Bite-Size Blog Post #41 - Shaugh Prior - Dartmoor National Park
In my blog this week I tell you about a rare visit I made to the woodlands and river near Shaugh Prior on Dartmoor to capture this autumnal photograph.
The Autumnal Woods of South West Dartmoor
Living in Exeter I'm only a short drive away from large parts of Dartmoor National Park. However, there are some parts of Dartmoor that I haven't properly explored and photographed because they feel a bit too far to drive to. In reality, it's probably a physiological thing rather than a reality. Realistically I can get to most parts of Dartmoor in an hour, maybe 75 mins at most.
There is a wooded area near Shaugh Prior on the very south western edge of Dartmoor that I have rarely visited. It has always felt, well, too far away. In reality it's not. It takes about an hour to drive, and you can walk straight into the woods from the car park.
Late last autumn I finally decided to make some time and wander up the River Plym near Shaugh Prior. It wasn't the sole reason I drove to that corner of Dartmoor. I was meeting someone from the OWPG (Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild) for a chat and while I was in the area, and I had time, I would also head out with my camera.
The challenge was where to shoot. It would be the middle of the day and the weather was grey, flat and overcast. When I thought about it though, it was perfect conditions for woodland photography. As a bonus it was the autumn so the woodland colours would hopefully be beautiful.
I gave myself a couple of hours to explore the pathway along the River Plym. And while I did happily spend a couple of hours wandering up and down the river, it was the first place I stopped at that gave me the most pleasing photograph of the afternoon.
River Play, Dartmoor National Park, Devon - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 16mm, f/13, ¼ sec at ISO 500, Kase Filters CPL.
It's an area that needs further exploration by me and because in reality it's not that far from Exeter I'm sure to return there again soon.
A Landscape Photography Project to Capture the Changing Seasons
Each season offers the landscape photographer something unique and wonderful. One of the best ways to discover those changes is to photograph the same location every season. Sounds like a great idea for a photography project, doesn't it? I thought it was, so I decided to photograph Holne Bridge on Dartmoor during summer, autumn, winter and spring. However, things didn't turn out how I expected them to.
The Value of Photography Projects
Undertaking a photography project can be a big commitment. In 2019 I began a yearlong photography project to capture a photograph every month from the same location and despite the tight brief, I still found it challenging. But a photography project should be challenging, shouldn’t it? I am also in the middle of my biggest ever photography project and despite 12 months passing by, I don’t feel like I’m making any significant progress.
Despite what I’ve said, a photography project is a wonderful thing, and every photographer should undertake one. They can be incredibly rewarding and stretch your skills as a photographer. The important thing is to make sure the project is achievable. There is no point in undertaking a 365 project when you know from the outset you won’t be able to capture an image every day.
A Failed Photography Project?
On the topic of completing photography projects, I have just completed a project that I’ve been working on for the last year. Well, I say completed, but that’s that not strictly true. Yes, it’s finished, but is it complete? I’ll explain everything in the video below.
What do you think? Is that a photography project failure? Let me know in the comments below.
Lastly, if you’re interested here is a list of gear and services, I used to create the print.
Photograph printed with the Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-300 - my video review
Paper from Fotospeed
Picture frames from Picture Frames Express
Project Photographs - Holne Bridge on Dartmoor
Here are the final 4 photographs.
Holne Bridge, Dartmoor - Summer - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 20mm, f/11, 0.6 sec at ISO 200, Kase CPL.
Holne Bridge, Dartmoor - Autumn - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 19mm, f/11, 1 sec at ISO 800, Kase CPL.
Holne Bridge, Dartmoor - Winter - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 22mm, f/11, 0.5 sec at ISO 200, Kase CPL.
Holne Bridge, Dartmoor - Spring - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 18mm, f/16, 1/5 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
Autumnal Landscape Photography with the Lumix S1R
After a last minute change of plan I decide to shoot the autumnal colours at Fingle Bridge and I take the Panasonic Lumix S1R with me.
The Panasonic Lumix S1R
A couple of weeks ago in my blog post Return to Holne Bridge, I mentioned that I had a Panasonic Lumix S1R on loan. In that blog post I was out with the S1R to try and familiarise myself with the camera before putting it to use on the project I had planned for it. Having now completed filming for that project I was ready to return the camera to Panasonic but they very kindly asked if I wanted to keep it for another couple of weeks.
Plan A Becomes Plan B
With the camera on loan for a bit longer I had a few ideas on how I could put it to good use. My initial project for the S1R was to make a landscape photography video in Scotland, but I did also have a secondary project planned as well. Unfortunately though, the weather conditions were pretty awful in Scotland in the later part of my trip and so I never got the chance to shoot the 2nd video. This loan extension would be a great time to revisit that project and shoot it on Dartmoor rather than Glencoe.
My plan A was to head up to one of my favourite Dartmoor locations, Belstone Common. Checking the weather forecast the evening before I knew it was going to be a bit of a risk to go there because of the forecasted cloud cover. However I thought it was worth a punt and made my plan for a dawn shoot.
Arriving at Belstone Common the following morning it quickly became apparent that I had been a little too optimistic about the weather forecast, specifically the cloud cover. The cloud cover had even descended into the village of Belstone and by the time I had reached the parking area for Belstone Common it was looking very cloudy indeed.
Normally I wouldn’t necessarily let this put me off and I would risk ascending up to Belstone and hopefully wait for the cloud to clear. This clearing of the cloud can often lead to spectacular scenes but at the back of my mind I thought I’d probably be better going with plan B.
Fingle Bridge
Plan B was to go and shoot at one of my favourite autumnal Dartmoor locations, Holne Bridge or Fingle Bridge. I reckon either would have been good but given Holne Bridge is on the opposite side of Dartmoor from Belstone Common and Fingle Bridge just 15 minutes away the decision was easy.
When I arrived at Fingle Bridge I could see that I had made the right decision. The autumnal colours were looking great and even though it was a bit lighter the sky was still heavily overcast so staying at Belstone probably would have been a waste of time.
Fingle Bridge #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/11, 10 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Three horizontal image panorama at 16:7.
Though it was tempting to just create a short vlog of my time at Fingle Bridge, I decided just to concentrate on stills photography so I grabbed the Lumix S1R but left behind my Lumix G80 (my vlogging camera). As I walked along the riverside and admired the beautiful colours on the trees I was surprised not to see any other photographers or even dog walkers. I wasn’t complaining though. It was very relaxing, just me, a camera, the gentle noise of the flowing river and the wind blowing in the trees. What a way to start the day!
Fingle Bridge #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 54mm, f/13, 10 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
What I like About the S1R
As I said in my blog post Return to Holne Bridge, it is not my intention to review the S1R. There are lots of dedicated written and video reviews out there and they are done by people much more proficient at reviewing than I am. However, having used the camera for a few weeks I thought I would at least share some of my thoughts on this camera.
Things I liked:
47.3 megapixel sensor - no complaints with the image quality.
Dual card slots - dual xQD would have been nice though.
Good controls, knobs and dials - plenty of physical controls.
Focal length of the lens is displayed in the EVF.
Triaxle tilt LCD - you can even flip it out when the camera is in a vertical orientation…..very handy!!
Countdown down timer for long exposures (up to 60 seconds). Also very handy!
The 24-105mm f/4 lens I used. Great image quality and useful focal length.
Minor gripes:
Long exposures are limited to 60 seconds before you need to switch to bulb mode. This is better than most DSLRs and some mirrorless cameras, but not as good as cameras from FujiFilm (which can have exposures timed in minutes).
Size and weight - while some people prefer the feel of a bigger camera, the S1R is big for a full-frame mirrorless camera. It’s about the same size and weight as a Nikon D850 but bigger and heavier than a Nikon Z7. However, in some ways it has more features and controls than a Z7 so some additional bulk is probably necessary (e.g. dual card slots and great video features).
Though the S1R has one of the highest resolutions EVF on the market, I thought images looked a little low on resolution when reviewed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, but not as good as other mirrorless cameras I have used. I wonder if the embedded JPG preview of the RAW file is low resolution. The images when reviewed in Lightroom look amazing. The EVF looks great when viewing live.
No wide angle zoom lens at the time of loan. (A 16-35 f/4 is due in January 2020 though).
This is by no means a comprehensive list but these are some of the things I wanted to highlight when compared to other mirrorless cameras I have used. Minor gripes aside, there is little to dislike about this camera and anyone buying one is sure to be happy.
Fingle Bridge #3, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 28mm, f/13, 10 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
A note on the video features:
I know many of you don’t shoot video but for me some of the most stand out features of this camera are the video features. It can shoot up to 4k, 50 fps at 150 Mbps. The video quality is beautiful. I shoot and publish almost all of my videos in 4K but I don’t think anyone would notice much change in video quality if my bitrate jumped to 150 Mbps. On the other hand 50 fps does give me a few more creative options in post production.
As a bonus the S1R writes video to both cards which is definitely welcome. However, my one gripe is that if you have your camera set up for stills (shutter speed, ISO, and aperture) and then you switch to video mode, all the settings from your stills configuration carries over. The same applies when moving from video mode to stills mode. Given that you set the camera up very differently when shooting video and stills this seems a little annoying if you need to quickly switch between both modes.
Panasonic have also now released the Lumix S1H. This camera is a little more video centric and offers video modes such as 6K recording, 400 mbps bit rate (depending on mode), and HLG video. I can just imagine the creative options open to me with this camera if I did another series of Vignettes of Landscape Photography.
In case you are wondering, the video that I did have planned for the S1R has been filmed and is currently being edited. It should be ready in the next couple of weeks. I have also managed to shoot one of my 5 Minute Photo Adventure videos with the S1R so I hope to publish that in the next few weeks as well.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post and the images I capture from Fingle Bridge. Have you been out to capture some autumnal images? Have you considered or even bought an S1R or any of the cameras in the Lumix S1 range? Let me know in the comments below.
Landscape Photography with a Lensbaby Velvet 56
In this special blog post and video, I go on a creative journey with my landscape photography as I try out the Lensbaby Velvet 56.
A Creative Journey
The gear that I use to take landscape photographs hasn't changed too much over the years. I've upgraded my Nikon bodies and expanded my lens collection to encompass a wider range of focal lengths. Aside from that though, things have remained largely the same. After all, the gear I use suits the type and style of photographs I take.
So when Lensbaby asked me to try their Velvet 56 lens I wondered how it might fit into my style of photography. The Velvet 56 is the type of lens that you would use for portraits or close up photography, or if you wanted to add a glow or vintage look to your photographs. All the kind of things that I typically don't do with my photography.
So why did I decide to give the Velvet 56 a try then? Simple really. I wanted to expand my photographic horizons. You should never be scared to try new things. I felt that even if I decided that this wouldn't be a lens that I buy I was sure trying something new would be fun, challenging, and most of all teach me something new.
Rather than write a very lengthy blog post on my experiences with the Velvet 56, I've documented the entire experience and my conclusions in this video:
So that was my adventure with the Velvet 56. As I said in the video it was a great experience and I very much enjoyed doing something different with my photography and pushing the boundaries of what I'm used to. Sure it's not a lens I would use a lot, but in the right situation, it's a lens that can be used to great creative effect.
So how do you like to push your creative boundaries? Have you ever considered using a Lensbaby lens? Let me know in the comment below.
The Images
You will have seen all the images in the video but if you want to see what they look like in more detail so you can really see the effects produced by the Velvet 56, they are here in this handy little gallery.
Landscape Photography in the Lake District
In this blog post I write about my 2 day photographic adventure in the Lake District. Read about how despite the challenging weather I still came away with some great images and a sense of satisfaction.
Escape to the Lakes
When a photographer friend of mine invited me to spend a couple of days shooting the Lake District in the height of autumn I literally jumped at the chance. Over the last decade or so I had visited the Lake District a number of times with my family and enjoyed it immensely. After all if you like the outdoors there really isn't much not to like about the Lake District. This was going to be a different type of visit though. This visit was going to be all about photography and I couldn't wait!
The plan was to spend two full days shooting various locations around the Keswick area taking in tarns, lakes, hills and of course the odd jetty. Our only restriction was dates. Free time for photography has to fit in around family and work time, so when we picked our dates we were committed, no matter the weather.
November seemed to take an age to come round but when it did my levels of excitement had almost become palpable. I had packed my stuff two days prior to departure and when I did hit the road the 300+ mile journey flew by. I couldn't wait to get shooting but as I would soon find out, the Lake District weather was going to be typically British.
High Brandelhow Landing
It was a 5:30 am alarm call on the first day and despite the lack coffee I was in high spirits and ready to get shooting. Our first stop was High Brandlehow Landing, a pier on Derwentwater. It's a classic Lake District composition with a pier but it was an ideal location to get the photography brain into gear.
My first instinct was to shoot the pier vertically but I actually ended up preferring the horizontal version. Using the Little Stopper at ISO 100, f/11 gave a 2 minute exposure but I was loosing the detail in the sky. Setting the camera to ISO 200 gave me a one minute exposure maintaining some texture in the sky.
Stock Ghyll
Despite the sky being almost completely overcast it had been a reasonably successful start to the day. After breakfast though the weather turned rainy so we decided to head into the woodland at Ambleside and walk along Stock Ghyll.
Photographing Stock Ghyll was a real challenge as I spent most of the time clearing rain water from the camera. I found it difficult to concentrate on my composition. I later tried to shoot the waterfalls but couldn't really find a composition I liked.
Grasmere
After drying out over a pub lunch we took the short drive down to the southern end of the lake at Grasmere. Though it had stopped raining the weather remained resolutely overcast which was a shame as there was barely a breath of wind and the reflections were stunning.
Lovely reflections, just a shame about the light. This image is a 2:1 crop from the original frame.
Latrigg Fell
With a renewed sense of optimism on the morning of day 2 I headed down to the hotel lobby to meet my friend. Unfortunately he was taking shelter from the down pour of rain. Not to be put off we checked our respective weather forecast apps and agreed that an ascent of Latrigg Fell could be rewarded with some nice light come sunrise.
The weather at dawn was not great but we dug in and waited.
As time progressed some splashes of light started to appear on Cat Bells. This image is a 3:1 crop of a 9 vertical image panoramic stitch.
The dawn light struggled to get through the clouds but when it did it provided little moments of magic. This is 16:9 crop from the original frame.
Castlerigg Stone Circle
While ancient stone circles don't necessarily offer a lot of interest for me, the location of Castlerigg Stone Circle is still an interesting location to shoot. You don't necessarily need to include the stones in your compositions.
Bad weather can work in your favour as well. I just needed to wait for a break in the light which came and went in the space of seconds. You just have to stand there with the finger on the shutter....waiting....till you get that fleeting moment of light.
As I've written about before, its important to look around to see what else is happening. I was focused so much on getting the previous image that I almost missed this one.
Tarn Hows
After our trip to Castlerigg we headed up to Ashness Bridge. It was a short stop as no sooner had we got our cameras out it started to rain heavily. So as we approached the end of day 2 we decided that we might try and catch last light at Tarn Hows. The weather hadn't exactly been kind to us up to that point and unsurprisingly it didn't improve that much.
This scene just need a splash of light on the trees but it wasn't to be.
Cat Bells
I was due to make the long trip home the morning of the 3rd day, but I couldn't resist one more dawn shoot. My friend had hit the road at 4am to go home, so as I was on my own I decided I would make the 450m ascent of Cat Bells. Despite the the previous two days of poor weather, I remained optimistic as the weather forecast looked like it might produce some nice early morning light.
My vision for this image was to get some morning light break over the fell peaks (Robinson and Red Knot). I waited and waited but this was as good as it got.
As is often the case in the Lake District, the moments of good light are brief but wonderful. This image of Rigg Beck and Causey Pike is a 3:1 crop from a single frame.
I was on my way down from Cat Bells and looking forward to breakfast but sometimes you just have to stop and unpack all your gear again. The light on Lonscale Fell was too good to miss.
Fun but Challenging
There was no doubt that I was extremely excited about my trip to the Lake District. Having seen so many autumnal images of the area I was keen to produce my own spectacular images. However, as you can see from my images old mother nature had a different plan which mostly involved rain and overcast skies. Even when it was dry there was very little of that magical light that you want to really lift a scene. When it did rain I would just spend most of time trying to keep my gear and filters clear of water. This can be infuriating and doesn't leave much time for the creative side of photography.
So was the trip a failure? Of course not! Yes, it was challenging, difficult and sometimes frustrating but I was in the Lake District, in autumn, with my camera. Sure it would have been nice to have better weather but sometimes as a landscape photographer you have to work with what you get. As I write this blog and look back at the photographs there is a lot to be happy about. Those little breaks of light like I saw on Cat Bells, or the stormy sky over the trees at Castlerigg just goes to show that there is an image to capture in almost any weather condition.
For me landscape photography is also about the adventure, about being outdoors. This trip was an adventure and I managed to capture some dramatic images of the Lake District, so I'm calling my trip a success!
Do you have a bucket list of locations or areas you want to shoot? Have you turned up to a location and faced a few challenges? Is there any type of weather you wouldn't go out in? Let me know in the comments.
Remember to check out my Instagram and Flickr feeds so you can see even more of my images. See you next time!