Dawlish Warren - Three in a Row
Is there any benefit to going to the same location three times in a row? In the blog this week I find out.
Let me start off by apologising. I know this is now the third blog post in a row to feature Dawlish Warren but because of some not very interesting reasons, it's the only place I've managed to get out to photograph recently. I also have a special blog post from Dawlish Warren to share with you in a couple of weeks time as well! However, I will be mixing things up over the next few weeks. I've got one more blog post on a local location before I head to Scotland for a week of uninterrupted photography, so expect plenty of interesting blog posts, photos and videos from that trip!
After last weeks blog post from Dawlish Warren where I talked about becoming complacent with my compositions, I was determined to try a little harder this time out. I wasn't sure what to make of the weather forecast. One weather forecast was predicting dry conditions and high clouds, while another was saying overcast and showers Regardless of the weather I thought this was going to be my only opportunity to get out with the camera this week so I decided to go for it anyway.
I arrived at Dawlish Warren a little earlier than normal so I sat in my car and enjoyed the cup of coffee that I had bought from the petrol station on the way there. You simply can't beat the feeling of that first cup of coffee in the morning, so as I walked towards the beach I already had a bit of a skip in my step. As I walked along the beach and breathed in the sea air I decided that this was indeed a fantastic place to watch the start of a new day.
Caffeine highs aside the weather was actually a mix of the two forecasts. There were some great looking patches of sky and some big rain clouds kicking about. However, as is often the way, there was a big bank of thick cloud on the horizon where the sun was going to rise. No vibrant morning light for me. Though I knew I probably wasn't going to get any amazing pictures, I thought I would use the time constructively and work on some compositions. This is all good practice. I'd rather work out some new compositions during average light rather than when the conditions are amazing. Better to practice when there is less pressure.
So was this third consecutive trip the most productive? I'm not sure, so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Here is the image from this week, plus the other two from the previous weeks.
I personally don't have a favourite. They all have different qualities and minor issues. For me at least, it's only by looking at them all together do they deliver in a completely different way. While no one image is a stand out image, by shooting the same location in 3 slightly different ways under 3 slightly different weather conditions I have increased my working knowledge of this location. I can see from the photographs which style of image works for a certain combination of gryone and weather. This means I can be more effective and efficient for future visits. I can use my knowledge of the location to create a composition that is suited to whichever groyne I'm shooting and the weather. Hopefully, this will result in me capturing better images.
I said at the start of this blog post that I wanted to apologise for the 3rd Dawlish Warren blog post in a row, but by writing this very blog post I've gained a new perspective and that’s something that I didn't expect.
I'll see you next week when I promise you that the blog post won't be about Dawlish Warren.
Does Familiarity Breed Complacency?
I’m no stranger to photographing Dawlish Warren, but is that familiarity gradually leading to poorer images?
Under Normal Circumstances
Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have bothered heading to Dawlish Warren last Friday. I had already been there the week before, and with the weather forecast not exactly predicting spectacular conditions, I wouldn’t have normally visited this location again. However, these weren’t normal circumstances. My friend and newly turned professional photographer, Chris Sale, was in the area and he was keen to visit the beach at Dawlish Warren.
Chris was staying in Cornwall for a week to immerse himself in photography and see his mum. This was also going to be an excellent opportunity for us to catch up and do a little photography. Unfortunately for us the weather was pretty poor all week. The one evening I was able to meet up with Chris the weather was particularly poor.
We had decided to meet at Trebarwith Strand, a wonderful coastal location to photograph, but the wind was howling. While stormy weather can sometimes be used to great effect, this wasn’t one of those evenings. The wind had churned up the sea into a mass of white water and foam. Only a mad person would have ventured down onto the beach and the view from the cliffs wasn’t exactly inspiring. In the end I didn’t take any photographs so we went to the pub and had a very nice pizza.
With Trebarwith a right off, we committed ourselves to a dawn shoot. Chris had always wanted to photograph the beach at Dawlish Warren so we decided to head there on Friday morning. Unfortunately, yet again, the weather forecast was poor. High winds, lots of cloud and the potential for rain didn’t fill me with enthusiasm. I did however want to head out on another shoot with Chris and go out for a spot of breakfast, so I thought it was worth a punt.
More Chat than Photography
Arriving at Dawlish Warren the conditions were slightly better than forecast but still not particularity inspiring. I already knew I probably wasn’t going to get a better shot than last week. No worries though, Chris was with me and the banter was flowing.
Even after many years of photographing Dawlish Warren, it is still a place that excites me, but sometimes when I feel I can’t get a better or a different image than previous visits then I do perhaps get a little lazy with my photography. That familiarity with a location can sometimes make me a bit complacent.
While I do like the image I captured that morning, I think I could have taken a better shot if I’d focused a little more on what I was doing and the conditions I had to work with.
Into the Void, Dawlish Warren, Devon - Nikon Z7 with Nikkor Z 14-30 mm f/4 at 29 mm, f/8, 224 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 holder, CPL, and 10 stop ND.
So what exactly do I feel is wrong with the photograph? While I like the long exposure, the slightly desaturated colour palette, and the way the groyne fades into the sea, I’m not that happy with the location in the frame where the groyne appears in the photograph. For me at least, I think the right-hand side of the groyne needs to be more prominent and perhaps start further down in the frame. This probably would have been best achieved by moving closer to the groyne and perhaps turning to face it more directly.
I could change the relative position of the groyne in this image through a crop but I would lose a lot of the sea in the foreground. The best option of course is just to get it right in camera in the first place!
While I like the image, it definitely has room for improvement. Perhaps if I’d been a little less complacent and was focusing more on all the elements of the composition, I might have made a slightly different but improved image. Photography is a constant journey of learning, and this trip to Dawlish Warren has taught me not to be so complacent or lazy with composition, even when I don’t think I can improve on previous images.
Do you agree with my critique? Do you sometimes get complacent when photographing your favourite locations? Let me know in the comments below.
Get Your Camera Out!
With sunrises now being at a much more sociable time of the morning I decided to get myself back into the swing of early morning rises and head to my favourite local beach.
Summer Sunrises
I like to think I don't have much of a problem getting up early in the morning so I can capture sunrise images. During the summer months the shock of a 3 am alarm call is enough to shake the resolve of even the hardest landscape photographer. While I can and have got up at this time in the morning it often means a fairly difficult rest of the day.
The difficult part is when I return from the shoot. It would be lovely if I could just come home, have some breakfast and then have a nice little nap. For a couple of hours. In reality though I have to plough through the rest of the day as if I had just got up at 7 am. It's hard to function with little sleep and still behave like a normal human being. It is for those reasons that I will only get up for a 5 am sunrise if the weather is promising to be epic or I am meeting someone.
Winter Sunrises
As the nights start to draw in it's getting harder for me to get out to shoot sunsets, so as I sat at my computer the other day planning out my photographic week it suddenly dawned on me (excuse the pun), that sunrises are now at a much more sociable hour! With a 7 am sunrise I don't have to set an alarm until 5 am, maybe even 5:30 depending on the location.
To get myself back into the swing of early morning rises I decided that I would make life easy for myself and go somewhere I know and that is local. If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know exactly the location I'm talking about. Yep, that's right, Dawlish Warren. I've created many videos and blog posts from this location. There are too many to list here, so if you want to see what I captured on previous trips just use the search box at the top of The Exposed Blog page and search for Dawlish Warren.
Dawlish Warren - 2015. Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 35 mm, f/13, 72 secs at ISO 100.
Get Your Camera Out!!
I was actually rather excited to be heading out for a dawn shoot at Dawlish Warren. Not only I had I not been on a sunrise shoot for a while but I also hadn't been to Dawlish Warren for some time. It was hard to tell exactly what the sunrise would be like from the weather forecast but I wasn't going to let that put me off.
I arrived at Dawlish Warren about 6 am, roughly an hour before sunrise. As I strolled along the beach I took in a big lung full of fresh sea air and decided that there was no place better to start the day. I was the only person there and it was wonderful.
When shooting the beach at Dawlish Warren I normally like to shoot past groyne 9. Dogs aren't allowed past groyne 9 at any time of year so there is no risk of jumping dogs and unwanted footprints in the pristine sand. As I got to groyne 9 I could see a heavy bank of cloud on the horizon where the sun would rise from. This could be a problem but I decided not to let it get me down and so I sat down on one of the sand dunes to see how things might pan out.
As I watched the waves roll in that pesky bank of cloud wasn't shifting. The sky above Dawlish Warren was looking good with plenty of breaks in the cloud which, if the sun could break the horizon, would light up nicely. The time for sunrise approached, arrived, and went, but no sign of the sun in the sky.
Sitting there I did think to myself that I might not even bother getting the camera out. It's not as if I'd never been here, or would never return, or that I didn't have any good shots from this location. Experience has taught me though that it is always worth getting the camera out! So I got my camera out and I have to say that I'm glad I did. As the sun finally broke above the bank of cloud the sky started to get interesting. Not amazing, but interesting enough for me to want to take some photographs. I soon found my creative juices flowing and I got busy with the job of creating photographs.
Dawn at Dawlish Warren, Devon - Nikon Z7 with Nikkor Z 14-30 mm f/4 at 14 mm, f/13, 99 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 holder, CPL, and 6 stop ND.
Do you shoot sunrises all year round or wait like me until the autumn and winter months? What is your favourite sunrise location? Do you always get your camera out or have you gone home having taken no pictures at all? Let me know in the comments below.
Burnham-on-Sea
This week I head to Burnhan-on-Sea to shoot the lighthouse. I's a location that I've been meaning to photograph for a long time!
I’ll Get There One Day
I have over 400 pins in my custom Google Map but most of them I have never visited. Some of them are in far-flung locations like Iceland and the Faroe Islands, while some of them are just up the road. One such location is Burnham-on-Sea but despite its close proximity to home I've never really photographed it before. I did go a few years ago to check out the location to see if it had potential, but I've never made it back.
From that initial visit I knew the type of conditions I wanted to shoot my image in. Sunrise, high (outgoing) tide, and broken cloud. The trouble with setting yourself specific conditions like that is that they rarely all come together at the same time. When you have limited opportunities to be out with the camera like me, then having very specific conditions really does limit you. So for well over a year I never actually made it back to Burnham-on-Sea.
Fortunately for me fellow photographer Andi Campbell-Jones is a bit of an expert on shooting the lighthouse at Burnham-on-Sea, so when he asked me if I wanted to join him one evening I couldn't say no. If it was going to be good enough for Andi, it would be good enough for me!
It was good to finally get out with Andi to do a spot of landscape photography. I'd got to know Andi through my use of Kase Filters and even though we'd managed to meet each other in person a couple of times we'd never quite managed to get out with our cameras. This is despite both of us living in the same town!
I Made It!
Arriving at Burnham-on-Sea the conditions were looking very favourable, particularly the tide height. I always knew a high tide would work best, but as Andi informed me it needed to be of a certain height before it would surround the feet of the lighthouse. This was very useful information for future shoots so as soon as I got home I added it as a note (along with some other handy hints) in the pin for Burnham-on-Sea location in my custom Google Map.
Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #1, Somerset - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30 mm at 30 mm, f/13, 106 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder, CPL and 10 stop ND.
With the tide now around the legs of the lighthouse I soon got to work on getting some compositions. This wasn't proving as easy as I first thought it might be. Andi's knowledge of the location was apparent as he seemed to know exactly what he was doing (which was later proved in the images he published. I think the main challenge for me was finding a balanced composition. There was some wonderfully heavy cloud in the sky which when shot at wine angles looked very impressive. However, shooting at the wide angles also revealed the much clearer patch of sky to the left. For me, this left the image feeling a little unbalanced, and this light patch was reflected in the water as well.
Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #2, Somerset - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30 mm at 14 mm, f/13, 13 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder, CPL and 6 stop ND.
One of the other challenges I had was exposure time. The lighthouse and beach is a scene that suits a long exposure. By smoothing out the sea the scene takes on a different tone reducing the distractions of the waves allowing the viewer to focus on other elements such as the lighthouse itself. I struggled to find an exposure duration that would flatten the water but not add to much blur to the clouds. I don't mind blurring the clouds, but if I do I want to make sure it looks intentional and not as a by-product of another decision I've made. I could have gone with a really long exposure but with the fading light and a lack in confidence of a single composition I didn't want to commit 4 minutes of my limited time.
Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #3, Somerset - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 24-70 mm at 24 mm, f/11, 2 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder and CPL
While I did get some pleasing images from the shoot, my inexperience of the location was clear. This doesn't trouble me. After all, this is all part of the photographic experience. Going to new locations, trying out new things and learning. I gained a lot of knowledge of this location both from Andi and from actually shooting it! One thing is for sure I will be returning and armed with some local knowledge of my own now I'm sure it won't be long before I'm back.
Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #4, Somerset - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30 mm at 14 mm, f/11, 30 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder, CPL and 6 stop ND.
Back to Basics at Belstone
Just because I don’t have a Nikon camera at the moment, doesn’t mean I can’t go out and take pictures.
Better Out Than In
For reasons that I will explain in a future blog post/video, I am without a full-frame Nikon camera at the moment. Now, I could use this time to have a break from landscape photography but that’s not really the way I roll. Despite the lack of a D850 I didn’t want to pass up on a perfectly good opportunity to get out and take some pictures. Well, I say perfectly good opportunity but that wasn’t exactly accurate.
Checking the local forecast it was predicting clear skies. Not just a little clear, but totally clear. No clouds. Clear blue skies. Everywhere. Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, and Somerset. When it came to selecting where to go it seemed to make little difference. My instinct told me to head to the coast so I could make the most of the sunset (which had been consistently good over the past few evenings), but with the lack of a “big” camera, I had no way of using any of my filters. At a bare minimum I always want to shoot seascapes with a polariser, but this wasn’t an option. So I decided to head to a location that wasn’t too far away but still had far-reaching views.
There really was only one location to head to and that was Belstone Common on Dartmoor.
Don’t Let Your Camera Hold You Back
I am in the very fortunate position where I have access to a number of different cameras so even without my aforementioned Nikon camera I still had a couple of options to take with me to Belstone. Like most people I have a mobile phone that is capable of taking decent images but I don’t really like that form factor for anything other than taking snapshots. I also still have my old Sony RX100M4 which is a much better option than the phone. However, I decided to take my most recent camera, the Panasonic Lumix G80.
I’ve had the G80 for a little while now but it is almost exclusively used for vlogging. I rarely take any still images with it. The G80 is a more than capable stills camera and even though it might not be in the same league as my D850, there shouldn’t be any reason why I couldn’t put it to good use. The only real challenge for me would be that I wouldn’t be able to use any filters as I didn’t have an adaptor ring for the 12-60mm kit lens. Effectively it was back to basics for me. Just me, a tripod and a camera.
Oke Tor, Belstone Common, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix G80, 12-60 mm lens at 14 mm, f/11, 1/6th second at ISO 200.
I wasn’t going to let my minimal camera setup hold me back, but the weather conditions were a different challenge. Those bright blue skies aren’t my favourite thing to photograph, but as the sunset there was some nice soft golden light which allowed me to capture these images.
Belstone Commoon and Irishman's Wall, Belstone Common, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix G80, 12-60 mm lens at 14 mm, f/11, 1/6th second at ISO 200.
I hope you enjoyed this short blog post. I was reasonably happy with the images I captured. One thing was for sure, the camera wasn’t the limitation. Having access to to a polariser and some grads would have definitely been useful, but they weren’t the limiting factor. I always knew the weather conditions weren’t going to yield amazing results but sometimes just being outside and watching the sunset from Dartmoor is all the reward you need.
7 AMAZING Devon and Cornwall Landscape Photography Locations
In this blog post I’m going tell you about 7 AMAZING locations in Devon and Cornwall for landscape photography. This post is PACKED full of photographs and videos to inspire your landscape photography!
Vignettes of Landscape Photography
Over the last week I’ve been publishing videos from my new series Vignettes of Landscape Photography. It’s a series of short videos on the locations that have inspired my landscape photography. Each episode is a mix of still photography and video clips that will hopefully not only show you the natural beauty and variety of the location but also inspire you to visit that location to capture your own photographs.
Now that all 7 episodes from series 1 have been published on YouTube, I thought I would bring them all together in a big blog post. Not only can you choose to play them all from the playlist I have created below, but if you scroll down you will find each individual episode along with a map and the images I captured from that location. I hope you’ll agree that these are indeed 7 AMAZING locations in Devon and Cornwall for landscape photography!
I really hope you enjoy this first series of Vignettes of Landscape Photography. Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think. Did you have a favourite episode or a favourite image? What would you like to see from series 2? Have you been to any of these locations? Have you been inspired to visit any of the locations featured? Let me know in the comments below.
Bedruthan Steps
A Bedruthan Spring, Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 26 mm, f/11, 1/4 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Spring Cliffs at Bedruthan, Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 22 mm, f/11, 1/2 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Last Light at Bedruthan, Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 42 mm, f/8, 136 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL, ND and ND grad.
Venford Falls
The Twin Falls of Venford, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 28 mm, f/11, 4 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
The Fall, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 35 mm, f/11, 2.5 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
The Flow, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/11, 2.5 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
Belstone Common
Stormy Belstone #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/3rd sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Stormy Belstone #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/3rd sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Daymark Tower
The Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/5th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Tower in the Field, Devon - DJI Mavic Pro, 23 mm, 1/290th sec at f/2.2, ISO 100.
Stormy Belstone #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/125th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
Trevose Head
Trevose Head #2, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 26 mm, f/13, 2.5 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
A Long Night Ahead - Trevose Head, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 20 mm, f/13, 13 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and 6 stop ND.
Botallack
Botallack #1, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/11, 1.6 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and 6 stop ND.
Botallack #3, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 30 mm, f/13, 90 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and 6 stop ND.
Brent Tor
Brent Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/14, 1/13th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
Brentor Church Sunset #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 19 mm, f/8, 1/6th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL. Focus stacked image.
A Bit of Bath
I was in Bath to attend Foto Fest so I took the opportunity to meet up with Gareth Danks to do a little street photography!
Foto Fest
It seems that the team at Fotospeed have a nack of being able to pull together a lineup of great speakers. I saw this first hand at The Photography Show this year where I was lucky enough to listen to some talks from some wonderful photographers. With their excellent record of organising speaker lineups it came as no surprise that for Foto Fest 2019 they organised Tom Way, Rachael Talibart, Nigel Danson and Martin Parr! With the location of Foto Fest less than 100 miles away in Bath and that excellent line up I really couldn’t miss this cracking event, again.
These types of event are always a good chance to meet up with friends so it was fantastic to hear that my friend and fellow photographer Gareth Danks was going to join me in Bath. As with our meeting at The Photography Show earlier on in the year, we would of course use this as an opportunity to do a little photography as well, but more about that later.
Let me give you a quick review of Foto Fest first. Put simply, I thought it was great! I was thoroughly engaged by all four speakers. Even though I could relate more to the work of Rachael and Nigel, I found Tom’s wildlife photography fascinating and Martin’s review of his 50-year career was both hugely interesting and very humorous. Each talk was a perfect length (about 1 hour) and each talk was separated by a break allowing me to check out the Market Place (and perhaps spend a few £’s!) At the end of the day all four photographers were brought together for a Q+A session hosted by Sam Gregory.
It was a top-notch show and I really hope I can attend again next year. I definitely recommend that you attend as well.
Urban Photography
With Foto Fest done, me and Gareth decided to head down into the beautiful city of Bath for a spot of street photography. Well, I say we, but really it was Gareth that was doing the street photography and I was stumbling behind with my camera try to try and figure out compositions. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that I am about as far away as a street photographer as one can be, but that doesn’t stop me trying as you might have seen in this video:
While my first attempt wasn’t exactly a roaring success, I did really enjoy it and wanted to do it again. So with Gareth in Bath as well it seemed the perfect opportunity to give it another go. Below you’ll find a selection of my urban / street images from the brief time we spent in Bath.
I know these images aren’t going to win any awards but sometimes you just need to let go of the serious side of photography, try something new and have a bit of fun with a mate!
Don’t worry, I’ll be back on the blog next week with some “serious” landscape photographs.
Oh and before I forget, here is Gareth’s video from his time in Bath!
Back to Bowerman's Nose
This week I photographed one of Dartmoor’s most iconic tors, Bowerman’s Nose. It’s not my first visit and it certainly won’t be my last.
What I’m Looking For
I can’t remember when it was, but ever since I saw my first photograph of Bowerman’s Nose on Dartmoor, I’ve wanted to capture my own image of this iconic tor. I’ve been there many times since but never managed to get the image I was looking for.
For me light is critically important when shooting Bowerman’s Nose. There are plenty of interesting compositions to be had, but without good light on the tor itself it’s just a flat vertical stack of stone. Flatter light might well work if the scene was covered in snow, but given that every time there’s a decent dumping of snow I can’t actually get up onto Dartmoor, it’s unlikely I’ll ever get that shot.
Snow aside, for me the best option for getting a good photograph at Bowerman’s Nose is when I get nice, soft, warm light from a setting sun. (Saying that though, I have been inspired by a recent photograph of Bowerman’s Nose by Neil Porter to photograph it in the morning, but I’ll save that challenge for another day). Anyway, the light is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly it gives the “nose” some contrast turning it from a flat bit of rock into something that looks 3 dimensional. The light also works well on the ground making the undulations and grasses more prominent in the frame.
Together with light and a reasonable amount of cloud I have pre-visualised the shot that I want to get from Bowerman’s Nose. The trouble is, I’ve never managed to get it. I’ve come close once, but the shot I want eludes me so I continue to return to Bowerman’s Nose in the hope that I get the shot one day.
To Exposure Blend or Not
With the desire to get the shot that I wanted I decided to return to Bowerman’s Nose on Thursday evening. I have to admit though the weather forecast wasn’t exactly optimal. I expected to get nice soft light from the setting sun but the cloud forecast was for clear skies. I’m rarely interested in blue skies but sometimes the haze or the very high cloud can go a nice colour as the sun starts to dip below the horizon. I thought it was worth a punt. Better to be out on Dartmoor than in the house watching TV….well, most of the time that is!
When I arrived on location the sky was even clearer than the forecast had predicted so I knew I was going to have my work cut out. The principle challenge was with the contrast between the dark and light areas on the scene. Even though it was only about 30 minutes before sunset the scene had a lot of contrast. As the “nose” typically breaks above the horizon in most compositions, it is almost impossible to use a neutral density graduated filter. To capture the scene I could either try and do it using one carefully exposed frame or capture two frames and exposure blend them later.
Bowerman’s Nose #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/8 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
When it comes to post-processing though I’m very much a light touch/5-minute edit type of person, so exposure blending isn’t top of my list of things to do. However, the HDR merge feature in Lightroom does a pretty good job of exposure blending these days without the need to drop into Photoshop to use layer masks. I’ve included images in this blog that use both a single frame and that have been exposure blended. Can you tell me in the comments which are which?
Bowerman’s Nose #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 20 mm, f/13, 1/15 sec at ISO 250, Kase CPL.
It was a relatively productive evening in the end and I got a couple of images that I’m reasonably happy with. I’ve still not got that killer shot that I want but that always gives me a great excuse to visit Bowerman’s Nose again!
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.
And Now for Something Completely Different
A short blog post from me this week with a little bit of news of upcoming video projects and a new member of the team!
Busy but No Content
Since starting my blog nearly 3 years ago I’ve managed to create a new post every week, without fail. This week though, I was faced with the very real prospect of not having a new post to share. I had already been out with the camera at the start of the week but the content for that is part of a much bigger project I’m working on (but more on that in a bit). So with nothing to share from that trip (and a few other previous trips), my blog post this week was going to feature photos from a trip to Dartmoor on Friday morning.
One of the final things to do in planning my trip to Dartmoor was to work out how early in the morning I would need to get up in order to be there for sunrise. Having driven to Dartmoor on many occasion before I already had a good idea on how long it might take, but I always like to check. Just as well I did though! I soon found out that the stretch of the A38 I wanted to drive was closed and would be until 6 am. Though a detour would be in place, this would double my journey time so I decided that effort of getting up even earlier wasn’t justified by the weather forecast.
With no photographs to share with you this week, I thought I’d update you with some news instead.
New Video Projects
Much of my time out with the camera recently has been focused on two new projects for my YouTube channel. I’m not going to go into too much detail as I don’t want to spoil the surprises. The first video I’m working on has been in production since January and won’t be finished until December. When I came up with the idea I thought it would be relatively easy to get done but that hasn’t been the case. Challenging weather and constraints on my time have made production tricky, but I’m looking forward to sharing it with you all in December.
The other project I’ve been working really has consumed a lot of my camera time. Even though it’s a series of short videos, producing them has been more time consuming than I thought. Though I could have shared the photographs from each “episode” in a new blog post each week, I’ve decided to hold back on publishing the photos until the videos are released. I’m hoping this will be within the next 4 to 6 weeks, and if this collection of episodes is successful I’m hoping to do a 2nd series!
With both of these projects being in production at the same time, it hasn’t left me much time for just going out to shoot photographs so I can share them here on the blog. I’m hoping though that you’ll appreciate the effort when they do get published.
A New Member of the Team
To finish up this news-based blog post I would like to introduce a new member of the Julian Baird Photography team, Monty Baird. As you can see from the photo Monty is actually a dog, a cocker spaniel to be precise. OK, Monty isn’t going to be capturing any images or processing any photographs, but I do hope that when he is a little older he will be able to join me on some of my photographic adventures. Though I value the solitude that landscape photography can sometimes bring, I’m quite looking forward to having Monty along for company. You might even get to see him in a future video!
Sorry for the lack of photographs in this blog post, but normal service will be resumed next week!
Cloudy with a Chance of Brecon Beacons
I had such fun last year wild camping with Gareth Danks in the Brecon Beacons that I decided to do it again. Armed with a tent, a camera, and a sense of adventure I head up into the hills of the Brecon Beacons for a spot of landscape photography. Would the weather be kinder to me this time though?
Discovering Wild Camping
Last September I went on my first wild camping adventure . It had been something I'd been meaning to do for some time. Much of my enthusiasm for giving it a try was due to me watching wild camping videos from my friend and fellow photographer Gareth Danks. In my first wild camping adventure I headed to the Brecon Beacons and camped up on Pen y Fan. The conditions for photography weren't great, but I really enjoyed the experience.
Back to the Breacon Beacons
After the experience of my first wild camping adventure it was only a matter of time before I wanted to do it again. Fortunately for me though, Gareth is always keen to head out with his tent, and share his experience in wild camping. I might have some skills with a camera, but I'm sensible enough to recognise that I don't have the camping skills!
For our 2nd wild camping trip we did discuss going somewhere further afield like Snowdonia. I visited Snowdonia back in February and I loved the place. (You can watch my adventure in Snowdonia here). However, we both had personal reasons for sticking to somewhere a bit closer to home so we decided on Gareth's backyard. Fortunately for us Gareth's backyard is the Brecon Beacons National Park!
There were a number of questions about this trip though. Would we get better conditions than last time? Would we spend more time drinking coffee? Would I be able to put my own tent up? Let's find out.
As you can see from the video, the conditions were tricky for photography but despite all that I really enjoyed my adventure. I might not have been saying that if I didn't have Gareth along for company. It would have been pretty boring staring into the cloud all by myself!
I'm definitely going to give the wild camping a go again though. I enjoy being outside, walking in the mountains, and brewing cups of coffee in the wilderness. I'm even considering buying my own tent. Would I go back to Brecon Beacons though? Well that all depends on the weather!
Gareth’s Video
Remember to check out Gareth’s video from our wild camping adventure!
A Macro Holiday
I’m just back from my summer holiday and while I was away I did a little more experimentation with macro photography.
Taking a Break from Landscape Photography
As passionate as I am about my landscape photography even I need a break from it every now and again. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been on holiday enjoying some welcome time with my family. Normally when I go away for my summer holiday I don’t bother taking my D850 but this year I decided that I would. However, I didn’t take it to do any landscape photography.
If you are a regular reader of the blog you’ll be aware that I tried my hand at macro photography for the first time earlier this year. You can see my first attempts at macro photography here and here. From those two experiences I knew I wanted to do more macro photography and I promised myself I would invest in a macro lens in 2020.
The reason I took my D850 on holiday was that I knew the person I was staying with had a Nikon mount Sigma 105 macro lens and a garden full of life. I could borrow his lens and without having to travel anywhere get some macro photography practice in.
My time with the camera on holiday was still going to be limited though as I had a lot of other priorities, but I thought I would share with you some of my macro holiday snaps!
Flower Bud
Looking around the garden I could see a lot of flowers in bloom and my first instinct was to photograph them. Looking more closely though I discovered that the flowers that hadn’t fully bloomed were far more interesting!
I like a few things about this photograph. I like the colours, composition and the subject itself. Technically speaking though, it’s not perfect. I could have probably done with a fraction more depth of field as the tip of the flower is just a little out of focus. I would have opened up the aperture a bit more, but this would have caused more of the messy background to come into focus.
Despite the technical issues with this picture it is my favourite from this collection.
Flower Bud - Nikon D850, Sigma 105mm f/2.8, f/5.0, 1/400th sec at ISO 64
Green Bug
OK, firstly, apologies for not knowing the name of this particular bug so you will have to excuse me referring to it as just a green bug. Names aside, what drew me to this composition was colour contrast between the bug itself and the fruit it was sat on. Unfortunately I couldn’t get close enough to isolate the fruit and bug from the rest of tree but I thought it was still worth taking.
I very narrowly missed out on nailing the focus for this one. If you look closely the eyes are just a little out of focus. I think the eyes are slightly further away than the front of the head and the part of the head behind the eyes as both of those parts are in focus. It just shows you how razor-thin the plane of focus can be in macro photography.
Obviously I have much to learn in this area of photography and plenty of practice is required!
Green Bug - Nikon D850, Sigma 105mm f/2.8, f/6.3, 1/100th sec at ISO 64
The Fly
I have to admit that I’ve never found the humble fly that interesting until I took a macro photograph of one. Now, I did cheat a little bit with this photograph. I couldn’t get very close to this subject but thanks to all those megapixels in the D850, even with a heavy crop, there is still loads of detail to be seen. Sure, a heavy crop isn’t the way to approach a photograph like this normally, but I just found the photograph too fascinating not to share. Does anyone have any idea what the red blob on its mouth is? You can even see my reflection in it!
The Fly - Nikon D850, Sigma 105mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/125th sec at ISO 64
I know these macro photographs aren’t going to win any awards. My composition and focusing needs a lot of work but that didn’t take away any of the enjoyment I got from capturing and viewing these images. The macro world is absolutely fascinating and these holidays snaps have only firmed up my commitment to doing more macro photography!
Mid Year Image Review - The Hits
Last week I shared with you some of my images that didn’t make the cut in my mid year review. To balance things out, this week I’m going to share with you some of my more successful images!
The Mid Year Review
At the end of each year I like to take a look back the images I’ve captured and the select my favourites. This is always a useful exercise as it allows me to reflect and judge how my photography has developed over the year. A year is a long time though so I also like to have a quick review of images midway through the year. This is a useful exercise as it shows me that perhaps it’s not been such a bad year and it reminds me of some of the great adventures I’ve had. It also inspires me to plan more adventures for the remainder of the year!
Let’s take a look at 3 of my favourite images of the year so far. (If you want to see some of the images that didn’t make the cut and why, then check out my blog post from last week).
Snowdonia
My first big adventure of the year was a cracker. I was lucky enough to meet up with Nick Livesey in Snowdonia to discuss his book Photographing the Snowdonia Mountains. We spent the day wandering his local area, taking photographs and having a good old chat. You can see my photos and the video I made of my time with Nick here.
The image below was the first image I took that day and remains a firm favourite from the trip. It’s not a perfect image. I like the composition, with the warm sky and the distant mountains but with only a partial covering of snow in the foreground I feel it looks a little messy. I suspect the image has made it onto this blog post due to my attachment with the adventure rather than it is an amazing image. Still, I said I would share my favourite images, not necessarily my best!
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.
Dartmoor
Given that Dartmoor is on my doorstep if would be unusual if this blog post hadn’t featured a photograph from there. You can read about how I captured the image below by reading this blog post here.
This image has definitely grown on me. I remember thinking it was OK at the time, but now that I look at it again several months later I rather like it. I like the row of tors on the left as they curve round to the distant tor and then on the right you have all the scattered boulders which also seem to curve in. Add in an interesting sky and I think I have a fairly decent image. It will be interesting to see how it fairs at the end of the year when compared with everything else.
Belstone Tor and Belstone Common at Dawn, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 @ 26 mm, f/13, 3 secs @ ISO 64.
Macro
And now for something completely different. Though the vast majority of my photography is landscape based, I have been wanting to try macro photography for some time. This year I finally got around to it and you read about how I captured the image below here.
The image isn’t perfect but I do love it. The tips of the wings are just falling out of focus, and my eye for composition in this genre needs developing, but I do love everything else about it. The Zeiss lens that I used as produced some wonderful bokeh and the D850 has rendered some beautiful detail in the butterfly. It’s an image that has solidified my desire to get a macro lens and I expect that the shots I take next spring will feature a lot of macro work.
Common Blue #1, Devon - Nikon D850, Zeiss 100mm f/2 at f/3.5, 1/400th second at ISO 1600
I hope you enjoyed these images. Remember to have a look at the links to the blog posts that go with these images to see more photographs and possibly even a video or two!
Do you review your images just once a year or a number of times over the year? Let me know in the comments below.
Mid Year Image Review - The Misses
Some images are destined to only ever sit on a hard drive. In this blog post I take a look at some of those images in my library and discuss why they never saw the light of today until now.
Confidence Boost
It’s about that time of year when I take a look back at the images I’ve captured over the last six months. Though I like to do a complete review at the end of a year to find my favourites, I also like to have a quick look at the midpoint of the year. This can be a useful thing to do particularly if you think the first half of the year hasn’t been a productive one. As I find with my annual reviews, I often find things were a little better than I remembered and I can take a little confidence boost from the images I see.
The Misses
As I ploughed through my images from the last six months I noticed that for some trips out with the camera I hadn’t even shared one image from that collection. This wasn’t an oversight on my part though. It’s just that I felt the images weren’t really good enough to share. It’s maybe the composition wasn’t quite right, or the light was flat, or the image just lacked “something”.
While it’s all very nice sharing my best images, I thought I would take this opportunity to share a few of those images that never made it passed the import stage. Why? Well it’s just as important to review the images you don’t like as it is to review the images you do like. By also looking at the images you don’t like you can learn why and then take that knowledge out with you on the next shoot.
By me sharing some of “misses” you can hopefully see that life isn’t full of 5-star images and that there are lessons to be learnt from every frame we take.
Colmer’s Hill
Colmer’s Hill, Dorset - Nikon D850, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 82mm, f/8, 1/60th second at ISO 64.
First up we have this panoramic image of Colmer’s Hill in Dorset that I took back in February. This is a pleasing enough image in retrospect but I think the thing that catches my eye most about this photograph is the colour in the sky. But that’s about it really. There isn’t enough low lying mist to make the foreground interesting and to separate the hill from the surrounding landscape. I could have maybe lived with the lack of mist if there had been some light on Colmer’s Hill itself, but without that either, the image just lacks a bit of contrast and punch.
It’s one of those cases of being at a location to watch the sunrise was far more exciting than the resulting photograph.
Dawlish Warren
Dawlish Warren, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 16mm, f/11, 0.4 seconds at ISO 64.
Dawlish Warren is definitely one of my favourite locations to photograph. I’ve blogged about it many times. When I was scanning through my catalogue I wasn’t surprised to find some unpublished images from that location. In retrospect though, I feel that I may have been a bit harsh with my initial critique of this image. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s an amazing image (I have better from there), but overall it’s a decent enough image.
I think the problem with this image for me is that the morning I shot it I was after something very specific so when I didn’t get it I probably just dismissed this image as not what I was after. I rather like the movement in the water and there is a bit of drama in the sky. The composition needs some work though. I’m not convinced that the central placement of the groyne marker works and while the I like the sky, I would have preferred there to be some cloud in the top right to stop the eye wandering off. Overall though it’s a better image than I first gave it credit for.
Wembury
Wembury, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 240 seconds at ISO 100.
This image was taken on my first visit to Wembury so getting a really good image without having explored the area first can be a bit of a challenge. As I look at this image I’m trying to put my finger on what I don’t like about it. I like the triangular shape of the rocks going from the left, out to sea and then out to the island but I would have preferred there to have been more horizontal separation between the rock in the sea and the island in the distance. However, moving about those slippy rocks is challenging and it might have been the best position I could find.
I do however like the pastel colours in the sky and the wispy look of the water from the long exposure, but I’m also not sure that the contrast between the lightness of the sea and sky is too much against the darkness of the rocks. I am definitely a little undecided by this image. However, what I do know is that I want to visit this location again.
In Summary
It certainly has been an interesting exercise writing this blog as it has got me to think a bit more about the images that I had previously rejected. In retrospect, they weren’t too bad at all. Not portfolio pieces or competition entries, but definitely images I would have been happy sharing on my blog. It just goes to show that sometimes you need to leave your images for a while before making any final decisions on them.
How long do you leave an image for before deciding on how good it is? Do you go back on a regular basis and review your images? Let me know in the comments below.
PS - Some Videos You Might Like
On the topic of image review, I thought you might like these videos which you might not have seen yet:
A Tale of the Unexpected
Sometimes the best the shots are on the path rather than the destination itself.
Two Plans in One
Summer generally brings blue skies and warm weather. All very nice for relaxing in and drinking glasses of chilled white wine, but generally useless for landscape photography. After what had seemed to be an endless streak of blue sky evenings I had decided that enough was enough and I was going to go out with the camera. Worst case scenario I could do some exploration of new locations, and best case I might get some high-level cloud around sunset and be able to fire off a couple of frames.
I've been trying to explore more of my local coastline recently so I decided I would visit a location that had been recommended to me by a friend. It's the kind of location you want to visit on a high tide, with a bit of wind and lots of clouds. None of these conditions would be present on this visit, but as this was a mission of exploration, none of that mattered. I just wanted to scope out the location.
As I also had a bit of time I thought I would visit that location first and then head to a different location to catch the sunset. Looking at the map I could see I wouldn’t be far from Froward Point and as I hadn't shot that viewpoint in a while I decided to tag it onto my itinerary.
Blue Skies, Blue Ocean
It was a beautiful summers evening as I set out in my car to my first location. Despite it not being ideal conditions for landscape photography summer is a great time to be driving around Devon. Everything looks lush and green and you can't help but feel everything is going to be just fine!
That sense of well-being and calm continued as I made the last part of my journey to the first location on foot. As I already knew I wasn't going to be taking any "serious" pictures at the location it didn't bother me that it was calm seas and bright blue skies. I took a number of test shots from various different angles. I had to try hard to envisage the location in less settled conditions, but I at least now had a good idea of what I might want to achieve next time. Definitely a location to return to.
I was soon back in the car and crossing the River Dart using the ferry. This is something I haven't done before so it was an added bit of excitement to my little road trip!
Golden Fields
To get to Froward Point you first have to park at the Brownstone National Trust car park and then walk the rest of the way. As you make your way down to the coastline you walk by Daymark Tower, a popular location for photography and a location I’ve shot myself many times. In fact, I had shot it a few weeks before so I was happy enough to pass it by. However, as I walked by it did catch my eye. Instead of the crops being a greeny yellow colour they had turned a golden colour and looked quite different. It did cross my mind that it might photograph well when the sunsets, but I carried on walking, focused on getting to the coastline.
You can shoot Froward Point from a number of different angles as you can see from this blog post here and here. For this visit I decided to go for the spot almost directly below the NCI lookout. I have to admit that when I arrived I just wasn't feeling that excited about shooting there. I'm not sure why this was. The sky now had a few very high-level clouds in it but the rest of the scene wasn't really doing it for me.
I think at the back of my mind I knew that I would have been better off back at Daymark Tower and shooting those golden fields of crops. As time progressed and my desire to photograph Froward Point didn't increase I decided there was no point in waiting until sunset and so I packed my bag and started to walk back to the car.
As I approached Daymark Tower I could see how good the light looked on the tower and the crops. With about 15 minutes of good light left I get to work very quickly and captured these images.
Field of Gold, Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 17mm, f/13, 1/3rd second at ISO 64.
Tower of Gold, Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 at 70mm, f/11, 1/6th second at ISO 64.
Fire Beacon, Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 0.4 second at ISO 64 (single image crop at 16:7).
Though I've shot Daymark Tower a few times, I'd never photographed it looking like this. A combination of clear skies, golden light, and golden crops made for some very pleasing images. Considering I hadn't planned on capturing images at Daymark, these unexpected images were very welcome!
Have you ever passed a location and then wished you'd gone back? Have you ever gone to one location but decided to go somewhere that you had originally dismissed? Let me know in the comments below.
Photographing Boscastle and Using Kase Filters
I'm back with a new video! This week I head to the picturesque village of Boscastle in Cornwall to capture some images of the distinctive S shape harbour. I also talk a little bit about filters and what I like about the Kase Filter system which I'm now using.
Back to Boscastle
Boscastle has a special place in my photographic heart. It was about 5 years ago that I decided I really wanted to start learning the craft of photography so I spent the day with local photographer Ross Hoddinott for a bit of 1-2-1 tuition. The first location we visited was Boscastle and from that viewpoint on Penally Hill I probably learnt more about composition than I'd done in the previous 5 years.
Since that day I've been returning to that viewpoint every year to capture images the harbour. Some years have been more successful than others but I've always enjoyed looking down onto that distinctive S-shaped harbour and the hills that run along with it. There's more than just the harbour to shoot as well. There are a couple of great viewpoints closer to the coastline that are worth checking out. Read my blog post Sunrise at Boscastle to see them.
A Slight Break in the Weather
While the lovely summer weather we've been having here in the south-west is fantastic, it's not exactly been optimal for landscape photography. I love the extended hours of light that allow me to travel further and get out more, but those pesky blue skies don't always translate well into good landscape photographs.
After a few weeks of "great" summer weather there was finally a break from the blue skies and the weather forecast was predicting some decent cloud cover that would hopefully make things a bit more interesting. Fortunately for me it was also going to be high tide around sunset as I was keen to shoot some long exposure seascapes. All I had to do was pick a location. Boscastle immediately sprung to mind!
Kase Filters
Even though I'd already made one of my 5 Minute Photo Adventure videos from Boscastle I was so optimistic about the conditions that I thought it would be worth making another vlog from there. As I was going to be shooting long exposures seascapes I thought it would also be an excellent opportunity to talk about Kase Filters. A few months ago I needed to purchase a new filter system and after recommendations from some fellow photographers I know I decided to go with the Kase Filter system. You can hear what I think about them in the video and watch me put them to use.
If you'd like to see how I got on with my latest photography adventure to Boscastle and hear my brief thoughts on the Kase Filter system, then check out the video below.
A Summers Evening in Boscastle
So was my evening in Boscastle a successful one? Let’s find out.
As you will have seen in the video I actually got the better light early on in the evening. Normally the light gets better the closer you get to sunset but due to atmospheric conditions the light fizzled out a bit as the evening progressed. The following image is my favourite because it has the golden light on the foreground rocks as well as the hills surrounding the harbour.
Last Light at Boscastle Harbour, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 20mm, f/13, 100 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, 6 Stop ND and ND Grad.
The other two images I took are pleasing enough but compared with the first I think they lack some depth and colour.
Boscastle Harbour at Sunset, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 19mm, f/13, 100 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, 6 Stop ND and ND Grad.
Out to Sea, Boscastle, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 18mm, f/13, 160 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, 6 Stop ND and ND Grad.
Overall though I was very happy with my adventure to Boscastle and the photographs I took. Does that mean I won't go back? Of course not! There will always be new compositions to found and different conditions and lighting to work with.
I do hope you enjoyed the video and photographs and that it has inspired you to visit Boscastle. If you are looking for more Cornwall locations to inspire your photography then check out some of my other posts from Cornwall. If you've got a favourite Cornish location that you want to share then let me know in the comments below. See you next time!
Just One Image
Sometimes you only have time to take one image. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Too Clear, Too Cloudy
In landscape photography there is one thing more than anything else that annoys me and that is the weather. It’s an element I have no control of and it seems that I spend more time checking forecasts than I actually do taking photographs. With shooting time at a premium I’m always keen to make the most of what time I do have by going to locations where the conditions will be optimal. Over the years I’ve discovered this is very difficult. On the plus side it does make those times when it all does come together even more satisfying.
Summer normally brings better weather and more importantly longer days so more opportunities for photography. However, the summer weather recently has been a bit of a mixed bag. It’s either been overcast and dull, or bright blue skies. I know some people can do wonders with their photography in clear conditions but I just don’t get on with it (unless I’m chilling out with a glass of wine). What I really want for my photograph at this time of year is somewhere between cloud and clear. It’s not much to ask is it.
The other night I was faced with another clear sky evening. I had the choice of staying in and being grumpy or heading out to do some exploring instead. As I was keen to discover some new locations I decided on the latter and head out anyway.
Middle Dartmoor
I had a quick look at my custom Google Map and saw a pin against Mel Tor in the middle of Dartmoor so that seemed as good a place as any to head out to. I wasn’t expecting to get any images, but I thought I’d better take my camera anyway. When I arrived at the car park I was presented with some beautiful, panoramic views of Dartmoor.
It was only a short walk to Mel Tor and while I didn’t think there was a photograph to be had there that evening I have made a note to return there for autumn because of the big wide views of the woodland below.
I then had the option of taking a look at Sharp Tor but time was getting on and I rather fancied taking a panoramic image of that view I had seen earlier. I wanted to get a better angle and elevation for the panoramic view though so I jumped in the car and drove towards Corndon Tor.
All You Need Is One Image
By the time I got to the summit the light was starting to fade. Although the sun hadn’t reached the horizon yet I knew the surrounding hills would start casting big shadows so I had to get to work quickly. I set up my tripod, took a test shot (to check for focus and exposure) and then took a series of images for my panoramic photograph.
By the time I’d done that the light was gone. I literally had time to take that panoramic image and that was it. Considering I didn’t think I’d take any images, or any decent images that evening I was pretty happy with the result!
Sometimes all you need is one image. It could be the first image you take, the last image you take, or indeed the only image you take.
Dartmoor from Corndon Down, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 at 98mm, f/8, 1/5th second at ISO 64, 13 image stitched panoramic cropped to 16:7.
Blackchurch Rock
In the blog this week I tell you about a recent trip to Blackchurch Rock in Devon. With still water and flat light, was it worth the effort to get there?
Return to Blackchurch Rock
Around the coast of Britain you will find many interesting rock formations. Sea stacks by there very nature are impressive. Lone stacks of rock standing tall and in defiance of the constantly crashing waves. Around the south west of England where I live they are fairly common and easy to find. The sea arch on the other hand tends to be a little more on the rare side.
The sea arch is no less impressive than its sea stack cousin, but given its a relative rarity, they can offer something a little bit different to the seascape photographer. I say that, but I forgot all about Durdle Door for which it is rather difficult to get something different due to its popularity. There is also a sea arch at Lands End which is well worth photographing if you don’t mind the drive!
For me though, I’ve always been fascinated by Blackchurch Rock in North Devon. Like many locations I can’t actually remember how I first learnt about it but I suspect it was most likely to be from Flickr. I’ve only been to Blackchurch Rock once before and that was way back in 2015. I didn’t really get the shot I was after but I was impressed by the location and I knew there was plenty of scope for compositions.
So why has it taken me 4 years to return? The simple answer is that because it’s not the easiest of locations to get to I put off returning until I thought the conditions would be ideal. It’s about 1.5 hr drive, plus nearly a 30 minute walk to get to the location. With a journey time of 2 hours there and 2 hours back, I was only going to return for ideal conditions.
For me ideal conditions consist of a number of things. I want good light and in the right direction. The sea arch stands out from the rest of the beach and having it illuminated by good light will make it stand out even more. There are numerous channels and pools around the beach so tide height and water flow are also important. A good sky with interesting clouds illuminated by the setting sun would also be useful. I probably have a set of conditions that rarely come together if I’m honest!
Less Than Ideal Conditions
As you’ll see in the photographs below my most recent visit didn’t really meet any of my criteria for a return visit. When I planned my visit I knew it was going to be a bit of a risk to go there. The tide was in my favour (it was going out), but the weather forecast was a bit 50/50. For me though, photography is sometimes more than just waiting for ideal conditions, it’s also about adventure and friendship.
Blackchurch Rock, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 20 seconds at ISO 64.
The Bottle Stop, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 25 seconds at ISO 64.
Though it was going to be a bit of a punt to go to Blackchurch Rock I knew it was going to be worth the effort because I’d have company. My mate, who also happens to be a photographer, hadn’t been to Blackchruch Rock in a while and fancied going back. As I was in a similar position I thought it was worth a visit. We might get lucky with the conditions (always a possibility), but more than that it would be a good chance to catch up.
As it turned out the conditions were a bit flat. The sky was heavily overcast, the sun was nowhere to be seen, and even though the tide was going out there was barely any movement in the water. It still wasn’t a wasted trip though. Far from it. I got the opportunity to explore the location a bit more and pick out some compositions that I could use on a future visit. Having a good idea of what compositions work in advance can make it easier to capture images when the conditions are ideal.
Most of all though, it wasn’t a wasted trip because I got to catch up with a mate and eat some chips. Sometimes photography is just a bonus!
Tricky Trevose
In my blog this week I head out to Trevose Head where I discover that previous success at a location doesn’t guarantee future success.
High Hopes
It’s been a while since I captured an image that I really connected with. Or it at least feels that way. Sometimes when the last few shoots don’t go as planned and you come away with a few OK images it’s all too easy to become negative about your own photography. I was starting to feel that way and what I needed was a really productive session out with the camera.
To get some inspiration I opened up Lightroom and looked through my catalogue of images. I was immediately drawn to my photographs of Trevose Head. It appeared that every visit had resulted in a decent image. In fact, some of my favourite images were taken from this location. With such an apparent high success rate at this location how could I go wrong?
I checked the weather forecast and tide times and decided that conditions were favourable enough to make the 1 hour 45-minute drive there. I had high hopes for this trip and I had visions of me capturing an image like this one I took back in 2016:
Last Light at Trevose Head, Cornwall - Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 22mm, f/11, 97 seconds at ISO 100.
Challenges
When I arrived at Trevose Head, conditions looked as predicted. The majority of the cloud was starting to clear revealing a lovely blue sky. Not great for photography I admit, but if the forecast was right, more cloud would arrive around sunset so I wasn’t too worried. At the car park it was very windy and I thought this might make long exposures a bit tricky, but as I descended to my favourite spot on the rocks it was a lot more sheltered.
I had arrived a couple of hours before sunset so I had plenty of time to work out my compositions. I already had a couple in mind. These were either based on existing shots I had taken or some new ones that I thought might prove interesting. Taking test shots this early on was tricky though due to the contrast of the scene. The sky was very bright and the rocks dark making getting a balanced exposure difficult. It’s a hard scene to grad as well as the horizon is broken by the lighthouse.
As the evening progressed and it got closer to sunset some cloud started to roll in. It was some of that nice high-level cloud you sometimes get so I was feeling optimistic. That feeling didn’t last long though. Though I was happy enough with the compositions I had I was finding it a difficult scene to photograph. The problem was that between the cloud and the horizon there was a very bright band of sky where there was no cloud cover. Even when the sun (which was at 90 degrees to me) was behind the cloud, the band of cloudless sky was very bright.
Tricky Trevose Head, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 22mm, f/11, 90 seconds at ISO 64.
Unfortunately I couldn’t use an ND grad effectively. The band of bright sky was close the horizon and given that the lighthouse breaks the line of the horizon, I couldn’t get the grad close enough without cutting through the lighthouse. I guess I could have bracketed some exposures, but my post-processing skills in that area aren’t that good, and I wasn’t convinced it would have delivered a natural looking result anyway.
Out to sea I could see a very impressive storm cloud approaching (see image below). This would have really added some drama to my coastal scene but it wasn’t going to get to my location before I lost the light so I decided that I’d had enough and packed my bag.
Isolated, Trevose Head, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 VR at 50mm, f/8, 1/3rd second at ISO 64.
I was really optimistic and excited about my trip to Trevose Head, but it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I don’t think I ever really got into my stride. Yes, the photography was challenging, but I also suspect I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten properly for a few hours and I know from past experience that being hungry really can ruin your creativity!
This hasn’t put me off from shooting Trevose Head again. Far from it. It still remains one of my favourite Cornish coastal locations to photography. If I ever want to be reminded though I’ll just watch the video I made from there.
Beautiful Blue Butterflies at Berry Head
In the blog this week I’m out again taking macro photographs. This time it’s butterflies and I had no idea how beautiful these creatures are!
More Macro
In the blog last week I talked about Discovering the Joy of Macro Photography. This was my first real attempt at macro photography and I have to say, I really enjoyed it! Yes, it was challenging, but it was a very rewarding type of photography.
From that experience I knew that this was a genre of photography that I would want to do again. So when friend and fellow photographer Neil Burnell said he was heading out to photograph some butterflies and would I like to come, there really was only one answer I could give!
Common Blue #1, Devon - Nikon D850, Zeiss 100mm f/2 at f/3.5, 1/400th second at ISO 1600
Beautiful Bokeh
One of the challenges I have with doing macro photography is that I don’t actually own a macro lens. I borrowed a Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 when I shot the banded demoiselles last week and I was going to have to borrow again for this shoot. Fortunately for me Neil offered to lend me his beautiful Zeiss 100mm f/2 Makro-Planar lens.
As soon as I started using this lens I noticed what a different experience it was from using my Nikkor lenses. The focusing can only be described as buttery smooth! It made precisely focusing the lens a real joy. That didn’t necessarily make capturing the images easy as the subject could still move because of the gentle breeze but at least when it was still you could be confident with the focusing. Couple that with the D850’s focus peaking in live view, the job of focusing was at least made a little simpler
As a landscape photographer I’m not that concerned with bokeh. Most of the time I’m trying to get front to back sharpness so I rarely use wide apertures. In this instance though I very much wanted to create some lovely bokeh in my shots. I’d been looking at Neil’s work in this area but it soon became apparent to me that even though the Zeiss lens could create some lovely bokeh, putting the subject and the other elements all together to create the look was more challenging than I had originally thought!
Common Blue #2, Devon - Nikon D850, Zeiss 100mm f/2 at f/3.2, 1/800th second at ISO 1600
Easy To Miss
As with my previous macro adventure, having someone along with the relevant knowledge was key. Neil knew exactly where to find the butterflies and identify which species they were. The thing that got me though was how small they were! Both the Common Blue and Small Blue that I photographed were tiny. They were about the size of a thumbnail and could be easily missed.
Being so small it’s hard to see all the beautiful detail in these wonderful creatures. This is where the joy of macro photography gets me. Put a macro lens on your camera and suddenly you can see all the tiny details from the stripes along the antenna, the hairs an the thorax and the striking patterns of the wings. A macro lens really does open up a whole new world of natural beauty.
Small Blue, Devon - Nikon D850, Zeiss 100mm f/2 at f/2.8, 1/160th second at ISO 2000
These last two trips out with the camera to do macro photography have really opened my eyes on how I could capture the “landscape” in a different way. Yes, I love taking those big landscape photographs but I’m also quickly learning that there is a whole other world of photography down at my feet.
Just before I finish up the blog, I just want to thank Neil again for inviting me out. Without his local knowledge I would have been a bit lost! As I’m finding out with macro photography, knowledge of your subject is as important as being able to use your camera gear. If you’re looking to develop your macro photography and then definitely check out Neil’s 1-2-1 close up tuition page.
I’m not sure what will be in the blog next week, but one thing is for sure, if there is a chance to do more macro photography I’ll be taking it!
Are you a macro photographer? What is your favourite subject to photograph? Let me know in the comments below.