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If you’re anything like me, you probably follow tons of adventure photographers online.

Every day they seem to be posting a new stunning location, accompanied by a vague location tag- “Planet Earth” “Utah” “China” 

It has begun to seem like these photographers are hiding these locations from the general public, keeping them hidden just for themselves. 

Yet, that is really not what is happening at all!

Many times the locations they are sharing took them just a bit (or sometimes a lot) of research online. 

While they may not give away the exact location there are tons of cues you can take to find out where they are! 

So instead of giving you locations I thought I would teach you the ways to research just like the professional adventure photographers do.

This way when you decide to head to a new area, seek out that one shot you have always wanted OR simply want to find the prettiest hike near you, you are armed with all the same tools they are! 

Tool #1 to Find Instagram Worthy Locations: Pinterest! 

Pinterest is my number one tool I use when I am trying to find new and amazing shooting locations in a certain area.

I will simply type into the search “Washington Hikes” and see what comes up! 

From there I can click through to blogs and articles that will give information on how to find the locations they are speaking about. 

If I want to find a specific type of location I will just change my search to something a bit more specific.

Many times through this process you will find a blogger who has covered tons of different locations in one area and you can start to dig through their blog. 

Another tactic on Pinterest is to find “Boards” for specific places, many times, myself included, bloggers will create boards that curate all of the articles and images for a certain location.

This can save you tons of time as they have done all the work for you! All you need to do now is look through and see what catches your eye! 

Below is an example of boards I have made for personal trips as well as inspiration! Click Here to take a look yourself!

Tool #2 to Find Instagram Worthy Locations: Instagram

While “Instagrammers” aren’t giving away their locations anymore I still use it as one of my main platforms to find locations! 

If you took a look at my saved files you would find countless folders simply labeled “Utah” “Montana” etc. Whenever I stumble across an image of a location I would like to go to I save it in its proper folder. That way when I one day get to travel there I already have a folder full of images to be inspired by!

Not only do these images inspire me but they also allow me to know what I should be looking for when I am searching Pinterest or google and allows me to recognize when I have actually found the location.

This gives me a head start on researching and gives me a way to consistently have location inspiration! 

If you don’t know anything about a location you are visiting you can use the search function on instagram to search out hashtags and locations-for instance the location “Washington”. Many times people will include locations in their caption or in their hashtags and you can use this information to inform the rest of your research!

Instagram can also be used to check out what the location is looking like. If you search a location there is an option to go to “recent posts” and check out what people have been posting.

Many times there are even stories from that same day! I will do this with hikes that I want to do so I can check conditions on wildflowers, snow etc. 

 Specific Locations

If there is a specific location that I really want to find I will take cues from other parts of the post- are there location specific hashtags?

Where else has that photographer been in that area recently? Could it be close to there?

Do they have stories from that day or a highlight from their travels that would help me find the general area they were?

I will also take direction from the image itself- is there an obvious landmark?

Many times this process has me feeling like the modern day Sherlock Holmes, it’s actually pretty fun! You just have to find as many clues as you can to narrow down your possibilities and then move on to the next step!

Tool #3 to Find Instagram Worthy Locations: Google 

This is probably the most basic one, but also the one we all easily have access to.

I am always astounded when people get mad at me for not giving away a location when all they need to do to find it is one search on google! 

To use google to its best level I will use specific searches and narrow it down as I get closer and closer to what I am looking for. 

For example if I am trying to find a Fire Lookout that I saw on Instagram I will start by typing: 

“Lookouts in Washington”

From there I will go through the articles and images that will pop up. If I can’t find it from there I will type in “Lookouts near Mt. Rainier” and so on and so on until I have narrowed it down into the top possibilities. 

Once I have a couple names I will type those into Instagram and see what photos come up, this allows me to take a better look at the images and see if they match the location I am searching for. 

(Etsy Banner)

Tool #4 Instagram Worthy Locations: Google Images! 

Another one by Google! If all else fails and you haven’t been able to find the location you are searching for you can actually search “By Image” and google will find images that resemble it. 

Another way to use it this tool is to scope out lighting conditions!

Many spots are what photographers call a “sunrise spot” or “sunset spot” this means that the light will be best in that area at either sunset or sunrise.

Many times the mountains or  valleys only a specific time of day will work because the entire valley or peaks will be in shadow at sunrise or sunset. 

Google images can be a wonderful tool to distinguish what type of lighting spot the location you are going to is. This way you can get a general idea of what conditions you should be aiming for when you head there! 

To do this I will generally just type in “*location* sunrise in *season*” and the same with sunset!

A final way to search for locations via Google images is to simply type in the location you wish to visit into search and start clicking on the ones you find interesting- many times you will be able to find articles linked to the image that contain more information on the where abouts.

This is a great way to begin researching if you have no prior knowledge of the area you are planning to visit.

Tool #5 Instagram Worthy Locations: Google Earth and Google Earth Pro 

Last but not least is Google Earth Pro. Personally, I really enjoy using the downloaded desktop version.

This version allows you to feel like you are operating a video game and can help you search all over the world either through names of locations, latitude and longitude or just by moving around with the mouse! 

I know many landscape photographers who will use this tool to find new perspectives to shoot before they head to the location!

They will simply type in the location and then look to see where it could be a cool perspective by moving the angle of the camera. This is also wonderful for scoping out ridges to climb or different vantage points of a location that is a bit overshot.

You are able to move around in 3D space in this program and by utilizing the compass tool can easily see which way the view you are looking for faces- thus another way of determining sunrise and sunset spots.

Now that you are armed with these tools you should be able to find tons of places to go head out and shoot! 

Happy Searching!

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