Improve Your Landscape Photography Skills
Over the years I’ve done several things that have helped improve my landscape photography. In this blog post, I share with you what some of those things are.
Things I’ve Learnt on My Way to Becoming a Better Photographer
How do you become a better photographer? It’s not an easy question to answer, and to make things more complicated there certainly isn’t just one answer. Everyone follows a different path and importantly that journey never ends. No matter what level of experience you are at with your photography there will always be ways to improve.
In the video below I share with you some of the things that worked for me. This isn’t a prescriptive video in which I’m saying you must follow every idea. It is more about providing you with some suggestions. People learn and improve in different ways so not all these tips will be suitable for your photography journey. Hopefully though one or two of my suggestions will be useful and you might put them to the test to see if they can help you.
Useful Links I Mentioned in the Video
For 1-2-1 tuition and workshops take a look at:
Try these YouTube channels and podcasts:
The Art of Photography - YouTube channel by Ted Forbes
Sean Tucker - YouTube channel
A Beautiful Anarchy Podcast - David Duchemin
Check out all my printing videos in this playlist.
Snowdonia Landscape Photographs
Aberglaslyn Pass, Snowdonia National Park, Wales - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 at 14mm, f/13, 1/8th sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL.
Afon Glaslyn from Pont Aberglaslyn, Snowdonia National Park, Wales - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR at 51mm, f/13, 1/4th sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL.
Waterfall near Cwm Bychan, Snowdonia National Park, Wales - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 at 18mm, f/11, 1/8, 0.4 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL.
Lake District Landscape Photographs
Derwent Isle, Lake District National Park - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 at 37mm, f/11, 1/8, 30 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL and 6 stop ND.
Derwent Water from Crow Park, Lake District National Park - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 at 29mm, f/8, 0.5 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL, 9 image panoramic cropped at 6:17.
Strandshag Bay, Lake District National Park - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR at 200mm, f/8, 0.8 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL, 9 image panoramic cropped at 6:17.
Photographing The Snowdonia Mountains | A fotoVUE Guidebook by Nick Livesey - On My Bookshelf S02E02
In the blog this week, join me and Nick Livesey as we spend the day photographing Snowdonia National Park, talking about his book Photographing the Snowdonia Mountains, and generally having a bit of a laugh. What better way to review a guidebook like this by heading out into the wilderness with the author himself!
Discovering The Work of Nick Livesey
Every now and again I find the work of a photographer and wonder why it's taken me so no long to discover them. They could be working professionals with many years of experience, but for some reason, I only just find out about them. Maybe it's more difficult these days with the noise from social media. With so many images out there on social media, it can be easy to miss something important as you whiz through Instagram during your morning coffee.
Every now and again though a photograph or video really catches my eye. This is how I discovered Nick Livesey. Though I can't exactly remember how I found his video, My Mountain Healing, it really struck a chord with me. If you haven't seen it, give it a watch below:
It's a short video, but it was genuine and funny, and you could see that Nick had a real eye for photographing the mountains. After watching the video a couple of times I decided I wanted to know more about Nick and his work. After a little bit of internet research, I discovered that not only did he have a solid body of work, but he was also well known in the climbing and hill walking community, and that his character and whit are almost as well-known as his photographs!
Though I did wonder how I hadn't heard of Nick before one thing was for sure and that was he seemed like the kind of person I would like to go out shooting with.
Photographing the Snowdonia Mountains
As regular readers of my blog will know, I have a series of videos called On My Bookshelf in which I share my thoughts on some of the photography books that I've purchased. For a while now I've been wanting to do an episode of On My Bookshelf on a Fotovue guidebook. These photography location guidebooks have a been a great source of information to me and I've built up a bit of a collection of them.
When I heard that Nick was publishing his very own Fotovue book, Photographing the Snowdonia Mountains, not only was I going to pick up a copy, but I also hoped that this would be the Fotovue book that would feature in On My Bookshelf.
Most of the episodes of On My Bookshelf are filmed at home in front of my bookshelf, but for a Fotovue location guidebook, this didn't seem appropriate. What better way to review a book like this than by heading out to one of the locations in the book. Then I had another thought. What if I can get the author himself to show me in person some of those locations?
Well, guess what? That's exactly what Nick agreed to do! So I'm very proud to share with you this very special episode of On My Bookshelf, filmed on location in Snowdonia National Park, and with Nick Livesey. Enjoy!
I don’t know if you could tell in the video, but that was one of the best days I’ve had out with the camera! I’ve always enjoyed the hills, but heading out with Nick was a real pleasure. It was absolutely fantastic spending the day in those hills and mountains. The conditions were often windy and snowy, and always very cold, but I loved it.
Nick has a genuine passion for his local area. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a person so absolutely content to be outdoors, walking the hills. The look of wonder on his face as if it was the very first time he’d walked up a mountain. Being able to spend the day with Nick and to share in his passion was a real privilege.
On Your Bookshelf
If you did enjoy this video, then please do consider picking up a copy of Nick's excellent Photographing the Snowdonia Mountains. Even if you don't think you'd ever visit Snowdonia, the book is packed full of inspiring photographs and lots of useful information about photographing in the outdoors. You can pick up a copy of the book directly from Nick's website:
https://nicklivesey.co.uk/product/photographing-snowdonia-mountains/
Are you planning on getting a copy, or do you already have one? Do you have any of the other Fotovue titles? Do you have a favourite location in Snowdonia? Let me know in the comments below.
My Snowdonia Photographs
No blog post of mine would be complete without a landscape photograph! Here are some of my favourite images that I captured while out with Nick.
Snowdon from Clogwyn Mawr, Capel Curig, Snowdonia National Park - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 36 mm, f/11, 1/2 sec at ISO 64, polariser and ND grad.
Yr Aran, Craig Wen and Moel Hebog from Bwlch Maesgwm, Snowdonia National Park - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 34 mm, f/11, 1/60th sec at ISO 64, polariser and ND grad.
Snowdon and Moel Cynghorion from Moel Eilio, Snowdonia National Park - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 52 mm, f/11, 1/40th sec at ISO 64, polariser and ND grad.
Snowdonia National Park Panorama from Moel Eilio, Snowdonia National Park - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 38 mm, f/11, 1/6th sec at ISO 64, polariser. 7 image panoramic stitch.
Photographing Britain's National Parks
In the blog this week I’m very happy to share with you the story of my latest adventure. Check out the images and video I captured as I travel to three different national parks, across three countries and all in one day!
Grand Ideas
One of the primary goals of my YouTube channel is to share my landscape photography adventures. By sharing my adventures I can hopefully provide a little inspiration to my fellow landscape photographers or even encourage people to get out there and see the great outdoors.
Sometimes my adventures are unplanned, but every now and again I come up with a plan for a grand adventure! The problem is that these grand plans aren't exactly simple to execute. Time is the normally the limiting factor for me.
However, when I read about National Parks Week, I thought it was the perfect excuse to execute one of those grand adventures. My idea was simple. I would visit 3 national parks, in 3 different countries and do it all in one day. Would it even be possible? Let's find out.
As you saw in the video, it is indeed possible. I wouldn't exactly recommend it though. It was a lot of driving and a very long day. But I sure did enjoy it! The locations I visited were stunning, and that was only 3 of the 15 national parks in Britain.
If you haven't visited a national park before, or it's been a while, I really recommend that you check out the National Parks website as there is sure to be one near you. I'm really lucky as I have Dartmoor on my doorstep. The national parks are a valuable resource, so if you have some time it's also worth considering spending some time on your local national park as a volunteer. You can see how I got on one year volunteering on Dartmoor here.
I really hope you enjoyed this video. If you are looking for a bit more detail on the locations I visited and the photographs you saw, you'll find them below.
So are heading out for National Parks Week? What is your favourite national park? Let me know in the comments below.
Wales - Snowdonia National Park
For more information about Snowdonia National Park, click here.
Snowdonia National Park - near Plas y Brenin, Wales: Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 25 mm, 1/20th sec at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
England - Lake District National Park
For more information about The Lake District National Park click here.
Haweswater Reservoir - Lake District, England: Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 17 mm, 1/20th sec at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
Scotland - Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park
For more information about the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, click here.
A Pastel Sunset at Ben A'an - Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park: Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 70 mm, 1/5th sec at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters 2 Stop ND Grad.
Looking North from Ben A'an on a Beautiful Summers Evening - Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park: Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 48 mm, 1/3rd sec at ISO 64, f/8, Lee Filters 2 Stop ND Grad.
A Summer Sunset At Ben A'an and Loch Katrine - Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park:: Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, 0.5 sec at ISO 64, f/18, Lee Filters 2 Stop ND Grad.