10 Tips for Capturing Stunning Springtime Nature Photography
Capture stunning springtime nature photography with engaging tips for showcasing landscapes, colorful blooms, details, golden hour shots, movement, duality & more!
Let’s be honest, in Montana, spring takes its sweet time. Sometimes, we get a feel for it in March for a few hours. Some years, spring comes in April for a few days, and we hope so strongly that it just stays. We power through till May, when spring-like days make a regular appearance, but so does the white stuff. Yes, we may be OVER the white stuff come April or May or even in June, but to a photographer IT’S ALL DREAMY!
If you’re a unique type of person who enjoys the winter season (like me, in moderation), then you’ll love this Winter Photography Tips post with even more great photography tips to try out.
So go, dust off your old DSLR camera or a phone, place them in your pocket, go through these springtime photography tips, then get out there and photograph!
Springtime Photography Tip #1
Showcase the big picture
Hold your camera or phone in a landscape mode, use a higher aperture number (f8-f16), and showcase the vista! Don’t forget to include a subject in your photo and keep it away from the center. Extra points if your subject has a striking color/shape/details that help to separate it from the background.
Post processing tip: Blur around your subject to help eliminate distractions or help it stand out even further. It also has a miniature effect.
I love how just for a moment the sun came out in the middle of this forest. A vignette in post-processing helped to emphasize the light/darks contrast.
Springtime Photography Tip #2
Capture the Colors of Spring
Spring can be very colorful in a lot of parts of the world. We used to live in South Korea for 14 years, and each spring brought the ephemeral beauty of Cherry Blossoms. They lasted for maybe 7 to 10 days, so enjoying and capturing them was a frenzy at the end of March and the beginning of April. Montana, on the other hand, is colorful in its own ways. Think Arrowleaf Balsamroot blooms, Yellow Avalanche Lilly, Fireweed, and other wildflowers are always a pleasant surprise to discover here on the mountain or while on a hike. Then, grab your family members, request they wear complementary colors to your scene, set up your tripod, timer, and strike a pose!
Visit The Hohnstead and allow me to photograph your family with cabin vibes, forest-core concept.
Springtime Photography Tip #3
Focus on details
Try to place your viewer in your shoes. Is it muddy? Photograph your filthy hiking boots! Is it raining? Grab a photo of rain against the window, creating abstract designs of the reflections. Capture your wet dog doing the shake, or his muddy paws in the puddle/mud. Do you find yourself in the garden getting your hands dirty for the first time this year? Photograph those filthy fingernails or an action shot of your hands holding the soil with a tiny seedling. Discover and capture unearthed details of the forest as the snow has a tendency to reveal new rocks, pine cones, squirrel holes, new plants, or new buds on trees. Moss on logs and on trees can also look extra vibrant during this time of the year.
Springtime Photography Tip #4
Photograph during The Golden Hour
Use an app like PhotoPills to know when the sun’s glow is golden or more blue (Blue Hour). There are actually two times during the day when you can capture both hours - in early morning or in the evening. I prefer the evening since I like sleeping in :)
Why shoot during these times? Because the sun’s quality is pretty harsh otherwise, and the contrast between the lights and the shadows is greater. I know a local photographer who shoots exclusively during the Golden Hour, so her entire feed is one warm, glowy dreamscape. Look up Aleks @fotographed_
A rare sight here in the forest, but when you came across a view like this, you just have to run for your camera to preserve this perfect moment in time.
Springtime Photography Tip #5
Capture the movement of spring
If you’re near wildlife, spring is a great time to photograph animals in motion, whether they’re migrating birds or baby animals frolicking in fields. Capture flowers swaying in the wind for a sense of movement. A slightly longer exposure (1/60 or 1/30) will blur the flowers a bit, giving them a soft, dynamic feel. If you’ve got willing participants, you can also photograph people doing something active:
Morning Coffee: A guest relaxing with coffee on the deck, with spring greenery in the background.
Exploration: People walking down a trail or through a field, engaging with the natural beauty around them.
Activities: A picnic, outdoor cooking, or stargazing — these moments feel very “spring” and can evoke the joy of the season.
Last week’s email newsletter from The Hohnstead featured a fun story of how I was lucky enough to capture two stags fighting in the woods.
Springtime Photography Tip #6
Photograph the duality
Springtime is the time of contrasts, and if you’ve done your homework in winter, you should have an image or two that you can create in order to showcase the before (wintertime) and after (springtime). For us, here in Montana, winter returned on April 17 with about three inches of snow, so photographing (and being very nervous about losing them to frost) spring flowers in my garden became my duality shot. Then I walked over to our cabins (aka our girls) and loved how cozy they looked, enveloped in the layer of snow, almost like in a hug.
Love the idea of glamping in a cute A-frame in the woods? Check out our self-built, pet-friendly cabins in Bonner, Montana, where you can stargaze, unplug, soak in a hot tub, and complete a guest-favorite Scavenger Hunt.
“Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment.”
Springtime Photography Tip #7
Start a passion project
I love photography passion projects! Seven years ago, I did “33 Selfies Before my 33rd Birthday.” It was so much fun to plan, research, and create the different looks, which later became a photo book. A few years later, I did another photography passion project, featuring a crystal ball as the main subject. Taking it with me practically everywhere I went, I’m still in awe of the various creative photographs I was able to come up with.
A new photo project COULD BE in the works, haha, because without much planning, I’ve been capturing various critters and birds on THE SAME decorative rock in my garden. This rock is a total vibe!
Springtime Photography Tip #8
Photograph your daily chores/life
A photography passion project can be time-consuming, and even coming up with one can be quite a commitment to a single idea. Let’s not create any more stress in our lives and remember to treat photography as a fun and playful hobby. It can be quite unusual for you to start documenting your typical chores with a camera, but that’s where the magic of thinking creatively and outside the box starts. You want to start looking at the world from a camera perspective, think of angles you’d assume while photographing, the camera’s or phone’s settings can also play a role in how you capture your day-to-day.
Recently, Garrett and I needed to burn some piles of brush and trees, which normally get chopped down in the fall. Springtime is the perfect, wet and rainy time to burn these piles. Normally a very physical job with continuing to move branches and stumps onto piles, but bringing a camera along made it more fun (and more physically demanding, actually haha). My back had a lot to say that day, but for me, creating visually striking images, letting my brain play and use its creative muscles, is why I’ve been loving photography for the past 15+ years.
Springtime Photography Tip #9
Combine the tips
You can really unlock some creativity and thinking outside of the box if you combine the tips. Don’t go out to photograph, searching for the ONE THING like action or detailed shots of flowers, but be open to a lot of scenarios. In the above impromptu shoot, I wanted to document Garrett actively working on the burning piles. Once the fire started to grow and the coals became more obvious, I ran back into the house to grab my 300mm zoom lens, which allowed me to photograph the details without getting too close to the fire itself. You can probably feel the heat coming off these photos and I was being very careful avoiding squirrel holes in the ground and other obstacles.
As the fires subsided, I was able to see the smoke rise against the dark trees in the background and was able to create and abstract image like the one below.
Abstract combination of fire, smoke, and fire embers.
Springtime Photography Tip #10
Post-Processing
I love using Snapseed after I import my images from my Fuji camera to my phone via the Fuji App and Bluetooth (so convenient). The photos get automatically resized during the import, which saves me space. After editing, all the edited images end up in their own Snapseed folder, and I know exactly where the edited ones sit, so I can delete the other import folder to save on space.
Enhance Colors: Boost the vibrancy of greens and florals in post-processing, but avoid overdoing it — you want the images to feel natural. In Snapseed, go to Tools, Tune Image, then Saturation or Ambiance.
Play with Warmth: Adjust the white balance to add a bit of warmth to your images, especially if you want to enhance the golden-hour glow. In Snapseed, go to Tools, Tune Image, then Warmth.
Dig out the Details: Using the Details tab, then increase Structure a bit and Sharpening a bit, and watch the details pop.
Spring is the perfect time to get outside and capture the beauty around you. With golden light, vibrant flowers, and fresh green landscapes (even the occasional snow), there’s no shortage of photo opportunities. Whether you're photographing a cozy glamping cabin, the little details in nature, or candid moments of your family enjoying the season, the possibilities are endless.
So grab your camera, embrace the season's charm, and let your creativity bloom🌸📸
