The Art of Landscape Photography by Ross Hoddinott & Mark Bauer - On My Bookshelf S05E02
In this episode of On My Bookshelf, I look at The Art of Landscape Photography by Ross Hoddinott and Mark Bauer. Will this book take your landscape photography skills from zero to hero?
Learning Landscape Photography from a Book
YouTube has a rich variety of educational content to suit anything you might want to do with your camera. It is a wonderful place to learn photography. I use YouTube myself to improve my photography skills, and though my channel isn’t focused on photography education, I do still hope that people can still learn something from my videos.
That all said, sometimes the best way to learn something is by using a good old-fashioned book. Getting your education from a book can prove to be a more effective medium than YouTube. If you take the topic of landscape photography composition, which is a broad topic, it can be difficult to find a video, or collection of videos that provide sufficiently broad cover of the subject. Typically, you will only get information on one small topic in each video and unless you know what you don’t know, it can be hard to know what topic to cover next.
A book such as The Art of Landscape Photography will often provide broader coverage of the subject, allowing the reader to consume the information they were looking for, but also highlight areas that they might not have had previously thought about.
I’m not saying that the humble book is the best way to learn photography, but it should feature in the formats of educational content that you do consume.
Now that we have positioned the importance of educational photography books, let’s look at The Art of Landscape Photography to see if it should have a place on your bookshelf.
Book and Author Links
You can purchase your copy of The Art of Landscape Photography here.
You can also get:
From Dawn to Dusk: Mastering the Light in Landscape Photography - https://amzn.to/3GA3jGv
The Landscape Photography Workshop - https://amzn.to/3gu7Gs0
Digital Macro & Close-up Photography: New Edition - https://amzn.to/3rzIeI1
Mark's excellent fotoVUE on Photographing Dorset. *** Use the discount code JULIAN to get 20% off all books if you buy at fotovue.com ***
You can see Ross and Mark's photography on their websites - https://www.rosshoddinott.co.uk/ and https://markbauerphotography.com/
You can also check out their workshops at - https://www.dawn2duskphotography.co.uk/
Beautiful Boscastle
In the blog this week I tell you about my most recent trip to Boscastle, show you the images I took, and share a few tips should you decide to visit this picturesque Cornish coastal village.In the blog this week I tell you about my most recent trip to Boscastle, show you the images I took, and share a few tips should you decide to visit this picturesque Cornish coastal village.
Classic Cornwall
Even if you aren't a photographer there is a lot to love about Boscastle. This picturesque little village in Cornwall is always busy with tourists enjoying the village, wondering along the harbour and ascending the surrounding hills for some fantastic views of the coastline. It has everything you would typically look for in a Cornish fishing village.
The things that make this village a popular tourist spot also make it popular for photographers. From happy mobile phone shooters to those who take their photography a little more seriously there is something for everyone to shoot.
The Photographers View
For me though, I go to shoot the harbour. The entrance of the harbour has dramatic cliffs on either side and the beautiful turquoise water snakes its way into the village to meet the River Valency. There are paths on both sides allowing you to walk the length of the harbour, but for those who have a little more puff in their lungs, there are paths leading up the hills. This is where I like to shoot from.
On this visit to Boscastle, I decided to take the path on the north side of the harbour. The view up there really allows the photographer to make the most of the S-shaped harbour entrance. With the sun setting in a westerly direction I was hoping that the last of the light would illuminate the hillside on the opposite bank with nice evening light. The weather forecast was looking good and with an incoming tide, I was optimistic.
Subtle Changes
After a short ascent to the top of Penally Hill, I just had to stop for a little while and admire the view. It's all too easy to get to your location, unpack your gear, and get shooting, but sometimes you need to pause and take in the scene. Though I have photographed this scene a couple of times now, each visit has been unique and I wanted to walk about a little to see how I might shoot it differently this time. I was hoping to see some Thrift flowering but unfortunately, there wasn't any. Well, you can have everything, can you?
After taking in the view I decided on two compositions, one vertical, one landscape. Both would include the S-shaped harbour entrance and the foreground rocky ledges, but I would shoot the landscape picture closer to sunset and include Meachard island in the composition.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 @ 20mm, f/13, 30 secs, ISO 100, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, Lee Filters 0.6 ND Grad, 4:5 crop.
Though the light isn't fantastic in the above image I do like the composition. To get it right I had to make a number of minor adjustments. If I was too low down, the flow of the harbour water is cut off at the bottom of the frame and if I went too far to the left the curvy pier gets lost behind the foreground rocks. Too far to the right and the headland (Penally Point) on the north side is cut out of the frame and you lose the S shape of the harbour.
I also had a to take into account the foreground rocks which play an important part of leading the viewer out into the rest of the image. Overall, I had to make a lot of small tripod changes to get things just right.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 @ 19mm, f/13, 56 secs, ISO 100, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, Lee Filters 0.0 ND Grad, 4:5 crop.
It was a similar story for the landscape orientation image above but as you can see I then had to take into account the placement of Meachard island. These aren't necessarily difficult compositions to get but you do need to pay attention to where everything is in the frame in order to get the most out this view.
Unfortunately, as you can see by the images, I didn't get the light I was looking for but I never come away from Boscastle feeling like it was a wasted trip. It's a lovely location and even in less than optimal weather conditions you can still get good images. It also makes you work at your composition skills as you try to get all the most interesting elements into your frame.
So if this blog has inspired you to visit Boscastle, here are my three top tips for shooting the view from Penally Hill.
Take a Polariser - The waters of the harbour are a beautiful turquoise colour and using a polariser will help you take the glare of the water and emphasise those colours.
Explore the Hill - There are a number of compositions to be had up on Penally Hill. Try shooting up into the harbour and village as well.
Thrift - If you can time your visit, try and go there when the Thrift is flowering. There isn't a lot of it up there, but adding it when it is can really add something to a composition.
If you want to see how I went about shooting these images, check out my latest 5 Minute Photo Adventure video on Boscastle.
I'm going to try and get back to Boscastle again soon. I've been a few times but never managed to truly capture in the way that I would like. I have a number of compositions I like from Penally Hill but so far I have always missed out on some great light. As with Colmer's Hill and Bowerman's Nose, I will just have to persevere until I get an image that meets my vision!
So have you photographed Boscastle before? What viewpoints do you shoot there? Let me know in the comments below.
Finding a Gem in My Back Catalogue
In this blog post I talk about the value of looking back at your catalogue of images and how you might just find a little gem in there.
Super Dad 1, Photography 0
As I mentioned in last weeks blog post the winter months are playing havoc with my ability to get out and take pictures. However, last weekend it wasn't the weather or the short days that stopped me getting out with the camera. My wife was away for a well deserved break so I was left holding the fort with the kids. So unless you count some family snapshots as photography it was a shutter free weekend.
Competition Time
Not one to let the lack of camera action stop me from scratching my photography itch I decided I would get together my entries for this year's South West Coast Path photography competition. This is my first year entering this competition and it looks like a good place to hopefully show case one of my images. It's also good to see that they have respected landscape photographer Adam Burton on the judging panel.
The Power of the Catalogue
Fortunately a lot of my photography takes place along the South West Coast Path so I had a good range of images to work from. It was also really easy to find them. I'm a Lightroom user and I like to keyword my images. I don't keyword all my images on import, but any image that I complete editing on gets a full set of keywords. So when it came to finding all my 4 and 5 star images taken on the South West Coast Path it was a matter of just creating a dynamic collection and there they all were.
Creating a dynamic collection allowed me to find all my images from the South West Coast Path.
Finding A Gem
Winning images from the competition will be published in the South West Coast Path 2018 calendar and while the rules didn't preclude the inclusion of vertical orientation images I thought I'd stick with horizontal orientation. The slight problem was that I had a series of images from Trevose Head that I had taken earlier in the year and while I was very happy with them, they were all of vertical orientation.
I had a couple of options. I could either submit a vertical orientation image or bypass my Trevose Head images all together. I knew I would have taken images in both orientations so I right clicked the one the Trevose Head images and selected the collection it was in. (I add each photo shoot to it's own collection so it was easy to find).
Almost immediately I found what I was looking for. Best of all though the image had been mostly processed to completion. It only needed a bit of dodging and burning in the sky and it was ready to go. At the time I must have done a basic edit on it and then ditched it in favour of the vertical version. With a few clicks I had a new image and the competition entry I was looking for.
This is the image I found in my catalogue and have now entered into the competition.
Check Your Catalogue
Finding this image has made me think about what other images I might have lurking in the depths of my Lightroom catalogue. How many other images were culled during the editing phase in favour of a different composition?
What about you? Do you have a back catalogue of images with some hidden gems? Do you process your images straight away or leave them for a bit and come back to them at a later date? If you cull an image is it culled forever? Let me know in the comments.
1 Location, 2 Cameras, 3 Photographers and Force 4 Wind
In this blog post I write about a recent trip to The Valley of the Rocks where I nervously flew my drone in strong winds and shared a cliff top perch with two other photographers to photograph Ragged Jack.
Last of the Midweek Shoots
Autumn is open us and though the amazing autumnal colours haven't reached their peak yet in Devon, the nights are closing in rapidly. During the spring and summer months my photography benefits greatly from the long evenings. Photography during the week becomes practical as I can grab my camera and head out straight after work and travel all over Devon and Cornwall and still make sunset.
Over the last few weeks though that window of opportunity has been shrinking and my ability to travel long distances before sunset reduced. So when I was looking at my location map and decided to go to The Valley of the Rocks, I knew this could be one of the last of my longer mid-week trips for a while.
1 Location, 2 Cameras
With my one location locked in for the evening I got to checking out the conditions and planning my shoot locations (see my blog post on Planning). On my last visit to The Valley of the Rocks I took some time to have a walk about to see if I was missing anything. (Check out my blog post on Location Scouting to read why I do this). Well, I was glad I did as I discovered a whole new aspect to The Valley of the Rocks and was inspired with some new ideas!
My plan was to not only take out the big guns (Nikon D750) but to also take out my DJI Phantom 3 4K so that I could get some aerial shots of the dramatic coastline and rock formations. I've recently been discovering the joys of drone photography and I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to do some more work in that area (see blog post on Drone Photography). My plan was to shoot with the drone while the light was good, and then switch to the DSLR for last night. So with my one location locked in and my two camera's packed I set of for the north coast of Devon.
Force 4 Wind
The drive to my location wasn't exactly inspiring as the rain continued to come down and as I reached some of the higher parts of the route the fast moving cloud got lower and lower. However, I had checked the weather forecast and it had promised to clear up around sunset so I was remaining optimistic. By the time I had got there things had much improved so with a sense of excitement I got to my first spot and got the drone out.
It was at this point that I did get a little nervous. If anyone has been to the north Devon coast will testify it can get a little windy. I've had to extend my planning routine recently to take into account flying the drone, particularly along the coast. I now check the coastal weather forecast to see how strong the wind will be. The drone does have a maximum horizontal speed and flying in wind speeds that exceed that could see my drone drift out to sea!
I had done a number of calculations and worked out that I could safely fly it in the predicated conditions of a force 4 wind. However, what is OK on paper may not actually be OK in real life. So while perched on a cliff side with a very long drop I cautiously started up the drone. Hovering at 1.5m I could see the drone working hard to stay in one place. Putting caution to the wind (excuse the pun), I decided to fly it away from the cliff side as I thought it might be a bit less blustery. Though the drone was still working hard, it had settled down a bit and my confidence grew. I still had a worry that it was going to get caught by a gust of wind and go out to see or crash into a cliff, but I was feeling bold (or daft) and managed to capture some dramatic images.
3 Photographers
After about 45 minutes with the drone I had got the images I had come for. Well, most of them anyway. There were a few shots of some rock arches that I wanted but I really wasn't brave enough to get them given the conditions! So with sunset approaching rapidly I headed off to a spot that I had noticed earlier with the plan of shooting Ragged Jack with my DSLR. As it was a Tuesday evening in late September I thought I might have the place to myself but as I turned the corner I found another photographer setting up on the cliff side.
The spot we had both picked to shot was relatively small but Steve (the other photographer), kindly let me share it and we got chatting. It was the normal stuff, gear, technique, processing, but all very enjoyable! Just as we got shooting another photographer turned up. So two became three and we all waited for that magical sunset moment….which to be honest never actually happened. I took a handful of frames trying different combinations of filters but sometimes the conditions just aren't quite right. The third photographer soon walked on and I continued to enjoy my chat with Steve. We both continued to take a few frames but soon we were packing up also.
Time Well Spent
Though my final image taken with my DSLR isn't one for the portfolio I still count my trip to The Valley of the Rocks as a success. Firstly I managed to capture some nice images of the location with the drone. I really like the extra dimension that the drone has brought to my photography. I try and take the same approach to composition with the drone as I do with the DSLR, but this doesn't always work so I'm still learning how to compose when shooting at 200 ft!
It's also good to just get out and practice the art of photography (see my blog post on Practicing). Sure the conditions didn't turn out to be perfect but just getting out with the camera is always a pleasure.
It is the unexpected that can also make these trips worthwhile. It was great to meet and chat to a fellow photographer. Landscape photography can be a solitary pastime, and while I greatly value the solitude, it's also great to meet people, especially other photographers.
So overall it was time well spent. Any time with the camera is time well spent! I might still squeeze in a couple of mid-week evening shoots but I'm already starting to plan out my dawn shoot locations for the next few months. During autumn and winter my opportunities for photography are limited to weekends and sunrise shoots minimise any impact to my family commitments. But do you know what, I kind of like those cold mornings perched on top of a tor on Dartmoor, freezing cold, drinking coffee, waiting for the sun to rise and bath the world in light.
The Benefits of Tuition and Mentoring
Tuition and mentoring has had a massive impact on my photography. Read more about this part of my photographic journey in this blog post.
In the beginning...
One of my early landscape images taken in Glen Coe in 2008.
I bought my first DSLR in 2006 when I purchased a Nikon D80. Previous to that I had a Minolta DiMAGE A1 so this was a big step up for me. It was at this point that I started to want to learn more about the craft of photography. So as many people do I went to my the nearest newsagent and picked up a photography magazine. And so started a journey of several years of reading a lot about photography.
The problem was I wasn't actually taking that many pictures. Sure I was inspired by what I was reading and saw, but despite having considerably more free time back then I didn't practice the craft of photography as much. (Read my blog post on Practicing the Craft of Photography). I also wasn't that focused on a specific genre of photography. Most photography magazines have a broad range of articles from portraits to macro so I would often spend time trying these things out. Don't get me wrong, I did go out with my camera, but looking back I don't think I was trying hard enough to really learn about photography.
Changing My Approach
This changed back in 2013, when I decided to go full frame and buy a Nikon D600. I promised myself that if I was going to invest all this money in a camera (and lenses!) I was for sure going to learn how to improve my photography. By this stage though I was fairly sure that my heart lay with landscape photography.
Some early lessons about composition with David Nightingale.
I decided that the best way to make progress was to actually go out and shoot more, and to engage the services of a professional for some 1-2-1 tuition. At the time I was following the work of Blackpool based photographer David Nightingale and so I booked a whole weekend of tuition and got to work on improving my photography. The weekend went well and it was a bit of an eye opener for me. Firstly, I actually didn't know as much about my camera as I thought. While I knew some of my composition skills were lacking, I thought I knew my camera well but this wasn't really the case! It all goes back to practicing the art of photography, something I hadn't been very good at!
Up till this point I had wondered if it were actually possible to teach someone about composition and how to make a beautiful photograph. As many of my previous photographs had been average at best, I was beginning to think that you couldn't really learn an art, you had to have a natural talent for it to start with. While many people do find creating art easy, for me I had to learn about it. Fortunately David reassured me that I could learn the art of photography. So for that reason alone that weekend was a success.
Making Progress
A year later I had kept to my promise of going out more with my camera. I was still bound by my work and family commitments but I was at least using my spare time to go out and shoot. In 2014 I went on a Dawn 2 Dusk Photography workshop on Dartmoor where not only did I have a lot of fun with some like minded photographers but I also learnt a considerable amount about landscape photography. On the workshop I also met Ross Hoddinott, one of the tutors. I had been looking for a local tutor to help with my learning journey and Ross seemed the ideal person.
Learning about timing and waiting for the light on a 1-2-1 with Ross.
A few months later I met Ross for a 1-2-1 session and in that one day I probably learnt more about composition that I had done since I purchased my first DSLR 2006. Not only did I become inspired from that session but I also became more confident with my photography. Since that first 1-2-1 session with Ross I have regularly met with Ross for further 1-2-1s and portfolio reviews and this has had a significant impact on my photography. Each session I learn something new. Sometimes it's a really small change in how I might compose an image, but it often has a big impact.
So this brings me to the point of this blog post. If you are struggling with your photography or you've reached a plateau then I can strongly recommend that you find a tutor or mentor to help with your photography. Find someone close to home or who's work you respect. Most photographers offer some kind of tuition on a 1-2-1 basis now. Or if that seems a little much as a first step try a photography workshop such as those offered by Dawn 2 Dusk Photography.
We spend so much money on gear (something I'm definitely guilty off) but the one thing that has had the biggest impact on my photography is the time I've spent with a professional photographer. No matter what stage you are at with your photography journey I believe a little mentoring and tuition can be very beneficial. Of course I still read photography magazines, Outdoor Photography being my personal favourite, but when it comes to developing as a photographer 1-2-1s for me are invaluable.
Do you have a photography mentor or favourite tutor? What do you think of 1-2-1 days with professional photographers? Let me know your thoughts.