Leaving things to chance isn’t something that photographer Albert Dros likes to do, especially when it comes to lighting. “I plan everything. When will I get the best light? When is the sun coming up and going down? What is the weather like? If I am shooting reflections, I even find out what the wind speed and direction will be. I know the scene that I am going to photograph before I even arrive.” 

It’s this meticulous attention to detail that transforms the incredible landscapes in Albert’s images. His eye for composition and colour was honed from his past as a graphic designer. 

It was in this environment that Albert fell in love with shooting landscape images. “I have found that I can bring many elements of my design background into my landscape photography. From the basic rules of composition and using lines, to the way the light can enhance colour and contrast. There is so much to play with.”

The planning that goes into Albert’s images is designed to give him the best possible chance of walking away with a great image. Like all landscape photographers however, Albert is still at the mercy of the weather.

“Planning according to the weather is very difficult, especially in the Netherlands. I look at all the predictions – the high clouds, the low clouds, the wind direction. Of course, it doesn’t always work out and shots still fail, but I really like to explore. I will sometimes go out somewhere and just see what happens. Often, I have a place where I have planned to go and capture an image, but I will end up coming home with another shot that I didn’t expect to take.”

Albert uses only a handful of lenses, mostly the FE 12-24mm f/4 G lens, alongside his camera to help him to capture the perfect wide-angle landscape shots. He explains: “I really love the wide perspectives that I can capture and I can be extremely creative with it. At 12mm you get this different perspective that not many people shoot.” An exception to this is when he is hiking in mountains and hills, in which case he will bring along his FE 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G lens because of its light zoom, giving his images a new perspective.

Albert was hiking and used this lens when he captured this spectacular image, a solitary sunlit mountain peak. 

“I still remember the moment I was shooting in the mountains. At sunrise and sunset, you get this kind of afterglow, as although the sun is below the horizon, the peaks of the mountains are still tall enough to be lit. When you live in the mountains you know this, but I live in the Netherlands, which is a really flat country, so for me it was a huge learning experience. You often get the best light 30 minutes before or after the sun rises or sets as you get these crazy colours. When you look at the scene you don’t always see it, they aren’t as strong, but with the camera you can expose for longer and really draw them out.”