Bite-Size Blog Post #31 - Haytor - Dartmoor National Park
In my blog this week I start to tell you the story of my goal to capture a compelling photograph of the heather on Dartmoor.
In Search of Heather
I recently wrote about the frustrations and challenges I have with photographing the thrift on the Cornish coast. It can be such a small window of opportunity to photograph it at its best and because life has a habit of getting in the way of important things like photography, I sometimes miss out.
I often tell myself not to bother with photographing these brief seasonal events. It only leads to frustration! But with that kind of attitude, I’d never capture anything interesting so here I am again, just this time with the heather!
By the time you read this, heather season will be well and truly over, but over the next few weeks here on the blog, I will share my photography adventures as I search for a compelling photograph of heather. Hopefully, I won’t run out of time and the weather gods will be good to me before heather season is over.
Heather at Haytor
Heather is widespread across Dartmoor National Park, but there are areas such as Haytor which turn purple in August. Arriving early August, I had low expectations that I would see fields of purple heather and I wasn’t exactly wrong. There were patches of heather but not enough to make an interesting photograph.
Haytor Heather (Lowman's Rock), Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 22mm, f/13, 1/3 sec at ISO 64.
I was a little too early in the heather season, but as it was such a pleasant evening I took the opportunity to go for a walk. There are few things better than taking a long walk around the Haytor area on a summers evening. It was a wonderful opportunity to clear my head and relax a little bit. Sometimes a good evening isn’t defined by how good the photography was.
As it turned out though, when I returned to the car and looked onto Haytor (Lowman’s Rock), it was beautiful lit by the setting sun, so I quickly grabbed a photograph. It might not feature any heather, but I’m still pleased with the image, and even more pleased that I spent time on Dartmoor.
Haytor at Sunset (Lowman's Rock), Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 51mm, f/11, 1/4 sec at ISO 64.
Love the Outdoors First
You have to love the outdoors to enjoy landscape photography. Especially if you want to survive a cold and windy morning on Dartmoor!
Dawn on Dartmoor
I rarely go out on shoot without at least half a plan. At a minimum I will check the weather so I’ve got a chance of getting some favourable conditions. Yesterday morning was different though. I needed to go out to a specific location before the end of August, and given Saturday was the 31st of August, I had little choice but to go. I therefore decided that there seemed little point in checking the weather as it wouldn’t impact my decision to go.
One thing that was supposed to impact my morning was the proposed roadworks on the A38. As they would be in place until 6 am I had to plan a minor detour which would add about 15 minutes to my journey. As it turned out there was no sign of the roadworks when I got to Haldon Hill so I was able to get to Dartmoor using my normal route. This did mean I turned up a little earlier than planned. The good news was that my friend and fellow photographer Andy Hobbs was already there.
Another One of Those Mornings
As always it was really good to be out with Andy. Sometimes it’s good to have company while your standing in the wind on some dark Dartmoor location first thing in the morning. We had both assessed the weather when we left our respective homes and things looked good. By the time we were on Dartmoor things were a little different. There was a fair amount of heavy cloud about. However, experience has certainly taught me that the weather can change quickly on Dartmoor. Not always for the best though!
I do like to stay positive and for a short while I thought my positive thoughts might pay off. Through the breaks in the heavy low-level cloud I could see a glorious sky above, full of blue sky and pink clouds. As we stood there scoping out various compositions we just kept hoping that the cloud would break in the right areas to give us a photograph.
However, as is normally the way (or it at least feels that way sometimes), that break in the cloud never transpired. There was a lovely, but very small and brief break in the cloud near Haytor which gave us a tantalising glimpse of what could be.
Haytor on Fire, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 70 mm, f/11, 1/10th sec at ISO 800.
As the morning progressed it soon became apparent that we had missed the best of the morning light.
Looking at the Positives
From a photographic point of view this is of course a bit of a disappointment. No one likes getting up at 4:30 am (or 3:30 am in Andy’s case) but for me at least, those early starts aren’t driven just by the desire to capture images. I have a real passion for the outdoors and even in windy and cloudy conditions, there aren’t many things better than watching a new day start from the hills of Dartmoor.
Houndtor, Greator Rocks and Holwell Tor Panorama, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 70 mm, f/8, 1/40th sec at ISO 64, 8 image panoramic cropped to 6:17.
The morning was also made better by having Andy there for company. It was great to have someone to chat to about life, cameras and to obviously complain about the weather. And the best bit about the morning? The full cooked breakfast we had at Tinpickle And Rhum. It comes highly recommended!
As we ate our breakfast and discussed the morning we both agreed that to really enjoy landscape photography you have to love the outdoors first.
Rippon Tor
The weather conditions on Dartmoor can change rapidly so sometimes it's worth hanging about to see if things improve. In the blog this week you can find out if my patience was rewarded when I recently visited Rippon Tor to capture some landscape images.
Big Blue Skies
The weather recently has been a bit of a mixed bag. Some days it's been grey, overcast and frankly a bit miserable. Not that you can't do landscape photography in bad weather, but it can limit your options. At the opposite end of the weather scale is the clear blue sky days. This type of weather is rather pleasant in the winter, but I don't find it inspires my landscape photography.
As I was checking the local forecast on my favourite weather service one evening all I could see was clear blue skies for the following day. It certainly didn't look like optimal conditions for a bit of landscape photography but I'm not one to pass up an opportunity to get out with my D850. As the weather forecast was largely the same for South West as a whole, I decided there was little point in travelling any further than my local area. But where could I go? Dartmoor of course!
Rippon Tor, Dartmoor
My preference when shooting the open moorland of Dartmoor is to have interesting skies. As this was not going to be the case for this shoot, I decided I would get myself to an elevated position. One of the closest high points for me is Rippon Tor at 473m. While definitely not the highest point on Dartmoor, it still offers impressive views of the Haytor area. Even though clear skies were forecast, the elevated viewpoint can help you take advantage of any distance haze in the sky. This can light up nicely in the right conditions and provide some nice interest in the sky when shooting with a long lens.
When I woke the following morning and left the house I could see clear skies and the stars above so it was looking like the forecast was going to be fairly accurate. As I headed up to Dartmoor things started to look very different. By the time I'd reached the car park for Rippon Tor, things looked very cloudy indeed!
It was pretty windy at the top of Rippon Tor, but that was to be expected. What wasn't expected was the amount of cloud. It was that fast moving type of cloud that always looks like it's about to clear but never seems to. Things didn't look much clearer down towards the coast where the sun was going to rise. Not one to be put off I thought it was worth hanging about to see if things would improve.
Just 5 Minutes More
Your enthusiasm can wear off quickly when it's cold and windy on Dartmoor. As the time for sunrise passed and it didn't look like things were going to improve, I was ready to give up and head home for a coffee. No sooner had I zipped up my bag though, the sky started to clear and the sun peaked up over the cloud and started bathing the scene in the soft morning light. I quickly unpacked the camera and took this shot.
Dawn on Rippon Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 29 mm, f/11, 1/4 second at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
In retrospect, I didn't really take enough time to arrange my composition. I think the image would have worked a little better with a slightly more elevated view of the foreground. However, time was very much against me. Though the sun had just risen above the cloud, sunrise itself was a good 15 minutes earlier, and so the light was already getting harsher. I had to work fast to make the most of that lovely morning light on the side of the tor and on the undulations of the ground.
Now that I was back in the mood for taking some landscape photographs I decided I would capture a panorama. On a recent trip Fingle Bridge I met up with fellow landscape photographer Neil Porter and he recommended to me a relatively inexpensive levelling head. This great bit of kit would greatly simplify the process of levelling my camera in preparation for capturing a panoramic image.
The View from Rippon Tor (Panorama), Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 52 mm, f/11, 1/10th second at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, 9 image stitch cropped at 6:17.
Shortly after capturing that image the weather conditions had improved markedly and in need of a cup of coffee, I decided that I'd had the best of the morning light. As I walked down from the tor I kept thinking about how upset I would have been with myself if I'd been in the car driving home only to see the conditions improve from the road. I was lucky that I hadn't packed up 10 minutes earlier!
How long do you wait before you give up waiting for the weather to change? Has your patience paid off and you've captured an amazing image? Let me know in the comments below.
From Dartmoor to Dawlish
In the blog this week, I head to Dartmoor to shoot sunset, and then the following day head to Dawlish Warren to shoot sunrise.
A Good Time of Year
Late September is a good time for landscape photography. Sunset isn’t too late, and sunrise isn’t too early. This means I can do both back to back without feeling like it just killed me. I still remember back in July this year when I photographed Daymark tower for sunset and then Start Point for sunrise. While I had a lot of fun with the friends that joined me, the late finish and very early start just about killed me.
When some welcome settled weather came in recently, I thought I would maximise my shooting opportunities and go out and photograph both sunset and sunrise. But where would I go?
Dusk at Dartmoor
As is normally the way, I was, of course a little short of time so I had to go somewhere local. Fortunately for me, I live near Dartmoor so I’m a little spoilt for locations on my doorstep. Though the weather was settled, it was looking like there would be little in the way of cloud.
I had a number of ideas of what to shoot including the view from Rippon Tor and Honeybag Tor, but the conditions just weren’t going to be right for those elevated viewpoints. I remembered that Haytor Rocks often gets the evening light so I decided to photograph it from Saddle Tor. By photographing from Saddle Tor I could position Haytor Rocks above the horizon and into the only real interesting part of the sky that evening.
Haytor Rocks at Dusk, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 62 mm, 1/3 sec at ISO 64, f/11. Lee Filters ND Grad, single image crop at 6:17.
The image I took is actually a panoramic crop from a single frame. My original composition had Haytor in the lower third of the frame with the rest of the frame being taken up by the sky. My original “big sky” shot might have worked a little better if there had been a bit more interest in the sky, but the lower band of haze in the sky was the only area to get colour. As it turned out, I rather like the panoramic crop so can be reasonably happy with the final output.
Dawn at Dawlish Warren
The morning weather forecast for the following day looked to have a bit more cloud so I decided to head to one of my favourite locations, Dawlish Warren. I tend not to visit Dawlish Warren during the summer months but now sunrise isn’t so early I decided it was time to visit my old friend.
Shooting at dawn is one of my favourite times of the day. There is a sense of excitement as the sun starts to rise and deliver some of its magical morning light. On this morning though, that display of golden light probably wasn’t going to happen. You can plan all you like, check tides, and look at weather forecasts, but if a bank of cloud happens to position itself in the wrong location, all that amazing light you were looking for can be lost.
It’s important to remember though that good morning light can occur 30 minutes before and after sunrise. Even though I didn’t get the best of the light as the sun approached the horizon, I’m glad I stuck around to capture this long exposure.
Into the Sea, Dawlish Warren, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 48 mm, 339 seconds at ISO 64, f/11. Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad,
While this image was captured after sunrise, the long exposure helps capture what light there was and the calmness of the ocean that morning.
It’s always fascinating to see how other photographers interpret the same scene so I was really interested to see how Neil Burnell, who was with me that morning, shot the same scene. Check out his Instagram post to see his take on the beach that morning.
What is your favourite time of day to shoot? Do you use techniques like ICM or long exposures to create a sense of mood? Let me know in the comments below.
Unexpected Creativity from a Dreary Dartmoor
Sometimes landscape photography can be hard and this was certainly true of my most recent visit to Dartmoor in Devon. However, even when you are feeling creatively challenged, inspiration can appear to come from nowhere. Read on to learn how I got inspired on that dull, grey evening on Dartmoor!
A Quick Happy Birthday
Just before I tell you about my Dartmoor adventure, I just want to announce that this post comes on the day that this very blog celebrates its 2nd birthday! Two years ago today I decided to start documenting my photographic adventures.
As with any creative process, the writing has sometimes been easy and sometimes it's been hard. However, most of all it has been fun and its really helped me with my photography. I wrote a lot about the benefits last year when I wrote a post about the blog's first birthday.
Over the last 24 months, I've written a new blog post every week, and I see no reason why this won't continue into the future. Thanks to all the support and comments I get from everyone on this blog, and other social media channels, I feel inspired and motivated to keep this blog going. So thanks to everyone who has and continues to show support of my work. It is very much appreciated.
And now….
Landscape Photography is Hard
I love landscape photography. I have a real passion for it and there are few things as good as heading out into the wilderness with the camera to capture some landscape photographs. Sometimes the process of capturing those photographs is hard. The weather can be challenging or you can simply lack the imagination or creative energy to produce a good photograph.
For me, there is an additional factor that makes landscape photography hard, and that is time. I think most photographers, pro or amateur, suffer at the hands of the old enemy of time. The amount of time I can commit to my art is limited and more often than not I have to go out when the conditions aren't ideal.
Devon's Dreary Dartmoor
My most recent to Dartmoor is a great example of when I decided to head out with the camera when really I should have stayed at home. The weather forecast for most of the south-west was overcast and rain showers. The trouble was that if I didn't out that evening, it was going to be several days before my next window of opportunity and I had a real need to scratch that creative itch.
I wanted to go and shoot somewhere on the Cornish coast but I saw little point in committing to 3 to 4 hours of driving with the predicted weather conditions. I thought the best thing to do was to keep in local and head up to Dartmoor. The weather forecast for Haytor was looking poor, but it did predict a small break in the clouds that might yield some nice results. To be honest, I think I was being rather optimistic but I grabbed my camera and went out anyway.
Finding Something Out of Nothing
As I drove up the hill from Bovey Tracey to Haytor, things did not look great. While the clouds were at least above the hills, it all looked rather uninspiring. I decided to drive a little further on and park up for Emsworthy Tor.
As I wasn't in a particular hurry I decided to make the walk to Emsworthy Tor at a slower pace. As I walked I made sure I took the time to look for compositions. Occasionally I would hold my eye up to the camera to see what an image would look like, but nothing seemed to capture my imagination.
When I reached Emsworthy Tor I just stood there and wondered why on earth I even bothered coming out. Don't get me wrong. I love Dartmoor. It can look spectacular in many different ways, and it's rare that I can't find something to appreciate. The view in front of me was indeed impressive but that doesn't mean it was going to translate into a good photograph.
It soon dawned on me that the viewpoint I wanted to photograph wasn't going to work in these conditions. As I sat there looking at the great expanse that is Dartmoor, I thought about going home. In the distance was a large dark cloud that was sure to bring a heavy shower. Perhaps it was time for an early exit and a glass of wine.
Just as I was about to pack up and go I had a moment of inspiration. As I looked east there was a small break in the cloud, and from the north was that stormy looking cloud. I know from previous experience that approaching storm clouds can look dramatic when shot with a wide angle lens. So I quickly got the camera out and shot this image:
Approaching Storm on Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, 0.5 seconds at ISO 64, f/11, Lee Filters ND Grad.
I had to work fast to get the image because the cloud was rolling in fast. While the image would have greatly benefited from some scattered light on the distant tors, it does show Dartmoor as it was that evening, and perhaps reflects my mood a little.
I then wanted to fine tune my composition a little. I like the rocky tors in the foreground of the first image, but I felt that they were a too close to the bottom of the frame. I also felt that the clouds were a more important element of the photograph, so I decided to point the camera up more to give me this composition.
Storm Clouds over Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, 0.6 seconds at ISO 64, f/11, Lee Filters ND Grad.
I'm not sure which image I prefer. The sky in the first image is more appealing as the dark cloud hasn't covered all of the skies yet, but I prefer the overall composition of the 2nd image. To be honest, I'm just really happy to have captured anything. I was sure I was going to go home empty-handed and a little unhappy (creatively speaking).
It was a challenging evening but aside from the pleasing images, I can always take away two positives. Firstly, it's always great to be outdoors. Even if I took no photographs, spending the evening on beautiful Dartmoor is rarely a bad thing. Secondly, it was good to be out with the camera. That time out with the camera gave me more photographic experience and practice that I can put to good use when I really need it. You can be in the most amazing location with the most amazing light, but if you don't how to use your camera properly or know how to read a scene, you might come away with nothing.
Have you ever been out with the camera on a seemingly pointless adventure? Which of my two images did you prefer? Let me know in the comments below.
Remember to Look Around
It's all to easy to concentrate on the scene in front of you, but as I discovered there can be a lot going on just behind you.
Photographing An Old Friend
I don't know about you but I have a few places on my location map that are easy to get to and provide a variety of angles to shoot from. So when the weather forecast for last Tuesday was a bit 50/50 for a good sunset I thought I'd go somewhere I know so that if it fails to be spectacular I won't have spent a significant amount of effort getting there.
How I saw the scene last year.
Heading down to my target location of Emsworthy Rocks just down from Haytor I was still confident that I was going to get a good shot. I decided to shoot the rocks and tree from a position that I hadn't used before. My plan was to have my back to the setting sun so that the tree and rocks would be bathed in golden light. There wasn't going to be much going on in the sky so I positioned the main elements higher up in the frame leaving some of the ground rock formations in the foreground.
Playing the Waiting Game
I went through all my normal checks for exposure and sharpness and then waited with the remote release for that magic moment where the colour would bath my subject in glorious golden light.
This is the scene I came to shoot but the light and sky just weren't what I wanted.
Well some time passed and I had shot a few frames but the scene just lacked a bit of punch. In my focus on the scene in front of me I'd failed to look to see what else was going on. It's all too easy to go out with a singular focus on what you want to achieve but this can sometimes mean you'll miss something a bit more special. I was convinced that my target scene would come good. However I casually turned 90 degrees to my right and was presented with a much more interesting scene. The light on the rocks was much more pleasing and the sky had a bit more interest about it.
Change of Plans
On the same spot as the last image but 90 degrees to the right.
I pondered if I should go to the hassle of changing my composition and moving my tripod (which had taken bit of setup to balance on the rock I was perched on). I knew I would regret it if I didn't at least try so I repositioned the tripod, got a Lee Filters ND 0.9 medium grad out and shot a few frames of this new scene.
I did go back to shooting a few frames of my original composition but I already knew that I'd grabbed the best shot I was going to get that night. So what did I learn from this particular adventure? Don't get too focused on one scene or shooting a particular direction. The landscape, particularly the wilds of Dartmoor, are wide open spaces and the light can look very different simply by looking a different direction from the same point. I was committed to getting the image in my head but I almost missed a much better one.
Have you had a similar experience? Have you looked round to find a much better shot or do you remain focused on what is in front of you? Let me know in the comments.