer shooting with the available light. During the wedding, we never use speedlight on the daytime, only in the evening. We hardly ever use a reflector, too. It slows down the whole photographic process significantly. We prefer using the available light and create images this way. As a final note, let's talk about light in a strategic way. How do you want your images to look like stylistically? There are two ways how you can approach this. Either shoot for highlights or shoot for shadows. Imagine you're photographing portraits of the bride at the venue just before the guests arrive in the evening. There are narrow streaks of sunlight coming in through the window. You have two choices. Either place the bride on the light streak or away from the light streak. These two images were taken only seconds apart, yet they look and feel very different. You can see the same light streak in both images. Only in one image, the bride is directly on it, and in the other she's away from the light streak. That is a fundamental difference in how you photograph weddings. If you shoot for highlights, you need to expose it quite dark so the skin tones are not blown away. This type of photography gives you this contrasty look dark and moody images. It looks strong but polarizing, so it's not for everyone. On the other hand, when you shoot for shadows, the images come much brighter. They're more subtle looking, bright and airy, and they look kind of sweeter. Both approaches are good. They're just different. So you have to decide which approach do you like better, and then try shooting most of your wedding images in one way or the other. Then you'll have a more distinct photographic style of your own. So photographers who shoot for highlights, they're looking forward to sunny days, and the other ones, they're looking for more overcast days. You can't control the weather, but you can always choose how do you photograph in any given situation. Like here, I photographed these two images only seconds apart, and one is exposed for the highlights, the brightest area in the image, and the other is exposed for shadows, the darkest part, the same moment, same expression, but two totally different looks. 3. Luxury surroundings I - Italy: We are in Italy on the shores of Lake Como. We are incredible Villa Monstero, so we'll check what can we find here? It is a luxurious 17th century villa, close to the town Varena on the lakeshore. Such villas are a great place for wedding photo shoot, although indoors oftentimes feel like a museum. So we tend to avoid the indoors and we want to shoot as much as possible outdoors. They have beautiful park outdoors and an incredible architecture. The surrounding park has exotic plants. Whenever we're in a place like this, my eyes are always looking for compositional elements. I noticed this pathway create lines, and Paulina is in the light over there. This pathway is a great place to put a person on it. Because it's a neutral background, the person is nicely lit by the sun and there are lines around there. The side of the pathway has interesting looking palm trees. If you look from a side, they create rhythm. So frame the shot tightly with an 85, put a person in the sunlight, and shoot it a bit darker. I've asked Paulina to face the sun, so she's the brightest spot in the image. When you have so many visually interesting things around you, you need to find a way to structure them. Using this archway for framing is one way. I've asked Paulina to walk towards me until she's in the sunlit area. It's important that she's not in the shadow because eyes of the viewer are always drawn towards the brighter area of the image. It's simply stunning location. You can always ask the couple to walk towards you, take a lot of pictures and choose the best one where the body language is great. We always try different lenses. This time, 85 also works very well. This villa has quite a few archways facing the lake, so there are plenty of chances to create a silhouette or framed image. This particular angle doesn't work that well. Arches look nice, but Paulina is directly in front of the black tree. I want to have her silhouette in front of a bright area. Also, the trees on the right arch they're kind of cut off and they don't look that nice. Then if we move to the side, we get Polina silhouette in front of the white area. That's better. And then we have one cypress tree nicely framed in the other arch. But the geometry is off. The whole image is skewed towards one side. And when you have an architecture, I want to have beautiful symmetry, so it's not somehow tilted one way or the other. I wanted to create an image here, but I couldn't work my angle in this particular spot. So we moved on to another corner with arches. This spot doesn't have cypress trees in front of the arches, but it has really nice mountainscape. And in I've moved directly in front of it, beautiful symmetry and the silhouette. This time we have architecture lines straight on. There are plenty of chances for interesting silhouettes in the afternoon because the sun is setting directly in front of the villa. When you want to have a good silhouette, ask the person to look one or the other way, so you have a profile of the face. This is a dark, moody and a bit mysterious image with local Italian charm. The most interesting silhouette we found was in this spot. There are two beautiful pillars in front of the lake and two palm trees on the side. I've asked Paulina to stand in the very middle for perfect symmetry and made the exposure darker for the silhouette. It looks charming and unique, and it works because both sides of the image are quite symmetrical. One of the most exciting things you could do in Lake Como is rent a boat. You can do that without a boat license. Like us here, it's the first time we're driving a boat this big. This boat fits up to eight people, and the prices are quite reasonable around 80 euros per hour. There are two types of boats that you can rent in Lake Como. One is that beautiful wooden boat called Water taxi, and the other one is a white one, which we rent today. And we like this one much more because you can drive it yourself, and there's no roof, and there's much more variety of pictures that you can make in this boat. So there is a really cool deck in front of the boat. Ask the person to sit there and shoot from really low so you can see her and the mountains in front of you. Simple shot to start with, but the mountain scenery is amazing. Notice that the sun is directly behind her, so the light on her face is quite good. I've asked Paulina to stand up in the front deck, and I was shooting directly behind her with a very wide angle 15 millimeter lens. So now we have an interesting image where the lines leads towards Paulina. The center composition works very well here since there are so many lines leading to the center. The sun is directly in front of us, so the shot is a bit moody. Now I turn the boat to the side. So the light is from a side, too, and it creates a totally different mood and much more colorful image. Both of them are good. Which one you choose, it depends on your stylistic preferences. Now, the front of the boat is a good place to lie down. Now, when somebody lies down, you need to put something underneath the head. Sneaker works very well here. This way, the face looks nicer towards the camera. Shot with the 35, it looks beautiful. The interesting boat structure and the shadows are wrapping around Paulina. I shot it from a higher angle, simply holding my camera up in the air and looking at the tilted screen. This time with a 15 millimeter lens, she's nicely framed on a boat's deck. That's a similar vertical shot where she's at the bottom, and you can see mountains up top. Interesting perspective. The back of the boat has this bench. You can see that the boat is moving because of the white water behind it. The sun is directly lighting her face and she's enjoying the ride. There's one thing that bothers me. The horizon line is tilted. Whenever I shoot in the nature, I make sure the horizon is level. Otherwise, it looks forced and unprofessional. It rarely works. Probably the best angle is from a drone. If you are flying quite close to the boat, you can clearly see people are having a good time there. You can see the boat moving on the water. We're having an awesome time. And the mountains in the back, they add a new dimension to the image. It would be a great experience both for you and the couple. Even if you wouldn't have the chance to create strong compositions on a boat, the couple would have an awesome time. They would have great emotions so you could capture their expressions, too. 4. Luxury surroundings II - Italy: We are going to Villa Balbonela. We found plenty of information online, and it seems to be a pretty awesome location. It's probably the most picturesque villa on the shores of Lake Como. Even movies like Star Wars and James Bond were partially filmed here. Also, wedding ceremonies are often held in this beautiful terrace. As with any location, my eyes are instantly looking for compositional elements. This facade is amazing. It's lit by afternoon sun in the autumn, so the light is perfectly soft and nice on her face. Beautiful arches like this is a perfect place to frame Paulina in it. I'm carefully working my angle so Paulina is in the middle, and arches are symmetrical. It looks wonderful, except the arches are a bit tilted to one side. Simple cropping in light room wouldn't help because if I try to straighten it, the bottom line now is fine. It's horizontal. But the roof of the building, the top part, it's still skewed because the lines are off. So if you want to straighten it, you need to reset the cropping tool and go down and find the tab called Transform. Then you can select this tool called guided upright tool. Using this tool, you need to mark two horizontal lines. One at the very bottom of the image and the second one at the top, where you can see a clear line. And the trum automatically straightens these two lines to make them absolutely horizontal. Now the image looks great. I could go even further to straighten the vertical lines of the image too. So if I choose vertical line on one side and another vertical line on the other side, trum straightens the image according to all four lines too vertical and too horizontal. But then big parts of an image gets cut off and the image looks stretched to the top because I was shooting from much lower level than Paulina was, so I cannot force fixing the lines so much in post production. This version of the image looks amazing. Paulina looks beautiful up top, so it's worth taking a picture with an 852. It's a beautiful setting, and these two pictures would complement each other very well in an album layout. The side of a terrace has this black door, and around it, there is beautiful greenery. Use the symmetry and frame the person in the doors. Again, make sure the lines are straight. Or you can isolate the beautiful greenery with an 85, then it becomes a texture. Very unusual looking background. The upper terrace is wonderful. There's so many chances to make great pictures here. Very symmetrical again. And Paulina is nicely lit by the sunlight. The background is amazing, and these two columns, they become the foreground element. Overall, it's a strong image. Then if I move aside a little and use an 85, I create a totally different look. There are so many interesting layers in the image. This column in the foreground is nicely lit by the sun. The two other columns, they are in the shadow, and this creates some interesting look. Then again, Paulina is nicely lit by the sun. The railings of the side are in the shadow and mountains again in the sun. So there's an interesting play between the light and interesting shapes. Super cool. Another more close up portrait with an 85 in the same spot. So far, we have used 35 and 85 millimeter lenses in the upper terrace. But I believe the best one is with 15. It's simply stunning. There's a perfect symmetry. Paulina is framed in the archway. There are lines going up from the top. There is foreground with these beautiful greenery and she's nicely lit in the evening sun. The original image was a bit tilted and skewed, so again, I used the guiding lines to straighten the verticals and the horizontals. Then some white areas in the corners appeared. I was able to clone back these white areas with greenery in Photoshop. It was an easy fix. The end result is breathtaking. This is unbelievable. We could shoot here for three days in a row, non stop, and there'll be plenty of different pictures. There are beautiful paths to walk around the villa. Nothing too complex compositionally here, but the plants and the roof, they look exotic, and that makes the picture work here. There are some tourists around, so you need to frame your shot carefully to avoid including anybody else in the frame. The whole villa is full of photo opportunities. I've asked Paulina to walk up top. The sun is lighting her beautifully here, and there is a tree right above it. The railing underneath is amazing. Paulina is a bit too small, so I've asked her to lift herself up a bit so she's a little bit more visible. It works beautifully here, both with 35 and an 85. There are beautiful sculptures in the park. I thought if Polina would face the same way as the sculpture, it would look nice in the image. There are quite a few interesting elements like the sculpture, the flowers, and the lamppost and Polina against a beautiful lake and mountain background. There are some more sculptures in the lower terrace. Shot with an 85 and a shallow depo field, it looks beautiful. Notice that both Paulina and the sculpture is the same distance from the lens. This way, they're both in focus, and that's important. The lower terrace has this beautiful round tree. If you include the whole tree in an image, it becomes an interesting shape. Place a person underneath it and you have a shot. Spectacular Villa Balbinlo. 5. Modern architecture - Spain, Lithuania: We're in Lithuania in our capital Vilnius. Like in every bigger city, there are modern buildings with glass facades. Huge windows like this is a perfect candidate to make a symmetric shot with the reflection. To do that, you need to go very close to the glass, actually, even touch the glass with a camera, and then you'll have a perfect reflection. I want to create a portrait with good symmetry. Right now, I'm a bit too far, so I'm coming closer, so she occupies much bigger part of the image, but still is visible full height. It looks great here with a 35 millimeter lens. As well as with an 85. Oftentimes there are nice squares in between the modern buildings somewhere in the city center. This particular one has this beautiful golden grass in the middle. If you look at this scene with a white angle, it's a mess. There's buildings, grass, lampposts, construction, and everything going on around here, and it's not pretty. If I move a bit closer, it gets better. But the best angle here is really tight with an 85. This way, I isolate everything else from the frame except Paulina and the golden grass, and it plays so beautifully in the wind here. I frame it carefully to avoid the construction behind Polina's head. She appears in the textured layers of the golden grass. Cropping tightly with 85 transformed the scene from modern city looking to something very naturalistic. Modern buildings like this parking next to the sports arena, can be a good source to look for interesting compositional elements. It is crowded with cars, and we want to avoid it. We notice that the ceiling of the parking is very neat and orderly, and there is a lot of texture and a lot of rhythm. I'm standing under the roof, so I'm shaded from the sun if it's a hot day or from rain, if it's a rainy day. There is a big open space in front of me and a darker space behind me. So I have a good soft light hitting my face. We want to compose the shot to avoid the cars at the bottom. So Paulina leans down and faces camera up, so there's only me and the ceiling in the frame. Framing it this way creates a clean and modern looking photograph. We noticed this black wall in one corner. We thought it's a chance to use it as a textured background. There are so many things going around. To make it work, you need to shoot it with an 85 and crop carefully avoiding everything else except the black textured layer. It's a rough, modern and masculine background. We noticed interesting elements on the side of the parking, where there's columns, some metal sheets on the bottom, and interesting texture in the top. Now, if I lean down a little, I can avoid seeing all the cars, interesting architecture. I want to be standing in the frame in the middle between the two first columns. Paulina leaned down a little to avoid the cars in the back. It's a wide angle shot. But it's best is when you look at it through an 85 millimeter lens. There are lots of repeating elements in the image, the sheeting at the bottom, the columns in the middle, and the structural elements at the top. And they all create rhythm and eventually lines. And I'm standing in the neutral area breaking the rhythm of the columns. The image looks really good, black and white. Vertical one, as well. We're in Valencia Spain right now. This stunning architectural complex named City of Arts and Sciences, and there's plenty of chances for great compositions here. Even a simple shot with an interesting building in the background looks out of this world, but let's look for stronger compositions. The sun is shining on the building behind, so I've asked Paulina to stand in the sunshine, too. The light is not that great on her face. Sunglasses helps a lot here. It's a good but still compositionally simple image. So let's do something more interesting. We went inside one of the buildings. I thought, Let's do something symmetric. So I asked Paulina to walk in the middle here. The symmetry is there. There are interesting shapes and architecture in the image, but the light is not that great on Paulina. She's a bit too dark for my liking. So let's get closer and use some leading lines. This is better, but the lines kind of lead away from her, not towards her. I wanted her to appear between the lines. So I thought if I should from higher perspective, it might work very well. Working my angles so she's fully underneath the lines. Very cool. So she's framed at the bottom in a triangle, and there are plenty of leading lines wrapping around her. This is such a cool location. So I thought if we wait for the sunshine, shadows might create a new textured compositional layer in the photo. Just a couple minutes later, the shadows transform the place into something even more spectacular. Some more lines and textures appeared. The complex has a lot of interesting shapes and textures. We walk towards one of them. It looks good up close, but once you get further back, you can see more of the texture and more of the shape. It's a popular place, so it's a waiting game for the moment without people around. Looks interesting, but the top part is plain white. So we came back the next day when direct sunlight hits the spot and creates these huge interesting shadows, and it makes the composition look even more interesting. And I believe stepping back farther away makes the composition even better. We're staying in the same spot, just looking the other direction. The ground where Paulina is standing is gray and uninspiring. But if you get really down and start looking way up, we don't see the ground anymore, so it's only the arches and Paulina left. She's nicely framed in a triangle, and there are interesting lines and shadows around. Very clean and graphic. And if we make it black and white, it becomes something like a fine art piece. We really love shadows, and we managed to spot one more place where shadows help creating lines and rhythm. So we have a few lines coming up, rhythm, and a really clean looking modern architecture. Long corridors, walkways, and archways, they create beautiful rhythm. In this case, the ground is a bit gray and dull. Simple way to hide it is use the reflection of your smartphone, and it works very well and creates even more rhythm in the same image. Wait for the moment without people, and you have it. Black and white works very well here. Right on top, there is a beautiful palm tree alley, nice rhythm and lines. The walkway at the bottom is not that interesting, but the top, that's a different story. We tried facing the other way, but the palm trees and especially the light on her face is nicer in the first photo. The side of a complex has this busy street, but just in front of it, there's this amazing row of architectural elements. They create beautiful rhythm here, and you can place a person anywhere to break the rhythm. Very interesting shot. And if you frame the shot differently, look at the shapes straight on. Paulina becomes nicely framed in one of them. Same spot, two different shots. We came back for a nighttime shot. We've put an eyelight on a tripod to light Polina's face, and I really like the reflection of the building in the water. An 85 millimeter lens fits here perfectly, and black and white looks even more graphic. Similar shot with a 35 and a little reflection on the left side from the smartphone. We've spent a couple days here, but still there were plenty more opportunities to create something interesting in this beautiful futuristic complex. 6. Atmospheric old town I - Malta, Spain: So we are in Malta today. I am in Lower Baraka Gardens here in Valletta, and we will look for some photo opportunities. Look, this beautiful garden is filled with a lot of nice arches, and we have lots of good framing opportunities. Here's one, like, you can put this monument in the middle and bride and groom over at this side here. So they would look nicely framed, and the whole scenery would look amazing. This shot looks especially well because in each frame, there is something interesting framed in. Here's another angle. They could sit on a bench or just walk by this arch and it would look super nice. Also, as you can see in the corner, there's a small patch of light. That's another great opportunity to frame them. Remember to shoot it quite dark because otherwise, the shot is not going to work, and you can frame it very tight like that and even darker. These type of shots work only if you shoot them quite dark. Or you could go back and, you know, put the couple here and incorporate some of the scenery behind. Or even use the second part of the shadow. Here, put the groom on the bench and bride standing in the pocket of light, and it's an awesome shot. Use wide angle lens like 15 millimeters to accentuate the lines here in the structure and walk bride and groom down there on one of the light pockets. There's the top and there's the button, and it would look totally amazing. I always know that columns create great rhythm if you look to them diagonally. So here's a great opportunity. I can walk much closer here and shoot the shot with 85 millimeters, you know, work my angle, a bit more, a bit closer, and here, created rhythm out of the columns and benches over here. Bride groom could be next to the column sitting on the bench, standing in the light, and it looks very good. Whenever you try to create rhythm in these type of situations, make sure there are no gaps left in between the columns. Look, the arches also create beautiful shadows on the ground. So you can frame it like that and put the couple on a bench or stand them in the light. It looks sunny. Just on the side of the main walking street in Valletta, I've noticed nice stairway in the back. If you come closer, you can isolate it, and then you'll have a great shot. Here, let's frame it. And there you go. Now, you have nice leading lines, and if the couple were to walk on the stairs, it would look totally stunning. Look at every edge of the frame. Make sure to fill it all so there are no gaps left. Again, next to the main street of Valletta, where there's crowds of tourists, there's empty stairs. Actually, they look stunning. You could, you know, fill the frame with all the stairs, and it would create beautiful pattern. Also, the railing on the side creates a line. So if you frame it just right, an awesome shot. Make the shot clean, fill the entire frame with texture. Stairs in this case. There's a museum called the Palace Armory, and they have a nice little courtyard. You are free to walk in. There's quite a few people in there, but you can always find a quiet corner like this. Again, great framing opportunity. Streets of Valletta are filled with colorful doors, and if you'd want to find even more colorful doors, you could go to an adjacent town called Burgu. Its streets are relatively empty of people. They're narrow, so they're shaded from the sun, so it's not that hot to walk around. Doors create great opportunity for framing. They also reveal some local charm. They come in many colors and many different shapes. Some are vibrant, some are muted, some with greenery around, but all beautiful. And if you come up really close, you can use the color as a compositional element to create this interesting background. Or you could use the surrounding plants and doors as rhythm to create composition this way. Narrow and long streets gives you the chance to use perspective to create lines and place the subject in there. As we walked around Burgu, we found this interesting street with nice yellow arches. Paulina was in the shape, so I asked her to move into the sun so she's not darker than the background arches. Then I needed to work my angle so she's nicely framed in between the arches, and the car on the right is not visible anymore. I even stepped back a little so the full height of her is visible. So creative framing. Malta and other Southern European countries has this beautiful violet blooming tree. I want to have only the tree and Polina in the frame. So I get down to hide the cars. Then if I shoot vertical, there's only Polina tree, and the yellow buildings in the frame. It looks interesting, but there's a lot of things still going on in the image. I could clean it a little bit by removing the lampost in Photoshop. But still, Paulina looks a bit lost in the image. So we did a portrait from much closer, showing only her and the violet tree. And we feel the closer portrait works better here. Oftentimes, you can find interesting street art. To make a good picture out of it, you have to fill the entire frame with a street art and place a person somewhere there. Nice. In Barcelona, they have this huge mosaic called the Kiss of freedom. The same principle works here. Come very close, fill the entire frame with artwork, and the magic happens. Archways are beautiful places to find rhythm and frame your subject. This is a touristy place in Barcelona's Gaudi park, but you can always wait and get a moment without any people or clone them out in Photoshop if somebody is still visible. When the whole building is looking kind of artsy, like this Deli Museum in Spanish town Figures, try to isolate the more interesting parts of the building and do not show the surroundings at all. When you avoid all the people and casual city items, you get something interesting. So there's only the unusual architecture in the frame. This strange looking wall becomes a pattern. It makes the scene look a bit surreal. 100 kilometers away from Barcelona in Spain, there's a beautiful monastery called Santes Creo. Its inner courtyard looks like a movie set from Game of Thrones, offering plenty of chances for interesting shots. The inner walkways are beautifully carved from stone, offering a great chance for framing, as well as using leading lines and archways as rhythm. The sides of the walkway are decorated with beautiful ornamental stonework. Use the symmetry and frame your subject in the very middle. I really love how you can use the stone ornaments as a foreground element. Since they're predominantly in the shade, they look more like a silhouette, and they frame Paulina very nicely in the center. We have beautiful multi layered composition. Then I use a super wide angle 15 millimeter lens to showcase not one but three arches in the same composition. It looks magical. Then if you step back into one of the chambers, a totally different image appears. So many different layers. 7. Atmospheric old town II - Switzerland, France: We're in Switzerland today. The house where we stay in Friburg has this beautiful terrace, and it has some interesting compositional elements that we will use in our shoot. First off, the view is amazing. So why not take a picture with that? Paulina is facing away from the sun, so the light on her face is nice, and there is a good line at the bottom. She looks awesome in here. Now there are some plants in the terrace, so I thought it's a good idea to use them as a foreground. Even better if I shifted the focus from her up to the leaf in the foreground. This way, it becomes a detailed shot of the surroundings. The side of a terrace has this balcony, and there's a metal cast door there, which is, again, a good element for foreground. Now, if you stand too far, the shot is a bit messy and it's not clear what it is about. But if you come a lot closer to the door, the door becomes an interesting foreground element. If you want an object to act as a foreground, it has to be not farther than an arm's length from the camera. Since it's a balcony, probably the best angle is to shoot it from a side. Now you have the nice perspective of the old town visible, and also the front of a terrace creates a line leading to the person. The pavement of the terrace has a nice texture. The best way to use it is to lay a person on the ground and shoot right from above. In that case, you need to put something underneath the head of the person. Otherwise, the head leans back too much and it looks unnatural. Now she looks perfect here. And if I raise my camera a bit more up, I get the perfect shot. You can also rotate the image. It might look better that way. There are some metal chairs in the terrace. And when you have direct sunlight, these metal chairs cast nice looking shadows. One chair has this cross pattern on it, and the other one has round ones. I know these shadows will look perfect on a close up portrait. Let's dry the rounded one first. Wow, it dramatically changes the portrait. Don't forget to ask the person to lift the head up so the sun hits her face flat and the eyes are not black. Let's see how the cross shadow works. Even better. I also ask her to lift the hands up so there is more free skin for the shadows, and you need to shoot with an 85 millimeter lens to avoid the cheer in the foreground. And I believe it looks even better in black and white. Super cool. You could try using any object for the shadows. Like this green box, it has some pattern on it, and when you lift it just in front of the sun, it makes some interesting shadows. We went in and I wanted to shoot the shoes as a detail shot. This beautiful parquet has a nice pattern. And if you isolate it, well, it doesn't look that good. Because of the color of the shoes, they blend in too well. So I've placed them on an even gray background, but it's a bit boring. And then I saw these beautiful shadows coming through the window, and it's a perfect match for the shoe shot. Place them on the light and shoot it a bit darker and lower angle. Awesome shot. As for the ring shot, reflection works really good. I thought of using iPads glass as a reflection. You need to shoot from really close up to see the ring. So I use macro extension ring with an 85 millimeter lens, and it gives me the result that I'm looking for. I thought I wanted to add something more interesting in the background. So I found this crystal laying around, and if I place it there just behind the ring, it looks really good. And even the dust is not that visible on the glass with the macro lens. Just a short walk down the street, we found this cafe, which looks kind of charming. Frame Paulina in the middle. And there's a shot. Simple, but has a local charm. Just a short walk from the cafe, we notice this green wall. The light is perfect because it's in the open shade and it creates beautiful texture. You can't get wrong with it. Horizontal or even vertical, or even if you shoot from an angle with an 85 millimeter lens, isolate the greenery, and you have a shot. Walking down the French city of Avignon, and it's always a challenge to isolate yourself from the tourists. So it's hard to find a good spot in the major streets. A good way to avoid the crowd is just go off the beaten track into some hidden little courtyard where you could find some charming French architecture without any tourists insight. Notice how the arch frames Polina nicely over there. At the heart of Avignon, they have palace of the Pops, beautiful historical building. But it's always a challenge to make something interesting with these kind of buildings. There's always lots of people walking by. So I thought I'll ask Paulina to stand on top of one of those pillars and I'll shoot from low point of view with a wide angle, so I'll have the palace and her in the frame. Then it's a waiting game for a moment without the tourists, and we have a shot. It's probably not the strongest image, but it's difficult in these scenarios to show the whole palace. So it's better looking for smaller compositional elements and use them to your advantage. Like here, this old wall looks very interesting. I composed it carefully showing only the wall and Paulina. Composition is interesting, but the light on her face is really bad. It is midday and the sun is really high. So Paulina put on her sunglasses and it instantly looks better. So we have interesting texture and shapes that leads the viewer's eye to the person. So even if you have trash and other unwanted objects in the area, you can still create strong image with careful composition. Another interesting spot is this viewpoint where you can see the famous bridge. Now, again, lots of tourists in the area. But if you take just a few steps back, you can hide this tourist group with the railing, so they're not visible in the final frame. And if you think of the compositional lines and craft your composition carefully, you can really create an interesting shot over here. Notice the multiple leading lines. It is also important that the horizon line is not cutting through her neck. It looks unnatural, so it's better to lower the horizon so it's beneath her shoulders. We found a good spot just above the palace to frame the main tower between the foliage. Avoid including any of the playground elements in the frame and frame it really nice. So just a tower and a person is framed in the open sky area between the foliage. I used the leaves of a tree as a foreground to frame the subject here. And if the sky was just blue without any trees on top, the image would be much weaker. Somewhere in the back streets, we notice these gray blinds, and they look really interesting. If you look up close to them and try to isolate them from all the surroundings, they have a nice texture and nice leading lines. You have to carefully craft the shot, so only the blinds and the person is visible in the frame. It has a modern look, and it only works if you cannot see the yellow wall surrounding it. It looks great in black and white, too. 8. Atmospheric old town III - Italy, Lithuania: We're in a little town called Barena. We heard it's very beautiful, and some people say it's the most beautiful town around Lake Coma. So we'll see. If we find some nice shots here. Every town on the shores of Lake Como has Italian charm, but varena is especially picturesque. As everywhere, streets are often filled with tourists. But no matter where you are, you can always find a corner where there's no people in the frame. We have noticed an arch on the side of a square, and through that arch, you could see a narrow street and lake in the distance. I have darkened the exposure, so I could see more like a silhouette of Polina. I specifically asked her to stand in the light, so she's lit by the sunlight. And I backed up a little to see the full shadow of her. Now, Paulina and the street view is framed in the arch and her shadow is framed on the ground, as well. And the sum of it all makes an interesting shot. If Paulina were to stand in the shadow, the shot wouldn't be even half that good. On the same narrow street, I've noticed this walkway, which looks like a balcony. I've asked Paulina to walk on top of it and stay in the bright sunlight. Then I moved myself to the right to frame the shot that the whole perspective of the street is visible. Romantic colorful shot. In one of the narrow streets, we noticed the sunlight was shining through the gap of the building, and these are great places to put a person in, shoot it quite dark, and you have an interesting play between the light and the shadows. The other street had this cute green door in the middle of the wall, surrounded by lush greenery. I've asked her to stand in the middle of the door, so she's framed by the doorway and also by the greenery around her. This time, the pavement is nice, so I didn't crop it out to see the full height of Polina. We've noticed this metal grill door on the side, and they have this beautiful texture to it. To make it work in the picture, you need to frame the shot tightly so there's nothing else just the grill door visible. A little bit to the left and there. Charming Italian texture throughout the frame and the person in front of it. And I believe black and white works even better here, true classic look. Sometimes tourists flood the streets, but if you look to the side, there might be an empty, gorgeous Italian street. It has this beautiful perspective that creates depth and some lines in the image, and there's nice soft light going through the gap on Paulina's face. An 85 works best here, so she's much bigger in the frame. Italy throughout. One at the side street had this beautiful shadow on the wall where you could see railings and the lamp. I've asked Paulina to come there in the middle of the shadow and frame the shot tightly with an 85. It looks creative and beautiful. The streets are really crowded, but if you look at our images, there's only Pauline in them. There's no secret. Just look around and find a quiet corner where there's no other people in it. Shoot it darker, great spot for framing, and you have. There's a beautiful lakeshore pathway, and it has a green wall on the side. I've asked Paulina to stand close to the wall and face the sun, and I carefully framed the shot so only the green texture would be visible. We on. The pathway is gorgeous and the views from it are amazing. But it's hard to walk around in such a crowd of people. To avoid them, I've asked Paulina to stand very close to the railing and just enjoy the scenery. And then I thought, if I put Paulina on the very edge of the frame, then I can crop it out to avoid the people altogether. I carefully compose the image further on, so the railing becomes a line on the side of image, and there's beautiful greenery as a foreground. Even a yacht appeared in the frame, and she looks like if she's having the scenery all to herself, but that is only an illusion created by careful composition. Further down the path, there's a beautiful red tunnel with some greenery on the top. It is really crowded, but we wanted the shot, so we decided to wait longer until we have a gap without any people. There are so many compositional elements here. She's framed by the arches at the end. There are lines from the railing and from the shadows around, and there's rhythm from the arches, too. Remember how crowded it was just a few minutes ago, and now it's absolutely gorgeous. Back at the apartment where we stay, we had a really nice terrace facing the lake. And on the side of the terrace, there were these wooden blinds. And when you have sunlight, blinds like that, they create beautiful shadows. I've asked Paulina to stand right there on the shadow. And the magic happens. I suddenly becomes very interesting shot. There are a lot of things going on around her, so you need to isolate the interesting part with the shadows using an 85. Very nice play of the light and the shadows. We're in the old town of Vilnius in Lithuania. In a lot of cities, you can find a green wall similar to this. It has this gorgeous green texture. All I have to do is come really close to fill my entire frame with that green texture. It instantly looks clean and classic. I could also shoot from UpClose with an 85. Or even use the reflection of the iPhone to create a more interesting composition. And the last thing I do is shoot from a side, from an angle with an 85 so I have a nice perspective of the wall. Sha 9. Parks in the city - Malta, Spain, Lithuania: A few kilometers away from Valletta, there are San Anton gardens. It's a quiet and secluded park without too many people, but with a lot of good opportunities. All over Southern Europe, you can find these palm trees, and their leaves create leading lines if you look directly from above. And you can place shoes or bouquet or any other object for the frame to look very good. This walkway with green arches is a good place for candid shot framing your subject. The pathway frames Paulina in a triangle and also the arches gives another frame. It's a very symmetric shot, and to make it work, Paulina has to be framed in the very middle of this pathway. Notice her head is carefully framed at the very tip of the triangle. Ask the couple to walk towards you and walk backwards yourself. Take a lot of images to get the best body language. There are lots of flowers in the park, and we wanted an image with it. This angle doesn't work that well. It frames Paulina nicely, but the walkway itself is a bit gray and it takes too much space in the image. So instead of shooting straight on, I went to the side and shot from an angle, and suddenly there's no gray walkway left. Valencia has this big public park called Royal Gardens. We have explored it a bit and felt it wasn't so photogenic. But a smaller nearby park called Monforte is a different story. It has this huge flowering wall. These amazing flowers are called Buganvilia. You can google the blooming season before going to vacation, and then you'll get those amazing blooming bushes and make some great photos. Make sure the light is good on her face. An 85 millimeter lens works best here. Shoot from an angle and fill the frame edge to edge with the flowers. The flowering plants create this beautiful cozy tunnel. It adds leading lines and some depth to the image. I've asked Polina to stay at the open gap, so the light would brighten her up and the background would be darker. Very cozy setting. The park also has these intricately manicured bushes. I have framed Polina in one of the gaps and filled the frame edge to edge with the greenery. There is also this beautiful pathway. Position yourself at the very center to make the lines appear symmetrical. Spring is a wonderful time for colorful shots with the flowers. Every bigger city has a botanical garden similar to the one we have in Vilnius. A good way to start is to find a big flowering bush like this one here. I've asked Paulina to get into the bush a little, and I isolate it with an 85. It's amazing how many flowers are here. They're all real. None of them are photoshop. For a different angle, I wanted to have something in the foreground. This other white bush was a good choice. As with every location, I want to try different angles. So I came really close, and she looks beautiful surrounded by the color. This other bush has white flowers, no color to it, so I thought the shot should look nice in black and white. Other corner in the park has these Hawthorn trees. I love their color. Looking straight on, the flowers don't look that abundant. But if I go to the side and shoot it from an angle with an 85, there seem to be a lot more flowers in the frame. They are higher, so it's really convenient to shoot a person with them. Beautiful color. All the previous shots were made in an overcast day. Now, when you have direct sunlight shining, make sure it's behind the person, so the full face of her is in the shadow. We have some flowers in the foreground, as well as in the background, and this creates the perception of depth in the scene, an illusion that she's immersed between the flowers. I wanted something playful, so I've hidden one of her eye with a blossom. Notice the sunlight is directly behind her, so there are no harsh shadows on the face. Only the small light streaks are hitting the side of her face. The shot is light, vivid and takes us back to the spring. One part of the park has a lot of blooming rhododendrons. This particular area is a bit shaded by the taller trees, so the light on Paulina's face is quite good here. I've asked her to step in the middle of this path to see the whole perspective of the park and the flowers in the back. This just looks stunning. She's standing in front of the brighter area to attract the viewers attention towards her and framed by the two trees on either side. Wide open aperture of 1.6 gives this beautiful visual, where some of the plants are out of focus, close to the camera, as well as out of focus much farther away. Beautiful perspective. For the final shot, I wanted a bit more definitive foreground to frame her. To do that, I need a 35 millimeter lens and bring some plants very close to the lens. Now, she's framed between the leaves and the foreground. They are much more defined and visible because it's shot with a wider lens. This gives an even more mysterious look to the image. 10. Nature I - Malta, France, Spain, Switzerland: We are in the Soun France in the region of Provence today. Southern France wouldn't be complete if we haven't shot in the lavender fields. It's one of the truly iconic locations in Europe. So we scheduled our time to be there when the lavender starts blooming. The flowering season is generally from mid June to mid July. Actually, we were a bit too early on 13 June, and the lavenders have just started blooming and the full vibrant violet color was not there yet. You can clearly see in this unedited image, the color is quite pale, but with a little help of Photoshop, we were able to draw the violet color back into the picture. So it looks as if we imagined it. Let's start shooting. So Lavender field is essentially lines and rhythm. It depends on the direction you're looking at them. I'd like to create an image with strong composition using lavenders as lines. So I have asked Paulina to simply walk in the middle of the field. It looks stunning shot from the drone. The lines were great here. As with every location, we wanted to try different angle, shooting from much lower and choosing some other lenses. Lavenders look wonderful from the ground level, too. I didn't like seeing the shoes in the picture because the ground is very muddy and shoes get dirty very fast. So if I move the camera slightly to the left, I can hide the shoes with lavender bushes. 35 millimeter lens works great here. Now let's try a lower point of view. It looks awesome, too with an 85. Let's see how super wide angle 50 millimeter lens looks like here. Well, I like the lines, but I feel it shows too much of the surroundings. You can see that the field ends in a certain point, and I feel it takes away from the image. So 15 millimeters is a bit too wide in this case. I prefer the shots with an 85 millimeter lens as well as 35. I believe these are the strongest ones here, revealing the beauty of the landscape through compositional lines. We've also tried shooting from very high up directly down with a drone. The lines are nice, but the color is not really there because you can really see the green stems of lavender in the middle. So it's better shooting from an angle than you can see more of the color. The last thing we tried in the fields was shooting against the sunlight. The light is nice, but the purple color is not there no matter how hard you try to paint it back. So it's not the best option. Like with any location, we tried many different angles and found the best one that we like. Another great spot in Southern France for landscape images are the natural rock formations saturated with ochre pigment. This particular place is next to the town called Rousion. It's a popular spot, and there's always some tourists walking around. But if you wait a little and frame your shot wisely, you can always find a spot with no people in the frame. I really like this angle, so we waited a couple minutes and the tourists were gone. 15 millimeter lens works great here. White angle lenses, they exaggerate the lines. And these lines lead your right to the person. I noticed that if I shoot from a little higher, another line appears and it makes the shot work very well. We made a couple shots with an 85, but we felt that the wider angle reveals the beauty of location better. And if I moved a little closer, these interesting rock formations look surreal. Only these wooden pillars are a bit of a distraction. Cloning them out with photoshap was an easy fix. The coastline of Malta has some stunning places. Use it to create some interesting landscape pictures with your couple. This particular area called the Golden Bay has this interesting ridge formed out of mud, and it looks very good in the pictures. You can use an 85 millimeter lens to capture this unique formation. It looks very interesting. Like with all landscape pictures, light is very important. So it's best if you come late in the day when the sun is already low. Look, the light is great. She's in the foreground, and we have an amazing background. Great landscape. Try different lenses. 85 work great here, too. There are plenty of mountains in Switzerland. A lot of possibilities for landscape shots. Cable lifts are probably the fastest way to go up the mountain. Once somewhere up, look for a mountainous backdrop without any buildings or human activity in the frame. The mountainous backdrop, in this case, is quite even, almost like a texture. In such case, you can place a person almost anywhere in the composition, except in the very center of an image. Center placement of the subject makes the image look very static and boring. Center placement could only work if you had, say, leading lines towards the subject, or if the subject would be framed in the very middle, but it's not. So it's best placing a person on the side, considering the rule of thirds. That means on the intersection of the lines. Considering the light, there were darker clouds behind her and much brighter in front of her. So there was a nice soft light on her face. I wanted to shoot a bit tighter with an 85, and it's beautiful shot. And I believe it looks even better black and white because it's an overcast day. Another version in the same spot, again, I believe it looks better, black and white. Then we turned to the other side where the clouds were a bit brighter. Frame the shot, avoiding the fence, just go up very close, and you have pure landscape. We tried using different lenses in the same spot, 15, and then 85. And if you compare all three of them, I believe the one with 35 works best. It's not too wide because there is not much interesting going on in the foreground and not too narrow, either. Perfect focal length in this case. The last idea, I wanted to use this pathway to frame her. Lift the camera up so her full body is in the background of the pathway and wait for the moment with fewer people. It looks really good, except for the electricity post and the fence. I couldn't work my angle to frame them out in camera. It was a fast fix with healing brush tool in Photoshop. The same principles would work in wintertime, except you'd need to think a lot more about the appropriate clothing for wintertime. And again, ski lifts are a good way to get high up on the mountains. Even a colorful rock on the side of a walkway can be an interesting compositional element. If you come up really close, fill the frame with it, it becomes like a texture. I wanted to exclude the walkway from the bottom of an image, so I've asked Paulina to step on top of one of these metal pillars. So the bottom is not visible and she looks as if she's hanging up in the air. The walkway is still visible, but you can crop it later in post production. Beautiful texture. 11. Nature II - Iceland: We are in Iceland now. First of all, weather in Iceland needs a separate mention more than any other country we have been to. It's rainy and windy and super cold all the time. We're now here in the beginning of May, and it's only five or eight degrees Celsius, and wind is blowing constantly. Rain is pouring constantly. So we had, like, maybe just a couple hours during our five day visit where there were no rain at all. Here is a website where you can find the best weather forecasts and map to see how to avoid the worst weather possible. You need to look out for the best windows for good weather because it might be raining in one location, but if you drive 100 kilometers to the other side, it might be quite okay, maybe even sunny. So you need to have a big selection of locations and go there where there's no rain. Iceland is full of spectacular places, and everything here revolves around nature. On the map, it might seem like a small country, but actually it takes hours to drive from one spot to another. So keep that in mind when planning your shoot. Coastline of Iceland has some interesting spots. One of them, a black stone beach is called RensFiara. It has these beautiful geometric rock formations, which looks out of this world. It's best to fill the entire frame with the rock, so it becomes like a texture, and then you can place a person anywhere you like. This other corner is a bit more touristy, and there's constantly people over here. But no matter how busy it is, you can still wait for a couple minutes for the right moment where there are no people around and frame the shot tightly so it's only the rock and the person visible. Another beautiful coastal spot is very close to the airport. It's called Rekia Nsviti. It's not so popular, so there's hardly anyone around. I've asked Paulina to walk along the edge, and there is a great chance to frame her between the two rocks. I thought the scenery is even more spectacular from the drone, and it's a great shot. There's also a lighthouse on the other side, and we wanted to shoot some more here. But 5 minutes later, the storm came in, and this was the whole view we've got. Another spot close to the airport is the blue lagoon. It's an upscale resort with an outdoors geothermal spa, which looks out of this world. Big part of the blue waters is a public area. You are free to walk around. The colors are incredible and it's steaming all over the place. It's a very interesting and convenient place to take pictures. Even a simple stop on the side of the road in Iceland might look amazing. The road is not visible only the landscape. Further down the road, there's Joker Salon Bay. It's famous for its floating icebergs which break from the ice shelf and drift slowly into the ocean. Unfortunately, the weather was very difficult that day, so we couldn't get anything done here. But we came back to the same place a year later. Last time we were here, it was super windy rainstorm. And now it's beautiful sunny weather. You can walk right on the edge where the icebergs float, and if shot with an 85 millimeter lens, the background seems much closer and it's an awesome shot. Notice the difference 85-35 millimeter lens shot. Paulina is roughly the same size in both images, but the icebergs behind her and the mountain appears to be much bigger and closer in an 85 millimeter lens shot. So it's a good idea to use an 85 in such scenarios. The area where icebergs meet the sea is called the Diamond Beach because the broken icebergs on the black sand look like diamonds. Shot with an 85, looks very interesting. Diamonds look like a textured layer on the ground. Slightly different angle from the drone not that high above, create interesting lines. And me and Paulina, we're walking towards where the lines meet on the horizon. The furthest east we've got to is a place called Stoknes. Dramatic mountainscape, and these black sand dunes are the dream of the photographer. It's a big place to visit, so plan to spend at least half a day here. Amazing location. There's a water lagoon just in front of the mountains. Now it's frozen, but in the warmer months, it becomes like a mirror. We came in late in the day, so it got dark quite fast. Every time just after the sunset, there's a good chance to create a silhouette against a colorful sky. Grassy Dunes added some graphical elements to the picture here. Look at my silhouette. Notice how a small change in my arms position makes a big difference on the final image. That's why you need to take a lot of images and choose the one with the best body language. Iceland is famous for its glaciers and they're majestic sight at sea, and they are huge, so it's difficult to incorporate a person in a shot with the glacier. It's best to shoot with an 85 millimeter lens. Remember, the trick is to keep the distance between the camera and the couple and also between the couple and the landscape. I've asked Paulina to walk a bit further away from the camera, and I've set the camera itself on a tripod. I've used a remote trigger, and here's the shot. We appear to be quite close to the glacier. The next day, it started snowing and we drove to another glacier. This one is called HofelGlacier. You can drive right up to it, and it looked so real covered in this white snow. It seems very cold, and you might think it's not possible to make an image in this surrounding with a wedding dress. But we thought in this amazing location, we need to try and do it. It was around zero degrees outside and hardly any wind. So Paulina got back into the car and put on a dress. She kept the jeans underneath the dress so it wouldn't be that cold. I put the camera on a tripod and framed the shot with an 85 millimeter lens facing the glacier. This yellow cover helped the camera to stay dry. Paulina walked up from the car to the spot where we wanted to photograph her. We knew it would be very cold for her, and we'll have just a couple moments to take an image with a remote trigger. I took her coat and stepped back out of the frame so I wouldn't be included in the image. And I was pressing the remote trigger as many times as I could. So we had only a minute. Oh, super cold. So exciting. It's beautiful. Amazing. And this shot was born. She looks so fragile in this vast and cold environment. We left this image a little blue intentionally to exaggerate the coldness of the environment. If we zoom a bit closer, you can see it's snowing and it's really, really cold. It was a challenge, but it was worth the result. The temperatures in Iceland don't drop that much below the zero, but the winds, they might be ferocious. And it changes day by day. Like one day, the sun was shining and there was no wind, so relatively, it was not that cold. We stopped somewhere on the side of the road in this vast white emptiness to create this cool minimalistic shot. Again, I feel it looks better with an 85 than with a 35, although a very wide angle shot might look good, too. The next day, sun was gone and it started snowing heavily, but we still thought, let's do something interesting. So Paulina jumped out with bare feet. Well, it's something, but not as good as the one with the glacier. A lot of the times weather in Iceland does not cooperate. It's difficult to walk around even with thick winter coat. Nonetheless, traveling in such conditions is a very interesting experience. Pulling out a dress here was out of the question. It would be unbearable. There were weather alerts for most of the country, and we were lucky to reach the airport in time because most of the roads were closed due to heavy snowfall. There's a website that shows life the road conditions in various stretches in Iceland, and it's super helpful in winter conditions. Nature in Iceland is spectacular, practically anywhere you go. Just be patient with the weather. Who 12. Nature III - Italy: Lake Como, in Italy has this beautiful rocky lakeshore. We drove to this spot just before sunset to have a nice evening light. I've asked Paulina to walk to the very edge of the lake and climb on top of one of the rocks in the water. I really like the sunlit mountain in the back, but Paulina looks a bit too small and she's kind of lost in the image. So I shot it with an 85. Paulina looks great, but I cannot see the mountain anymore, so I stepped back a little. But still, the mountain is not there yet. Finally, I took a vertical shot. Now I really like the proportion of Paulina and the mountain in the frame. To try all the options, I came much closer with a 15 millimeter lens. But I feel from this higher angle, there is too much water in the frame, and it looks a bit dull. So I tried going down and shooting from a very low angle to have the rocks in the foreground of the image. Now I feel it looks great. The rocks in the foreground resemble mountains at the back, and it gives the image nice balance. I feel these two images came out the best and they complement each other very well. We found out that we could make a very similar composition just in front of our apartment. There is a nice walkway down to the lake, and there are some nice rocks at the bottom. I shot it from very low, placed the camera practically on the rocks. I framed it carefully to avoid any grass appearing in the shot. This time with a 35, but it looks equally good. For example, this other spot does not look that good because of all the grasses at the bottom of the image. Even the terrace in our apartment offered a very similar composition, crop it tightly, avoiding all the greenery and all the chairs, so there's only Polina and the mountains in the frame. We noticed this field of yellow flowering plants on the side of the road, and we thought it's a good chance to make an aerial portrait from above because these plants, they're called Canada Golden Rod. They have very nice texture to it. From the ground level, they're a bit messy. I thought they should look nice shot from the drone and looking directly down. I can never be sure if they look good from above until I actually fly over with a drone. And we love what we saw here. I've asked Paulina to lie down in the middle in between the grass. To make it work, we need to fill the entire frame with texture, especially the edges of the frame. The actual spot with plants is not that big, but once you fly low enough, it is sufficient to fill the entire frame with texture. And it looks beautiful and dreamy throughout. Shots like this only work on an overcast day because if it's sunny, the colors of the plants would look washed away. Autumn is a perfect time for colorful nature shots. Golden leaves look wonderful, and these old cars also added some charm to the image. I've asked Paulina to stand in the middle of the street. Now, she's framed in the brightest area of the image, and also the road creates some lines leading towards her. We've muted the green color in post production, so it looks golden throughout. While driving through the city, we noticed these red bushes on the side. It's a very random place next to the parking lot, and also there were construction and piles of rubbish everywhere. But the red bushes, they look amazing. All I had to do is compose the shot, avoiding everything else except the red bush. If I come a lot closer with a 35, it fills the entire frame, but the top part is a bit cut off. I think it's better to step back and shoot it with an 85. It looks amazing here. Open aperture of 1.4 helps to render the top part of the image out of focus to reveal the true depth of the scene. I stepped even further back and took a horizontal shot. It looks so grand in this frame shot with an 85. But remember, in reality, it didn't look that great in the beginning. Careful composition can transform the scene substantially. Seaside is a wonderful place to take images. We wanted to find some interesting compositional elements here. So we went close to the seaport. There are these huge wave breakers on the side. They have interesting shapes, so we thought we'll use them. I also wanted to see the sand and the sea in the frame. The sun is directly behind Polina, so it helps here, too. If I can compose a shot where only the wave breakers are visible, they'd become an interesting texture. I've asked Paulina to climb on them, and I did the same to get a higher perspective with an 85. Now the shot looks surreal and interesting. These huge granite rocks are also used as wave breakers. We can do the same here. Right there on the ground, I've noticed a water puddle. I know it can give me a good reflection if I get really down with a white angle, almost touching the water. It reflects both the sky and Paulina for me. A very clean shot in an unexpected place. Back on the ferry, there were lots of seagulls in the air. All I had to do is shoot from a lower angle to have only the sky visible. Beautiful shot in a very unusual place. June is the flowering season for lupins, and they have this beautiful purple color. Paulina came up with an idea to tie some flowers together to have something to hold in the hand. To make the best use of the color, you need an overcast day. Right now, the sun is shining through a gap in the clouds, and the color looks a bit pale this way. Just a couple minutes later, the cloud shaded the sun and the color instantly looks more vibrant. I look at the flowers as texture. To fill the entire frame, I use an 85. A pure joy to photograph among so many flowers. This one from much closer distance, and this one's just for fun. Walking here with a wide angle makes the flowers look interesting up close. I thought it would be an interesting shot if I shoot from very low angle, pointing upwards with a wide angle. This way, I have the flowers in the sky and Polina silhouette, as well. One area of the sky was a bit empty, so I took one flower and inserted it where I wanted it to be. It's a playful, unexpected shot using the flowers as graphical elements in the foreground. We took some shots from further away. For the last shot, I want to make a really upclose portrait to fill the frame with this beautiful purple color. Paulina is holding lots of flowers in one hand, and I'm holding a few flowers very close to the lens. They will be out of focus, and they will create this beautiful purple color throughout the frame. Open aperture of 1.8 renders everything out of focus except for Paulina and this one flower. Beautiful shot overall. Four different compositions in a single field. 13. Outro: And that is a wrap on scenic portraits and locking location potential. I hope this course has given you new eyes for every location you shoot in and the tools to truly bring your portraits to life through light and composition. We'd love to see what you create with what you learned. So don't forget to upload your work to the project gallery. We're excited to follow along and cheer you on. And if the scores made a difference in your photography, we'd be incredibly grateful if you'd leave a review. It helps more photographers like you to discover it. Thank you so much for joining us. Keep exploring, keep creating, and we'll see you out there.