Capturing Beautiful Nature Photos at Boring Locations

If you’ve been on Instagram long enough, you’ve probably come across more than a few beautiful nature photos. I get a little jealous, wishing I could visit those places and capture scenes like that. But, even without the world falling apart, I don’t have the means to travel to those kinds of locations for photography. I shot the beauty of Hudson Valley, NY when I went hiking. And, I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Hawaii.

But, for the past couple of months, I’ve been limited to photographing my neighborhood and local park. They’re both nice but it gets old fast. On top of that, winter landscape without snow is kinda boring. Nature is mostly brown and bare.

How can you take beautiful nature photos of an uninspiring landscape?

I have an entry-level DSLR, the Canon Rebel T5i, as well as a fairly entry-level telephoto lens. Eventually, I plan to upgrade but right now, this equipment does the job.

Leave Early or Late

A beautiful sunrise or sunset can transform even the most boring landscape.

Beautiful winter sunrise photography
300 mm, 1/400 sec, f/10, ISO 1250

Sunrise even makes winter look like autumn.

Beautiful Nature Photo Winter Sunrise
37 mm, 1/60 sec, f/10, ISO 100

The trees aren’t usually that color. Sunrise turned them that nice golden shade.

Same with this one.

Landscape Photograph the colors of winter
33 mm, 1/50 sec, f/10, ISO 1000

Take Macros

You may have woken up to frost on the ground. Get up close to and photograph those pretty crystals. This is a good time to experiment. I’ve never even paid much attention to frost on the ground until I ran out of things to photograph.

macro nature photography
33 mm, 1/50 sec, f/11, ISO 640

I’ve also had fun taking pictures of the ducks in my park. So happy they don’t fly south for the winter. Some days, they’re the only things I photograph.

macro wildlife photography
300 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 160

Look for Shapes

Trees may not have pretty colors but, without leaves, we get a lot of nice shapes. And, if you’re photographing at sunrise or sunset, you’ll get pretty colors as well.

Beautiful Nature Photo of a Brooklyn Winter Tree at Sunrise
18 mm, 1/30 sec, f/11, ISO 125

This one has an interesting shape with a cool mirror effect.

Nature Photo of a Brooklyn Winter Tree
18 mm, 1/30 sec, f/10, ISO 160

Look at Reflections

If you’re fortunate enough to live near any body of water, take reflection shots. They look good any time of the year.

Long exposure nature photography
22 mm, 1.6 sec, f/22, ISO 100

I’ve been using them to practice long exposure shots with my ND filters.

Beautiful Nature Photo At Long Exposure
25 mm, 0.5 sec, f/18, ISO 100

Experiment. This is a good time to try a technique you haven’t mastered. Find your style and have fun.

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