About the author... Who is Ignacio Palacios?

When it comes to photography and travel, few can rival Ignacio Palacios’ experience, skill, and passion. A third-generation photographer, Ignacio has been honoured with over 100 prestigious photography prizes and awards from around the world and has travelled to over 90 countries in his 20 years career. It’s little wonder he’s developed a reputation as a leading photographer in the fields of travel, landscape, and nature photography.

Born in Spain, Ignacio now calls Sydney, Australia home – though his unmistakable Spanish spirit continues to influence his work and define his signature style.

Combining his love of travel and photography has proved a powerful combination, and today Ignacio leads some of the world’s best photography tours to incredible destinations around the world. As an AIPP double Master of Photography, Ignacio shares his insight, experience, and technique with his clients to help them find their own success and joy on their photographic journey.

“I hope that through my images and my tours, I can open people’s eyes to the incredible world we live in. I want to give my guests both travel and photographic experience. We are privileged to have such a beautiful planet and it’s our responsibility to respect, cherish and protect it.”

Ignacio’s distinct, award-winning style can be defined by his mastery of composition, colour, and light. With his minimalistic style and unique ability to connect with his audience through storytelling through his images, Ignacio invites his audience to experience the subject not as how he captured it, but how he experienced it, evoking an emotional connection between the viewer, subject and artist.

Photography and travel will always be Ignacio’s passion, and he is dedicated to helping others ignite their passion too.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

What is covered

A Word From The Author

In this book I will discuss natural light. Light is part of the landscape, while composition is part of the photographer’s artistic and visual perception. Light is the wand in the conductor’s hand. We watch for it, waiting patiently, we follow it and we try to control and respond to it accordingly. Light leads us, and we shoot and move to its rhythm. However, we need to be able to use it effectively by bending it to our advantage and controlling the level of light to gain the best texture, colour vibrancy and luminosity in our imagery.

The quality of light that we choose depends on our subject matter. Traditionally, for landscape imagery, the best light is present in the golden, low angled light, typically found at sunrise and sunset. It is not always possible to capture our imagery at these times so it is wise to take this approach: the best light is the available light that we have at our disposal and we need to learn to work with that light to produce great quality imagery. It’s gratifying when we get the light that we hoped for, but sometimes light doesn’t want to play ball. In fact, as a professional travel and landscape photographer, I find most of the time, light doesn’t play ball at all.

To be able to work with the light we have, we need to understand how to leverage the unique benefits and effects that different types of light have on our subjects. For example, the harsh midday light may not be great for portraits, casting uncomfortable and unwanted shadows on a soft human face but that same harsh light is great for shooting with Infrared Cameras, dramatic subjects like craggy rock faces and to create sharp contrasts. On the other hand, the flat light of a cloudy day allows you to capture and create certain moods that are not possible with bright light. We will explore twelve different aspects of natural light in more detail.