During the Coronavirus pandemic I used my drone to shoot videos of what was happening around my then home in Scarborough for my parents who were sheltering indoors. 

I've started a YouTube channel, please have a look, and subscribe, for future videos. My style is essentially the same as my stills photographs but with moving images.

For non-photographers I ought to explain my cameras don't take and give me finished photographs, they give me what is known as a raw file, that is to say all the data captured by the digital sensor but not processed in any way. In comparison a point and shoot camera or cameraphone works in the same way but then processes the image for you, choosing how much saturation, sharpening, noise reduction etc to give you, based on pre-set algorithms from the manufacturer. That way you end up with a finished photo that can go straight to Facebook, or Instagram or to send to your mates. For me to get to the stage of a finished photo I have to process the image myself. It is a more long winded process but one which gives me creative control over the finished photo rather than leaving it down to an engineer at Canon who isn't sat shivering on a mountainside and has no idea what kind of end result I am looking for.

So let's start off with an image how it comes out of the camera. I've left all the settings unaltered and simply turned this into a JPEG (a finished photo) so you can see what I got out of the camera. I use Capture One Pro from Phase One so let's get into that and start moulding the image.

As you can see the whole image is rather dull and has a magenta cast across it from the filter I was using. The filter concerned is a cheap 3 stop neutral density filter from Cokin. Three stops slows the water down enough to get that silky effect. I have a lovely Lee Filters Big Stopper which slows it down by 10 stops but that would be overkill for this image where the water is moving quickly, and the cloud was rapidly descending on the mountain so I'd have lost the view of it. The downside of the filter is the magenta cast.

So first thing's first, let's get rid of the colour cast. That is relatively easily done by correcting the white balance. 

Next onto basic editing. 

As you can see I add a bit of contrast, more of which I'll add later but with a lighter touch. The high dynamic range I use to lift the shadows (the darker rocks and heather, particularly bottom right) and bring down the highlights (the sky). Some clarity gives the image a bit of a lift by adding micro contrast, this makes the smaller details, the rocks, the mountain's texture and the heather stand out.

Capture One allows me to add gradient masks. Normally I'd use a neutral density graduated filter attached to the front of my lens, but when I took this shot I was struggling with rain hitting the filters, so didn't and instead added one in processing. Naturally I had to be careful not to blow my highlights to the point where I couldn't recover them, but it was a typically dreich day on the face of a named storm so the sky wasn't so bright!

This next image shows where the mask went:

On the sky layer I drop the exposure by half a stop, add some more contrast as it is covering the mountain, some more clarity for the clouds and the mountain. 

Next the image goes into Photoshop. At this point it is exported as a TIFF as I don't want to be compressing and decompressing the image each time I work on it losing image quality. It does however make for a 100mb file which you'd not want to start emailing. This is the stage we're at so far.

The first stage is to add some warmth and saturation to the image. I use a Photoshop plugin called Color Efex which I really like. I also add a bit more contrast to the clouds. Unfortunately when I added the saturation the water became awfully cyan and unnatural, so that had to be sorted out with Photoshop's  Image > Adjustments > Replace Color tool. I also took out some of the dust spots, most evident top left corner. These are actual tiny specs of dust on the camera's sensor. I clean my own sensors but no matter how hard you try when changing lenses in the field you get some. Luckily it's quite easy to spot removal them out.

So far this is where we're at:

As you can see we're getting there. Next to add some micro contrast. I use a technique I found online, involving duplicating the layer, adding a high pass filter, making it a layer mask, inverting it and then painting it back on. It allows me to control where I want more micro contrast and where I want less. 

Here is me making the mountain pop a bit more. 

Before:

After:

I add different amounts of micro contrast to the image in different areas, painting it in. I also finish up the dust spotting.

Now I am about finished, but all the pushing and pulling the image has left some nasty noise in the sky:

A quick run through one of Nik Software's other tools, DFine, lessens that. Bear in mind that is a greater than 100% zoom into the image, when printed or viewed on screen you'd barely be aware of it even before lessening it. After it looks like this:

I save the resulting image file as a PSD Photoshop file, preserving all it's layers.

This means a file of about half a gigabyte. I also flatten the image and save it as a TIFF, which is the format I'll archive it as. The finished file is back at about 100mb.

Back into Capture One next. I add the final details to the image, keywords, description, headline etc. My contact details are automatically added right at the beginning at import stage so they're already set. Normally I'd add a stage of embedding the GPS location in from my GPS logger but like an imbecile I'd left it at home on this trip. Luckily Glen Coe is like a second home for me so if I can't remember where I shot this there is something massively wrong.

Finally it's time to output the image in usable formats. I send my images to my website (this one) and to Flickr, at full size as JPEGs, a 1600 pixel longest edge copy for Facebook and a 1024 pixel copy for Instagram and to send to my parents on iMessage!

At the same time as the full size files are exported they're also added to Media Pro which I use for cataloging my images, this allows me to search by date, location, keyword etc.

Now everything is sorted, this is the final image, compared to the initial one:

Winter at Buachaille Etive MorA brisk winter's day at Glen Coe, snow arriving ahead of the incoming Storm Ciara.

A bit longwinded I know but I hope it gives you a look at how I work with my images. I am sure there are lots of things I could do better but I am still learning and getting better all the time.

Take care everyone and hope you are managing OK during the coronavirus.

The last two years have been very busy for me personally, having a career change, getting married and moving house. After 14 happy years in the motor trade I decided it was time to move on to a new challenge and having loved my time volunteering on two different lifeboats decided to make myself a career at sea. I now work on boats and ships and love being out on the ocean.

This upheaval meant I had very little time left for my photography and it kind of slipped by the wayside somewhat. 

I am now established in a full time permanent job on a ship which means I will be able to get more photography in, I am already planning a short trip into the highlands once the snow is on the ground. 

On Sunday evening my wife and I went for a walk down from our home in Scarborough's south cliff onto the beach. As we walked around with the high tide breaking onto the footpaths I saw the water draining out of the scuppers back into the sea and envisaged a photograph there. The next night I was back with a camera and got these.

Scarborough South Bay CurvesWater washed onto the path by spring tides washes back out through the scuppers into the North Sea on Scarborough's South Bay.

Scarborough South Bay High SeasHigh seas and spring tides wash water onto the promenade around the old open air swimming pool in Scarborough's South Bay as the sun sets over the North Sea.

Later that night I was joined by a good friend of mine, Andy, who is also a photographer, and we walked the seafront and got another couple of good compositions before a well earned pint. It was great to be back out with my cameras again and I look forward to more sunrises, sunsets, mountains and lakes in the weeks and months to come. I promise the next blog post won't take as long as this one!

Today I spent the day on the North York Moors where the shot I wanted didn't happen due to the weather. I did however have some Elinchrom Ranger Quadra battery powered studio flash with me so rather than come home empty handed I decided to take photograph the Trooper in its usual surroundings, in bad weather on the North York Moors.

My Landscape Photography TruckWith the help of some good friends I have built up a vehicle I can use on my landscape photography expeditions. Based on a 2000 Isuzu Trooper 3.0 diesel LWB I have fitted long range driving lights (ideal for Scotland) mounted on an A bar, 360 degree worklights mounted on the roofrack, a CB, satellite locator, single bed, weather station, insulation to keep me warm at night, winter tyres, uprated batteries to run the lights etc. The truck also carries cooking equipment and a 12 volt shower, for extended periods in the field and an awning to shelter under whilst cooking, kitting up etc.

Today I spent the day on the North York Moors where the shot I wanted didn't happen due to the weather. I did however have some Elinchrom Ranger Quadra battery powered studio flash with me so rather than come home empty handed I decided to take photograph the Trooper in its usual surroundings, in bad weather on the North York Moors.

I pushed my trusty photography truck on (as much as you can a 2 tonne plus 4x4 full of cameras) and made it to Castle Stalker, near Appin, on the west coast. You may recognise the castle from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Having recce'd the location earlier in the week I knew where I could park to be quickly down to the shoreline, you may remember in an expedition in November 2012 I parked at the viewing point, some way up the road and had to slip, slide and fall down an overgrown banking to get to the beach, this time there was no such delay.

I set up, composed the shot and got ready, all the while watching the sun come up over my shoulder. All of a sudden the castle went from being fully in shadow to being bathed in golden sunlight. I worked quickly, getting a couple of different compositions, then as soon as it had come the sun went back below a thick blanket of cloud.

My shooting friends (when I was younger I was in the Great Britain Rifle Shooting Team) will know the feeling of pulling the trigger and knowing it is a belting shot, right down the middle. With this photo I had the same feeling, I knew as I pressed the shutter release, long before the shutter closed and the image appeared on the digital back that it was going to be one of my favourite ever shots.

Early Sun, Castle StalkerThe first sun of the day illuminates Castle Stalker on Scotland's west coast.

Packing the car back up I headed onwards towards Loch Awe and Castle Kilchurn. Unfortunately the cloud was back with a vengeance, as it stayed through the rest of the day, I tried the Falls of Dochart at Killin, again thick cloud, along Loch Tay, up over Meall Odhar Mor, through Tummel Bridge, Dalchalloch and onto the A9, then off at Dalwhinnie, past the famous distillery and down the banks of Loch Laggan. I had a spot in mind to try and wait for some decent light but when I got there the level of the loch was much higher than the last time I was there in September meaning my spot was underwater! As light fell I turned to another previous spot, Loch Arkaig where I have had success in the past. Sadly the cloud stayed with us meaning it was a no-go.

I am going to have some dinner and keep an eye on the cloud, if it clears I'm going back out into the hills to take advantage of the full moon and do some night photography.

Update - Friday 17th January at 0100 Hrs.

I've just got back in, the cloud looked to be clearing so I kitted up and went out again, only for the cloud to come back in. Still, there is nothing like the amazing solitude of being out on your own in Glen Coe at midnight in a full moon and a snow shower! As I've said before I love that place and being around tonight, instead of feeling quiet and lonely, as it may well to many people, it felt like home.

I even went for a jog out on the moor, I've been using a Fitbit Flex to help me get fitter for photography (my rucksack with 3 camera systems and lenses for each weighs in at 40kg and carrying it up hills and mountains is hard work). This ingenious little wristband measures how many steps I have taken each day, with a target of 10,000 per day (just over 5 miles). Approaching midnight I realised I was on 9600. Being as competitive as I am I couldn't miss my target so pulled up right at the summit of Rannoch Moor, parked up and went for a run about. There was only me, a herd of deer, and driving snow for company. It was quite refreshing and I hit my target! Sadly it wasn't a night for photography, a low cloud hanging over the mountains, but I am glad I was out there anyway. 

Now to bed and ready for an early start in the morning, the met reports look really promising and thanks to a fellow landscape photographer, Paul Bullen, I have a new location to try.

Heading back to the car I climbed down onto the banks of the River Coe where I shot this.

The River Coe at Signal RockThe River Coe at Signal Rock in Glen Coe with Aonach Dubh to the right and Aonach Eagach to the left, photographed on a typically moody day.

As you can see the weather is typically Glencoe, a low cloud and sporadic heavy rain.

Moving on I drove further south, chasing the gap in the clouds I could see beyond Rannoch Moor. Sadly by the time I got there the gap had closed and more low cloud and grey skies were the order of the day.

I headed back to Glen Etive, a favourite of mine and a real road to nowhere, a wandering 14 mile single track road most recently used as the backdrop for a scene in Skyfall, the latest James Bond film. Sadly Skyfall House is a figment of the director's imagination but there is Dalness Lodge, once a family home of Ian Flemming, creator of James Bond.

Just inside the road to Glen Etive there is a creek where the River Coupall flows down in front of the iconic Buachaille Etive Mor. A black and white conversion adds to the drama of this shot.

Buachaille Etive Mòr in WinterSnow and low cloud shrouds Stob Dearg on Buachaille Etive Mòr in the Scottish highlands, seen from the River Coupall on Glen Etive.

By this time the weather had once again come in, far from unusual for this part of the world. One thing Glen Etive has though is deer, loads of loads of deer, to quote a true Yorkshire phrase, it is running wick with them. On the drive down to Loch Etive I counted 37 deer, many of them majestic stags. They seem quite tame and I had chance to stop the car, go and put a telephoto lens on and grab a shot of this obliging fellow. I'll be honest I'm not a wildlife photographer so forgive me you don't like it.

Red Deer Stag at Glen EtiveAn obliging Red Deer stag on the Glen Etive road in Glen Coe, Scotland.

I spent an hour sat in the pouring rain in the pass of Glencoe listening to the rain bouncing off the roof and hoping it might clear but alas it didn't. I had a quick spin through Glencoe village and through to Kinlochleven before heading back to my base for the week.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks a lot more hopeful so I am currently planning where to head. Fingers crossed.

Heading towards Mallaig on the A830, the Road To The Isles, I turned off at Kinlocheil and down the banks of Loch Eil, a location which has proved fruitful for me in the past. There was a stunning low mist hanging over the loch but unfortunately the sun never broke through, any photograph would have been purely a snap. I waited and waited but alas the cloud thickened meaning it was a no-go. 

Back in the truck I headed towards Mallaig and to the Glenfinnan Monument. I decamped and had a lovely hike around the banks of Loch Shiel but again there wasn't any decent light. Walking back to the car I disturbed a family group of deer. I was quite close to them when they appeared through the woods, what appeared to be a male, female and fawn. I think they were Roe deer in winter coats, they were a lot more brown than the usual reddish coloured ones you see, if you happen to be a deer expert please let me know. Unfortunately they recognised a telephoto lens being attached and were on their toes and away.

I turned off at Lochailort and followed the road along the loch to Glenuig and on to Kinlochmoidart. Here I got my only shot of the day;

Snow Capped Ceann Loch UachdrachA house nestles in the shadows of Ceann Loch Uachdrach near Ardmolich in the highlands of Scotland, the snow capped peaks and forestry give the scene a layered look.

I liked how the landscape formed layers, and the house nestled in the shadow of the mountain.

From here I carried on  through Salen and towards Ardmurnarchan, this was a bit of a self indulgent trip, I have very fond memories of a family holiday where we rented a cottage at Camus Inas, right on the banks of Loch Sunart, it was so close to the loch that at high tide most of the garden disappeared under water! I was able to see the cottage we rented and nothing appeared to have changed, such is the pace of life in this part of the world.

Heading back towards the Corran Ferry  I stopped and dropped into Resipole Studios where I met Andrew Sinclair who was happy to show me around the superb work, even though he was in the middle of rehanging and reorganising the gallery. It is definitely somewhere I will return on my next trip and urge you to if you are in the area.

Crossing the Corran Ferry I turned right and headed down to Castle Stalker on the offchance that there might be a break in the clouds at sunset, sadly not.  I headed back and recce'd a shot on the banks of Loch Leven, then back to my hotel.

It wasn't a wasted day, it is always great to be out and about in the highlands, and it is simply one of the hazards of being a landscape photographer that some days the camera never leaves the bag. Hopefully tomorrow will be more successful.

Dinner now and an early night, I am going to be out early in the morning.

It was a fairly uneventful trip, cold out but dry from York till Glasgow where torrential rain came in. By Loch Lomond this had turned to sleet, which stayed with me to Crianlarich where it turned heavier from time to time all the way to Fort William. There was snow on the ground over Rannoch Moor and although a low mist hung over the road I could see the peaks of Glencoe towering above the A82 as I drove up. I may have mentioned it before but I have a real affinity for Glencoe, although I have never lived here, nor have any family from here (that I know of) for some reason it feels like home, as soon as I come around the corner past the Kings House Hotel and Glencoe Mountain Resort I feel a calm descend as if I have come home. Odd.

I was planning to stay in my truck for this trip but then Premier Inn launched their winter sale and for £25 a night I could have a warm bed and a proper shower with a pub and McDonalds within a 5 minute walk. To be honest I didn't have to think for long so here I am, checked in, I stay here that often it feels like a home from home. A quick bite to eat in the attached restaurant and back to my room to unpack, set up wifi access and prep my kit for tomorrow. 

I'm going to have a leisurely start tomorrow and probably a run down to Loch Etive through Glen Etive and possibly a drive back South to Rannoch Moor. Now for an early night.

I used my Elinchrom Ranger Quadra battery powered studio flash equipment, a superb piece of kit which I love to use. Essentially you've got the power of a studio flash, in a light portable kit which packs up into a briefcase and can be taken anywhere, even packed into the back seats of a Porsche 911! 

Mixed weather (in North Yorkshire? Surely not!) greeted the day of the shoot, we were interrupted half way through by a tremendous hailstorm, 15mm hailstones bombarded us and left the area looking like it had snowed.

My technique for this shoot was to underexpose the background and light the car with fill flash from the Quadra Rangers. This would give me a correctly exposed foreground with a nice dramatic background. I used a combination of a reasonably small aperture (between f8 and f13) and a graduated neutral density filter (ND Grad) to ensure the sky kept definition and also to add to the drama of the slightly stormy sky.

Porsche 930 Turbo Coupe For this shot I laid my tripod nearly flat (a benefit of the Gitzo Explorer I use) to give a different perspective to the usual car photograph. 

Porsche 930 Turbo Coupe With this shot the underexposed and filtered sky shows the stormy sky prior to the hailstorm.

The journalist wanted an interior shot, so for this shot I used one of my Quadra Ranger heads laid on the passenger seat, to throw a touch of light onto the dashboard, and one looking over my shoulder as I took the shot to illuminate the steering wheel and instruments, this gives the shot an almost 3D effect.

Porsche 930 Turbo Coupe

Having taken photos of each angle of this wonderful sports car the next job was some tracking shots, that is to say shots showing the car moving.

Normally we would hang out of the boot of the camera car to take shots like this but on this occasion I chose to lean out of the car window, which gives a greater degree of safety and security. The key to shots like these is for the car being photographed to match the speed of the camera car, and then use a slow shutter speed to blur the background. If the speed of the two cars is different the shot won't be sharp, get it right and the car is pin sharp whilst the blurred road and background gives a real feeling of speed.

Porsche 930 Turbo Coupe The 911 Turbo has really wide hips, which a rear-on shot like this emphasizes.

Porsche 930 Turbo Coupe Although this looks tremendously fast it was shot at only 50 or so MPH, the slow shutter speed giving a real feeling of speed.

I was really pleased with the shots, Pistonheads was happy with them and you can read the article here 

My recently acquired 24mm TS-E lens lends itself to architectural photography, these images would have exhibited big leans as if the buildings were falling backwards had I not used the shift of the lens to keep the verticals vertical.

I started off at Media City, the BBC's new development to replace their old White City London base.

Meda City, Manchester

Then I moved on to The Lowry, the theatre and arts complex designed by Michael Wilford, a very striking building.

The Lowry, Manchester The best thing about photographing this area is the owners relaxed approach to photography, which is becoming rarer and rarer due to ridiculous paranoia that photographers might turn out to be secret terrorists. Taken from the Media City developers website:

• Are the general public permitted to take pictures at/of MediaCityUK?

• We encourage those wanting to take images of the exterior buildings and public piazza to do so, but please be mindful of events taking place around the area you wish to photograph.

Such an approach should be applauded, the owners of other big developments really should take note, particularly Canary Wharf.

A Blue Day, Ullswater

A beautiful cold afternoon on Ullswater in the Lake District, ice on the rocks and snow on the caps of the distant mountains. I was there to recce some locations for future visits, this has potential for a sunrise shot and I am sure I will return. Usually mid-day sun is quite boring but on this day it was such a beautifully sunny day I thought I could make something of it.

Ribblehead Viaduct In Snow

The iconic arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct stand firm against a biting wind and minus 5 degrees celsius temperatures on a cold March morning.

Another early start this morning, out of York at 4.15am in minus 5 degrees celsius, there had been a smattering of snow in York but no more, I was surprised to find a thick blanket of snow covering the Yorkshire Dales, driving was treacherous at times, I was ahead of the gritters and snowploughs.

Reaching Ribblehead at 6.15 the first light was just spreading across the valley. I got kitted up in cold weather gear, hoody, fleece, fingerless gloves, a Polartec snood, gaiters over my trousers, the whole lot. A short walk down to the bridge and I got set up. 

The wait for the sun was cold (it was minus 4 outside) and sat in the snow watching a hardy dog walker and his faithful Springer making the most of the cold morning. 

As the sun came up the clouds cleared and I was able to get this photo, using my new favourite lens, a Canon 24mm TS-E tilt and shift I used a touch of tilt to maximise depth of field.

To avoid having my shadow in the show I had to lie in the snow, the sun being behind me. I was glad of my cold weather gear. 

A lovely cold morning in a very quiet tranquil place.

In this photo the foreground is perfect but we've lost detail in the sky. So we do the obvious, shorten our shutter speed to allow less light in so that the sky isn't too bright. Now we get a photo like this:

I'm happy with that sky, unfortunately what we've now got is a foreground, the lovely Ashness Bridge near Keswick in the Lake District, that is way too dark.

This is a common issue for landscape photographers, the scene contains more dynamic range (that is to say the difference in brightness between the darkest foreground and the brightest sky) than the camera can record. The difficulty is that your eyes are much better at making the most of a scene like this than even the best cameras. 

What we need to do is to somehow balance the brightness of the sky and the darkness of the foreground so that both are recorded in the same shot.

One way is to blend both images in Photoshop. This would certainly work in a photo like this where the only movement in the shot is the water. If however there was a few elements moving, maybe waves rolling into a seascape, or any scene with people in them it becomes a lot more difficult to get a convincing result. 

I, and a lot of other landscape photographers, prefer to get as much done in the camera as possible, after all, I'd rather be sat watching the sun come up over Skiddaw on a lovely crisp winter's morning than sat in front of my Macbook in Photoshop trying to make it look right. The answer for us is Neutral Density Graduated Filters, usually abbreviated to ND grads, or just grads. These filters are dark at the top and light at the bottom, allowing you to balance the brightness of the sky against the darkness of the foreground, in one shot.

So, how would we balance out a shot like this?

Sunrise Over Skiddaw, At Ashness Bridge I used a 3 stop graduated neutral density graduated filter, applied over the sky and mountains in my photograph. This brought the brightness of the sky down to a level where it could be recorded by the camera. With this photo I also used a circular polariser to cut through reflections in the stream, this is best seen in the pool to the bottom of the image;

Sunrise Over Skiddaw, At Ashness Bridge I favour a British made brand of filters from Lee, an old name in the film and photography industry. Their filters are hand dipped (in the dye) to ensure the best quality. Their Quality Control is rigorous which means that there is sometimes difficulty in getting supply of them; it is worth waiting for them, I've tried all the brands and whilst Lee aren't cheap, they are the best.

So, what do we need? Rather than just send you off to find these I'll link to them at our friends Dale Photographic in Leeds who are one of my closest suppliers of Lee filters.

You will need the following:

1. A filter holder. Lee call this their Foundation Kit. It has multiple slots so you can stack multiple filters. 
2. An adaptor ring for each lens you want to use filters on. At the end of your lens there will be a guide to its filter size, usually indicated with a symbol like an O with a strike through it. As a guide my Canon 17-40 takes a 77mm filter whilst my Canon 24mm TS-E takes a 72mm filter. If you're going to use filters on a wide angle lens (as is often the way with landscape photography) I would recommend the wide angle adaptor rings.
3. The filters themselves.  Filters come in a range of strengths, from 0.3 (one stop) through to 0.9 (three stops). I personally would avoid a one stop, I've not found much use for those. I mainly use a three stop, living in North Yorkshire where the moors are dark coloured heather, and travelling to Scotland with dark coloured rocks there is often quite a big difference between the foreground and sky. Next you can choose between hard and soft edged grads, this refers to how quickly the filter changes from the dark to the light side. I prefer to use hard edged filters for the majority of my shots, I find that with a soft edged grad only the very top of the filter is the stated strength, that can lead to a band of blown (pure white) sky above the line of hills or mountains you're photographing. If you want one filter to start with I'd get a 3 stop hard edged and see how you get on.

So, we've got all the kit, how do we use them? First we've got to work out the difference between the sky and the foreground. Put your camera into spot meter mode, aim at the foreground in aperture priority mode and see what the reading is and remember it. As an example say the camera told you you would need 1/30th at f11. Now aim at the sky and take another reading, imagine this reading is 1/500th at f11. That means there is four stops difference between the sky and the foreground (one stop would be 1/60th for the sky, two stops would be 1/125th, three stops would be 1/250th and four stops is 1/500th). I usually take one away from this figure, to allow for the sky naturally being brighter than the foreground. As such I would use a three stop filter to balance the scene.

Now align your camera (hopefully on a tripod, and using a cable release) to get the composition you want and make sure it is level. In manual exposure mode set the camera to the setting you had for the foreground (1/30th of a second at f11). Focus and switch the lens to manual focus so that you don't knock it as you apply the filter. Now switch on liveview if your camera has it, and, watching the screen, slide the filter into its holder on the front of the lens. If you press the Depth of Field preview button on your camera it will really help show where the gradation lies. Align the gradation with the horizon. Now trigger the shutter with your cable release to take the shot. Check the histogram on the screen of your camera to make sure you've applied enough filtration, there should be a gap at the right hand edge showing you've not blown the highlights. Most cameras have the option of highlight warnings, or blinkies, to tell you where a shot is overexposed to the point of losing detail, these are invaluable.

In time you'll get used to just looking at a scene and in your head working out which filter you want, this just comes with experience.

I hope this gives you a brief starting point with filters, they really are, in my opinion, an essential tool for the landscape photographer. If you have any questions feel free to email me through my website, I'll do my best to help.

In the days before digital photography (and to a lesser extent today by some specialists) photographers used view cameras such as this.

These cameras had movements, the bellows allowed the lens and front standard to be moved in relation to the film plane. This allowed the photographer to correct for perspective issues. With digital SLR cameras these movements were lost, until Canon released its range of TS-E tilt and shift lenses.

There are two aspects to a tilt and shift lens, in this post I will cover the first, shift (I only collected the lens this afternoon and haven't had chance to take some example photographs for tilt yet!).

Shift is used in several applications, in my photography the two that will be most useful are in correcting converging verticals in architectural photography, and stitching shots to increase resolution and get a wider angle.

Below is a quick grabbed shot of York Minster, taken at 24mm on my Canon 17-40 F4 wide angle lens, this is a conventional lens with no movements.

As you can see the Minster appears to be falling backwards, whilst it is an old building and needs continuous work to keep in good condition it isn't in the perilous state that this photo appears to show, the perspective created by tilting the camera upwards to get the whole Minster in shot has given this effect.

Here is the same shot taken on the Canon TS-E 24mm with some vertical shift applied. The camera is levelled horizontally and vertically and then the lens shifted upwards to bring the whole of the Minster in shot. Keeping the camera's sensor (or in a film camera the film plane) parallel to the subject prevents the falling backwards effect.

Whilst there is little artistic merit in these photos I hope they show the potential of a tilt shift lens, I think it will be a very useful thing to own.

As soon as I get chance I will take some shots showing the other aspect of the lens, its ability to tilt.

On arriving at Castlerigg I got kitted up in cold weather gear, the outside temperature was -4 degrees Celsius and there was quite a frost on the ground. At times like this I wear a pair of neoprene fishermans gloves which allow the thumb and forefinger of each hand to be revealed making camera controls easy whilst keeping the rest of your hands warm.

I set up my first shot with the sun to my left, which was still well below the horizon. At times like this I really should use my spotmeter to work out the shutter speed required but to be honest you get a feel for it and I tend not to bother. This shot I gave just less than 3 minutes which worked out right.

Castlerigg Stone Circle At Dawn

For my next shot I moved around so that the sun was coming up behind me, its first light illuminating the stones and the tops of the distant snow capped peaks. Full moon was only a couple of days ago so it was still large in the sky. Normally elements are better positioned on the thirds of an image but with this one I thought having the moon centrally above would work. As Castlerigg is such a mystical place the presence of a nearly full moon seemed to suit it.

Castlerigg Stone Circle In Moonlight Finally I always try and find a different angle, in a location as picturesque as Castlerigg it would be easy to get absorbed with the stones themselves and miss other shots. A short walk across the field brought me to a dry stone wall overlooking a misty valley. I used the wall to lead the eye into the photo and the vivid sunrise colours gives the shot a nice relaxing feel.

Sunrise Over High Rigg Whilst out at Castlerigg I met a few other photographers, which is always nice to meet likeminded people. I hope you all got the photos you wanted. One chap I met was Duncan Heavisides who has a good website, have a look here 

Finishing up at 7.30 the sun was now too high in the sky to get the best light. I took the decision to get home and catch up on some sleep, in a location as good as the Lake District is would be easy to spend the rest of the day wandering about ruing the lack of good light. I preferred to get home, catch up on some sleep and get processing the shots from the day. I will be back again to the Lakes, there is no point, in my opinion, wasting the day trying to work with poor quality light and wasting such an amazing location.

I set off back to York and was home by 9.30am, stopping off at my mum's house to say hello, she made me the finest bacon, sausage and black pudding sandwich which was the perfect finish to a good morning of photography (thanks Mum!).

Depending on my schedule, and of course the weather, I think Ullswater is on the menu next week.

I've now got the truck back, with another new engine (the interim new engine was also broken!) and running well.

I've got a few more bits to do to it before its next big mission (snorkel, satphone etc) but I've done a few miles in it to shake it down and it is running well. One mod I had to do is to put a bracket on the CB aerial so I can fold it down, where I park at home there is a height restriction and initially it was far too tall. Now as I approach home I stop, fold the aerial flat to the roof and drive in.

I'm looking forward to getting out and using the truck.

Sunrise Over Skiddaw, At Ashness Bridge

I had a spare day so decided, at the last minute, to head over to the Lake District. Living in York means I am an hour closer than I used to be living in Scarborough which makes it a lot easier. 

Leaving the house at 4.25am and heading through York there was very few people about, a couple of drunks and the binmen. I headed for one of my favourite spots, Borrowdale, just South of Keswick and alongside Derwentwater.

I got to Keswick for about 6.15am, there was just the faintest light in the sky and I had to set my gear up by the light of my headtorch (an invaluable item to have with you). I took some shots of the famous jetty before heading up the slippery icy road to Ashness Bridge. I'd been here before but in the daytime when the whole area was full of tourists and the light was harsh so I knew the layout and had a mental image of the shot I wanted. 

Clambering over the wet rocks I got into position, levelled the tripod up, got my filters set up and waited for the light to come to me. I used a Lee 105mm Circular Polarising filter to cut through the reflections on the water and wet rocks, a 3 stop hard edged ND grad and a 3 stop soft edged ND grad together to control the difference in brightness between the morning sky and the rocks and bridge which would be in shadow.

As I sat there in the gloom, grabbing chance for some breakfast I heard a movement on the banking above and saw a red squirrel, only the second one I've ever seen (the first I nearly flattened when he ran out in front of my car on the road between Fort William and Skye on one of my trips last year). He came close and stood with his head on one side watching me set up, he seemed quite intrigued by this madman sat in freezing cold water waiting for the sun to come up.

I waited over an hour for the light to get to where I wanted, the distant peaks of Skiddaw catching the first rays of light and the clouds turning a beautiful colour. I shot a coupe of frames with different cloud positions, this was my favourite. 

I think it was worth getting up early and braving the cold, I hope you agree.

York Minster

Late afternoon sunlight hits York Minster and the city's historic Bar Walls. One of the benefits of moving back into the centre of York is being able to walk out and take shots of the city. I waited an hour for the later afternoon sun to hit the Minster for this shot during which I gave directions, advised tourists on which hotel to book and took a group photo for some Japanese tourists.

Days can be the same, it is often said that a good landscape photograph can only be taken in the first and last hours of daylight, and whilst the light tends to be better at those times I believe that if you work at it, and luck is on your side, you can get good shots in the middle of the day.

Thursday I set off from my new home of York (I moved on the 27th December, just to make things more exciting) for the Yorkshire Dales. I took my mum for a run out and we left her house at about 9.30. We initially headed up the A59, for once I had no fixed plan in my mind of where I wanted to go, just that I wanted to get back out with a camera, having been a little ill, having moved house and with Christmas I'd not been out for a while.

As we passed Harrogate and on to Blubberhouses Moor (no, really!) the fog began to close in. The interesting thing was that I could see the top of the fog, checking the temperature gauge on the car as we climbed up the hill I realised there was an inversion, at low level the temperature was 1 degree celsius, at the top of the hills it was 3 or 4 degrees. 

I tried a sideroad off Blubberhouses which resulted in a shot of a tree in a hoar frost (I'll post that some other time) but I couldn't get above the cloud like I wanted.

I set course for the Yorkshire Dales, still hopeful I might get what I wanted.

As we climbed out of Settle and Langcliffe onto the tops through the cloud I could see the sun beginning to break through as the temperature rose back to 4 degrees. As we burst out of the cloud into a beautiful sunny day I realised I would get what I wanted, a cloud inversion. A fellow photographer, Terry Abraham, explains a cloud inversion far better than I could on his site

I quickly got set up and captured these two;

Yorkshire Dales Cloud Inversion and

Langcliffe Cloud Inversion

After I'd taken these two I jumped back in the car as the cloud had risen. I was on a race against the clock to get some more shots before the sun burnt through the cloud. Further towards Arncliffe I stopped again, at this bottom of a valley is Cowside Beck, the valley was steep sided and it was a slightly dangerous scramble down to get the composition for this one. With its variety of textures I thought colour would just confuse this one so went for a black and white conversion;

Cloud Inversion, Yorkshire Dales

Taking this shot I could see trees at the edge of the cloud peeping out, a short run down the road saw me greeted with this sight.

Fog In The Trees, Yorkshire Dales For this shot I used the longest lens I had with me, a 135mm F2, coupled to a 1.4x converter to give a focal length of 189mm. This compresses the scene. Having taken this shot I could see a sheep grazing on the field in front of me. This field was bathed in light whilst the trees and fields behind were both shrouded in mist and in shadow giving an interesting contrast;

Sheep In Frost & Fog, Yorkshire Dales

I kept the same setup as the previous shot but with a much bigger aperture, f2.8, which meant the distant hills and foreground were both defocussed and concentrated the eye on the sheep. I had to clap, wave and whistle to get the sheep's attention!

All in all a great day out and truly a case of being in the right place at the right time.

In the meantime I hope everyone has a great New Year, and thanks for your continuing support.

Click here and you will be taken to the calendar. To download the current month simply click the thumbnail and click the download button at the top, that will download the file to your computer so you can use it as your desktop background.

Happy Christmas!

As the year draws to a close I wanted to say Happy Christmas to all my friends, followers and contacts. Thank you all for your support over 2012, I hope your year has been a good one and you have a great Christmas and New Year.

Sunlight On Sand Ripples, Scarborough South Bay

As the sun rises over Scarborough's South Bay a golden light is cast on ripples in the sand created by the tide.

Buachaille Etive Mor

Buachaille Etive Mor on a crisp November morning, the last few autumnal trees give a splash of colour against the bleak snow capped mountains of Glencoe.

Glencoe is an amazing place, there is a real sense of drama there, even if you don't know the area's history. Strangely despite never having lived there I feel very much at home there.

As is the way of being a landscape photographer I was up early, out of the hotel about 6.30am, and down to the shores of Loch Leven, near Ballachulish, in the Highlands. It was still dark as I wended my way down a slim trail to the shoreline, a headtorch job. As I got to the shore there was the most enormous splash a few yards out, I jumped out of my skin! I shone the torch around, couldn't see anything though. I got set up and started the usual waiting game for the sun to come up. 

Kneeling down to the camera after a few minutes I needed to stretch my legs so stood up to once more be greeted by another huge splash. A shine of the torch around but just ripples in the otherwise still loch.

As I waited for the sun to come up I spotted the source of the big splashes, a seal swimming across the loch!

I got some great sunrise shots, including this one of the reflections of the autumnal colours reflected in the loch, I would love to own one of these houses.

Autumn Reflections - Loch Leven

From Loch Leven I came around the far side of Kinlochleven grabbing a photo of the waterfall which was flowing well. From there I headed through Glencoe (my favourite photographic location in the UK) taking chance to get more shots of Buachaille Etive Mor and some more on Rannoch Moor.

Finally, at the end of my fourth day, I headed back home to Yorkshire. By the time I got back it was 1185 miles in 4 days, each and every one of them enjoyable. The trip didn't start off in the best fashion but I managed to recover the trip and have got some shots I am really proud of, I hope you like them. I also recce'd lots of future shots and will be back as soon as there is a greater covering of snow on the ground, hopefully in my truck.

At Eilean Donan the lights on the castle were switched off which is a little bit of a disappointment, I will return at some point, hopefully when they're on again. I got a few shots of the castle in the early morning gloom but the sunrise was a lacklustre affair.

Moving on I headed down to Kyle of Lochalsh and over the Skye Bridge to the Isle of Skye. Having the bridge must make it so much easier for the inhabitants of the island rather than having to get a ferry to the mainland. I took the long single track road towards Elgol, stopping at one point to watch a Buzzard squabbling with a murder of crows over the remains of a rabbit, I was within 10 yards or so but unfortunately it flew off when I tried to get a camera out.

Skye appears to have rain the likes of which I have only seen in one other area of the UK, Loch Sunart. Without warning rain will come, within seconds of the first spots hitting the clouds open and a full on downpour soaks everything, but only for a few minutes, before it clears up. A couple of times I got a soaking, I was grateful for both the weathersealing on my camera and my Gitzo goretex coat.

Approaching Torrin it was the aftermath of one of these downpours which cleared the air, as the sun came through the clouds it cast the most amazing light on Blà Bheinn, one of the 12 munros (peaks over 3000 feet) on the island;

Light on Blà Bheinn From there I moved on to Elgol, capturing some seascapes with the mountains in the background. I then retraced my route back across towards Kyle of Lochalsh, I had wanted to take the ferry back to Mallaig but the timings didn't fit in so it was a blustery drive across the Skye Bridge with the High Wind warnings flashing. I could have spent a week purely on Skye but am short on time this trip, now that I have recce'd it I am sure another trip is in order at some point.

Back on the mainland I took the A87 back past Loch Cluanie whose level looked really low, it is a reservoir with a dam, it looked strange with lots of extra shoreline exposed. Back to Fort William I headed South to Castle Stalker in time for a sunset. I made the mistake of parking at the cafe which overlooks the castle, assuming there would be a path down. There isn't, so I had to stumble through a steep boggy hillside down to the beach. When I got to the bottom I spoke to another photographer (Billy Currie) who had found a parking spot right next to the beach. Oops. Still, once I'd got the shots I wanted the walk back up the boggy hill was worth it.

Finally I headed back North, up to my hotel in Fort William for a warm shower and a bite to eat, it has been another busy day, 300 miles and 12 hours. A quick bit of photo processing, write this blog and an early night before yet another early start in the morning, this time heading to my old favourite, Glencoe, before heading back down to York. 

Goodnight.

The alarm seemed to come around really quickly on Friday, I was out of the hotel at 5.50am. From Kinross I drove up to Queens View near Pitlochry. This is a stunning viewpoint overlooking Loch Tummel. I was hoping for a nice colurful sunrise but a thick blanket of cloud put paid to that. Still the trees were still in fantastic vibrant colour.

From Queens View I drove up, catching breakfast at the Ralia Cafe near Newtonmore and then on to Aviemore. I took a drive up to Cairngorm Mountain but sadly there didn't appear to be much snow so I left the mountain railway for another day. I dropped down past Loch Morlich where I took a long exposure.

Loch Morlich Long Exposure From Loch Morlich I carried on to Inverness before realising I was just on the doorstep of FFordes camera shop at Beauly, a goldmine of interesting gear.

From Beauly I took the route along Loch Ness, stopping for some more long exposures, and then past Fort Augustus and down towards Fort William

Passing Invergarry I saw a sign for the Glengarry Castle Hotel, I turned in down a long drive past an amazing ruined castle to a hotel. On approach I found that the road I was on was the private drive for the hotel. When a lady, who I assume was involved with the hotel, looked a little puzzled I explained that I was a photographer looking for locations. She couldn't have been more helpful encouraging me to go anywhere I wanted around the grounds of the hotel, which had closed for the winter. The hotel looked amazing and had lovely grounds down to Loch Oich not to mention the castle. The lady left me a brochure on the hotel and I will be sure to give it a try some time. I really appreciate the lady letting me take photos in the hotel grounds, it was most pleasant.

I arrived at Fort William around 3pm and was hopeful that the cloud might lift long enough for a decent sunset so drove up to Loch Arkaig which runs East to West, ideal for a sunset. Sadly the cloud didn't lift so it was fruitless, I did however identify a couple of spots for future use. I keep my satnav on all the time, even when driving roads I know, so I can save photography locations for future. These spots are now saved for my next trip.

On arriving back at Fort William I'd covered over 300 miles of mountain roads, a good day's driving. I checked into the Premier Inn, my usual haunt around these parts, and had dinner. Another early night is scheduled this evening, I am going to be out early tomorrow, I have big plans! Watch this space. 

Goodnight.

I set off on Monday, first headed over to the Lake District to recce a shot I have in mind (there isn't quite enough snow on the tops yet for that one) so had some tea, watched some fireworks in Ambleside and then decided to make a late run North, I reckoned I would get into Callander at about midnight where I would overnight.

As I climbed out of Kendal on the A6 the engine suddenly started rattling and lost power, I got it across into a farm track (no laybys handy) and off the busy road. I rang the RAC who started to make plans to get the car recovered. It was a bitterly cold clear night and I was very grateful to the chap living in the house opposite who was kind enough to bring me out a brew and a chocolate biscuit, it was very welcome.

I broke down at 8.30pm and finally got home to Scarborough at 5am! 

The prognosis on the truck isn't ideal, the engine has gone and will need a fresh one. As the rest of the truck was working out so well I am having a new engine put in it and it will ride once more!.

For the rest of this week I am going to resort to my trusty Alfa which has winter tyres on it anyway and stay in hotels (like normal people!!). I'm not going to let this little setback get in the way of getting the shots I want.

Thanks to everyone who has offered support over Twitter this last few days, much appreciated.

My girlfriend is working in Jerusalem so whilst she is away I decided to head out on a good long trip.

Previously I've stayed in hotels, the trouble is not many are set up for checking out at 5am ready for a sunrise shoot. As such I had to think out of the box.

A quick look on ebay and Pistonheads showed that I could buy a Subaru Forester quite cheaply. The seed of an idea of making a photography vehicle was planted in my mind. From there it spiralled out of control! Speaking to my friendly MOT tester I asked if he would fit extra lamps, power etc to such a car. He asked why I was going for a Forester, I replied that I could get one quite cheaply, he said I could buy his Isuzu Trooper long wheelbase cheaply.

Since that conversation the car has developed into a bespoke landscape photography truck. 

As it stands the car has the following features;

• Winter tyres - a set of Hankooks, I swear by winter tyres, even without snow on the ground they work much better in cold conditions than summer tyres. Thanks to Ian at Ian Brown Tyres in Malton for helping with these
• Roofrack - extra storage plus mounting options for extra equipment
• Bluetooth handsfree
• Front mounted spotlights - a set of the same lights WRC cars use! Set up with dipped and main beam options, they turn night into day!
• Worklights - one each side and two at the back of the truck, flood the area with light, ideal for packing up gear, and for camping
• Inverter - allows me to use 240V electrical items. I will be able to run my Macbook Pro to edit on site
• CB Radio - a backup communication system as a lot of the places I go don't have mobile signals
• Bull bar - in case of deer strikes on country roads, plus mounting point for spotlights
• CD player with iPod compatibility - again a lot of places I go there is minimal radio signal so iPod for tunes
• Awning - somewhere dry to cook, sit outside
• 12v Shower - you've got to keep clean, even when camping!
• Biolite stove  - cooking stove which also generates electricity to charge phone batteries etc
• Insulated windows - I used foil loft insulation to coat the windows in the rear to keep warmth in and offer security
• LED lighting in the rear for reading at night without flattening the car battery
• Carbon Monoxide detector and smoke detector - a bit of overkill but since I am living in the car I thought it prudent
• Airbed - comfort for sleeping
• American Army Modular Sleep System - a 3 stage sleeping bag which is meant to be rated down to -50 degrees Fahrenheit
• Weather station with trend and outdoor temperature gauge - warning of severe weather coming

Having built the truck up over the past few weeks (my thanks to my MOT Tester and friend Andy at Andrew Seagust in Malton) I spent this weekend running it and refining it and am now happy enough that tomorrow I'm heading to Scotland in it!

I'm conscious that I've not got any photos of the truck yet, I'll try and sort that out ASAP.

This is an example of the type of effect that can be achieved at dawn or dusk where exposures can run into minutes

Whitby Regatta Fairground Rides At Dusk This shot was 136 seconds which smoothed out the water enabling much nicer reflections that the choppy harbour would normally have offered. This particular shot was taken at dusk, the light levels meant I could use a really long shutter speed to gather enough light to make the shot bright enough.

Shots like this can often be done without the need for specialist equipment, other than a camera, sturdy tripod and a cable release (to stop you shaking the camera when you release the shutter). 

A tip I was given when I was just starting out in photography is that light and exposures can be likened to water filling a bucket. If water is flowing into the bucket it won't take long to fill, if there is only a dribble of water filling the bucket it will take ages to fill. Similarly in bright sun typical landscape exposures are in the region of a 100th of a second, at night you'll need much longer to get a bright exposure.

During daytime there is too much light about to allow long exposures without assistance from filters. What we need is a filter that reduces the amount of light coming into the camera so that it takes much longer to get the correct exposure. In the bucket of water analogy we need a lid with a small hole cut in it to slow down how quickly the bucket fills. In photography these filters are called Neutral Density or ND filters. 

On this shot I used a relatively weak ND filter (3 stops, every stop doubles the shutter speed needed) to give just enough movement in the water that it didn't look completely silky, I wanted to capture the movement and energy of the waves.

High Tide, Scarborough North Bay This 3 stop ND filter gave me a shutter speed of of half a second instead of a 15th of a second which would have frozen the water much more.

If you want really long exposures in bright daylight then you'll need a much stronger ND filter, one that reduces the light coming into the camera even more.

This photo of the raging waters of the River Etive in Scotland was taken in broad, albeit cloudy, daylight. 

Rapids on the River Etive This exposure took 67 seconds with a 10 stop filter which extends your shutter speed by 1000 times. Without the filter this shot would have only needed around a 15th of a second exposure which would have frozen the running water.

There are several brands of 10 stop ND filters on the market, the main brands being Hitech and the one I use, the Lee Big Stopper. If you're working to a really tight budget you can even use welding glass!

Using these filters takes a little bit of practice and organisation to get the best results, here is my workflow for working with long exposures;

1) Compose, get the shot looking right in the viewfinder, including what I want in the shot and, more often more importantly, excluding what I don't want in shot
2) Focus, then switch to manual focus
3) Meter, with both the camera's internal meter and an external spot meter
4) Expose for a standard shot
5) Apply ND grad filters as necessary to get the exposure right
6) Take a test shot at a short shutter speed
7) Examine the histogram on the short shot for blown highlights or blocked shadows
8) Adapt exposure according to step 7
9) Work out 10 stop shutter speed - various apps are available for smartphones to do this for you
10) Close viewfinder to stop light leaking in
11) Check AF on manual and IS/VR turned off
12) Slide 10 stop filter into position checking it covers the entire lens
13) Set the exposure up, either on bulb or with manual setting
14) Check mirror lockup is switched on
15) Lock mirror up, give it a second or two for any vibrations to die out
16) Set shutter with cable release, either one shot if it is on manual (eg less than 30 second exposure) or lock it off if on bulb.
17) Check top plate exposure timer and also chronograph for exposure time
18) Walk about, try and keep warm for up to 32 minutes!
19) Unlock shutter release when exposure time reached.
20) Review shot and reshoot as necessary (if I am doing a long exposure at dawn or dusk the exposure time is a bit hit and miss as the EV of the scene changes during the exposure).

If it has all worked correctly you'll get amazing effects that you just can't see with the naked eye, like this:

Whitby Pier Long Exposure

Have fun and feel free to get in touch if you have any queries or if I can help.

One of my favourite times of the year on the moors is late summer and early autumn when the heather which covers lots of the high ground turns a lovely purple colour. Usually by the beginning of the grouse shooting season on the Glorious Twelth the heather is in full bloom, this year, maybe due to the poor summer, the heather has been late in flowering, as I write this at the end of August it is getting to its best.

I've been out a few times, some I've been lucky with the light, others I've come home without even getting a camera out of the bag. I have been able to take a few shots I am pleased with and which I hope capture the specialness of this amazing place.

North Yorkshire Moors Lone Tree

I took a couple of shots of this lone tree, one emphasising the amazing sky and another showing more of the heather:

Lone Tree In Heather, North Yorkshire Moors

This sunset brought a lovely purple sky which mirrored the tones of the heather underneath:

The Beginning of Autumn, Blakey Ridge

If you've never been to the North Yorkshire Moors I highly recommend it, you can get more information from the North Yorkshire Moors National Park Authority website,  and Welcome to Yorkshire

I tried for this shot two days ago but as soon as I got my camera out the cloud descended and wouldn't leave. Tonight was similar, as soon as I set up a cloud came, I had to sit for half an hour till it cleared, I hope you agree it was worthwhile

Harvest Time

I'd had my eye on some straw bales in a field on my way to work and was waiting for the light. One morning the light was just right and I got there to find the farmer had moved them!

This evening I was diverted a different way home as the A64 was closed and luck was obviously on my side as I came across this scene, with exactly the right dark clouds and beautiful warm light. The farmer was just leaving, I asked permission to photograph his field, he laughed that I was fine as long as I didn't make it rain!

Straw Bales Under A Threatening Sky

This summer Scarborough will host a truly unique five-day festival to celebrate all that is great about Yorkshire.

“A Festival of Yorkshire - Scarborough”, supported by Welcome to Yorkshire, will run from Yorkshire Day, 1 August, with music and literature, games, performances and exhibitions across Scarborough. Some of the events will be free.

I'll be part of the Arts and Culture Exhibition down at the Spa on the seafront, come and say hello!

The steps down to the beach in Scarborough's North Bay flood at high tide. I knew that a long exposure of these might work but it needed a high tide, and a featureless grey sky to frame it. I've tried a couple of times before but each time there was too much detail in the sky for me.

Tonight everything came together. I set up my tripod just out of reach of the waves and spray, used a Lee Big Stopper to slow the exposure down and locked the remote shutter release. After 3 minutes I released the remote and checked the shot, that was it, the one I've been waiting for, finished in one three minute shot. I hope you like it.

Land's End

I was thrilled to find out two of my photos (shown below) were selected from well over 200 entries to appear in the exhibition. I was honoured and delighted to see my photos on the wall at Northallerton. There were some fantastic works alongside my two, not just landscapes but some portrait and wildlife shots, I would like to extend my congratulations to all the photographers who had work selected.

Here are the two that were selected;

I wasn't sure if this would be to the judges' taste, it not being a classical "pretty" landscape.

Contrast

This was a very lucky shot grabbed as I set up for a really low contrast foggy landscape on the banks of Grasmere in the Lake District.

The Boatman

The Open Exhibition is on now at the Joe Cornish Gallery in Northallerton.

As kit room is at a premium I have perfected my kit over the years, this is what I'll be taking;

Canon 5D MK3 with 100-400 - main camera

Canon 1Ds Mk2 with 24-105 - backup camera and useful for wider shots, ambience etc

Canon 135mm F2 and 1.4x converter, excellent low light lens

Batteries, memory cards, flashes, lens cloths etc.

Walking the circuit for 24 hours means your kit has to be easily portable, I use a Black Rapid dual harness which spreads the weight of the cameras across your shoulders rather than your neck. Other bits, spare lenses etc are carried on Think Tank belt kit, with a harness again to spread the weight across my body. With all this gear I do look a touch paramilitary but Le Mans is no fashion parade, plus everyone knows there are no women at Le Mans (sorry, an in-joke) so as long as I am comfy I'm happy.

I'm writing a piece for http://www.speedstermagazine.com/ on the trip, watch this space. I'll also be tweeting from the circuit, follow me at http://www.twitter.com/markmullenphoto

As I drove up from Malham I climbed right up to the top of the moors, a long way up onto the tops. As I drove towards Settle and Giggleswick I spotted a location which I thought had promise. A dry stone wall lead the eye off towards the distant hills to the North. I set up my tripod which is my favoured way of working. With mid-afternoon light, and the amazing ISO capabilities of my Canon 5D Mk3 I could easily have shot handheld but I prefer to use the tripod for the vast majority of my shots, it slows me down, allows me to perfect my composition and ensure that filter graduations  are perfectly aligned. 

In front of me a bank of gloomy cloud was building, and with the sun coming from the West to my left the wall was nicely illuminated. The clouds were pretty dark but to ensure the sense of foreboding I used a 3 stop hard edged ND grad aligned with the tops of the hills and the bottom of the sky. Liveview on my camera means I can perfectly align these edges, a feature I find really useful.

I took a few shots and then retired to the car as the first spots of rain came down. I am rather pleased with the result, I hope you like it.

There May Be Trouble Ahead

I left the house at 3.30am hoping for the kind of memorable vivid sunrise that Saltwick Bay is so good for but as I drove up the coast a thick blanket of grey featureless cloud hung over North Yorkshire. It didn't look promising.

I could have turned back but as I was out and about already I thought I would try my luck. Down on the beach it still didn't look promising. I composed a shot I liked the look of and waited. And waited, and waited some more. Then, for less than 5 minutes the cloud broke a little and some lovely light broke through. 

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

This was the only shot of the morning, after this the thick grey cloud once again cloaked the coast.

I turned around and headed home for some well needed sleep.

I wanted to show the contrast between the two aspects to the area. I spent some time climbing the dunes checking potential compositions until I found this area. I was taken by the ripples in the white sand caused by the wind rushing between the dunes. I set up my tripod (carefully in the very soft sand) and used a focal length of 40mm. Had I shot the scene with a longer focal length I would have compressed the scene which would have made it look like the chemical plant was on top of the dunes. If I'd used a wider focal length the chemical plant would be lost in the scene and just be a spot on the horizon. I used a Lee Big Stopper to slow the exposure to 15 seconds from my initial 1/60th of a second, this ensured the sea would be flattened and there would be some movement in the reeds atop the dunes, it also smoothed the steam coming out of the chimney. A 2 stop graduated neutral density filter balanced the bright sky, on this occasion I used a soft edged filter to avoid a harsh line across the dunes.

When I processed the shot I used Silver Efex software to convert it to black and white, I think this adds to the shot and helps bring out the ripples in the sand, emphasising the natural side of that part of the shot.

Contrast I hope you like the finished result.

In times like this the grey skies we get can look boring in a colour shot unless there happens to be some sun cast on them. In conditions like this I tend to look to take photographs in black and white. I find working in B&W quite refreshing, you can't rely on pretty colours to make a shot, it is down to textures and contrasts to get a good result. I always shoot in raw so don't have to change the way I work, just envisage what a scene will look like devoid of colour.

This morning I ventured up to Saltburn to one of my favourite spots, Saltburn Pier. I've taken a few nice shots of the pier, at night it is fantastically lit. I wanted to do something a bit different this time, and in daylight.

I positioned myself right underneath the pier, at the land end, looking out to sea. Sitting on the sand I set up in a landscape format and framed the shot so that the first pier support was right in the centre of the frame. Symmetry was important so I took a while to ensure the support was slap bang in the middle. Cloud acts as a huge softbox for the sun so is an overcast day is often very bright, if I'd exposed for the sky I'd have been left with a silhouette of the framework, expose for the framework and the sky would have been blown out (pure white, no detail). Instead I took 5 frames at different exposures from very dark to very bright. I then combined these frames with Photomatix software in a process called High Dynamic Range or HDR. From there I converted the resulting image to black and white, here it is:

Under Saltburn Pier

Later in the day I returned to Scarborough where the rain eventually lifted but left a wonderful stormy sky. I used a 3 stop hard edged Lee graduated ND filter to retain detail in the sky and a 3 stop ND filter to keep some movement in the sea. Once at home I used Silver Efex software to give a grainy high contrast black and white effect.

After The Rain

As a landscape photographer in the UK you have to work with what is available, it would be lovely to have amazing blue skies and clear seas but since that isn't often the case it is an enjoyable challenge.

I used a 3 stop hard edged Lee neutral density filter to hold back the sky and a 3 stop neutral density filter to slow the exposure down to two seconds to ensure there was some movement on the incoming tide. Using my Manfrotto tripod I set up the shot so the horizon was level (an easy job with a geared head such as the 405 that I use) and on the upper third of the frame, then positioned the log on the intersection of the bottom and left hand third, a classic rule of thirds composition. 

I stood in the surf waiting for the waves to come rushing in towards me, using a cable release to ensure I didn't rock the camera during the long exposure.

I was really pleased with the shot, I hope you like it.

Washed Up

We left out hotel at 4.30am Saturday and dropped Vicky off with her friends at Carnforth. I'm not the best in early mornings normally but when I have an adventure like this to do I manage, it did however feel very early.

From Carnforth we made our way up into the Lake District. Our first stop was Grasmere, I'd hoped for a nice sunrise but cloud and a thick mist meant that wasn't going to happen. Instead I found a spot looking across Grasmere and was going to go for a low contrast landscape. I climbed down a small cliff and got my father to lower my gear down to me. I'd just got my tripod set up and was setting the camera up when my dad shouted down to tell me to look to the left. Out of the gloom and mist rowed a solitary boatman, totally silent. I grabbed the camera off the tripod, quickly changed the settings and took one shot:

The Boatman

The low contrast landscape I was planning turned out to be too low contrast, it was merely a variety of shades of grey so we moved on. We stopped in a little parking spot near to Thirlmere Reservoir. I got a couple of shots:

Thirlmere Tributary

Next off we moved along Thirlmere, it is a man made reservoir to serve drinking water for Manchester, an 84 mile aquaduct runs to the city. The sun had by this stage made a welcome appearance.

Thirlmere Moving a little further down the reservoir I had to once again scramble down a banking, the weight of my camera and tripod makes for quite an exciting time on steep surfaces!

The Northern End of Thirlmere A quick lunch in Keswick and chance to buy an OS map (a really good investment, whilst satnav tells you how to get somewhere you've got to know where you're going) and we were on the road again. 

A run down Derwentwater saw the weather really improving, it didn't feel like March in the North of England, I was working in shirt sleeves, not even a fleece required. Derwentwater was absolutely flat calm, I decided the best way to treat it was in a panorama. I took 12 individual shots and stitched them in Photoshop, the file got to a rather large 1.37 Gb, even on a fast Macbook Pro it took several minutes to open. I was really pleased with the results, I hope you like it.

Derwentwater Reflections Panorma A little way down Derwentwater at Borrowdale I spotted a wooden jetty, a classic shot of the Lake District. Unfortunately I was too engrossed in working out how to photograph the jetty to see the obvious steps down to it and instead took a rather daring 8 foot jump onto the beach. Oops! Shooting at wide angle a polarising filter wouldn't be the best option so I used a graduated ND filter to underexpose the sky slightly and retain the deep blue of the sky.

Borrowdale Jetty on Derwentwater

As the day came to a close we went out to St Bees. Living on the East Coast I am used to having to be up early in the morning for vivid colours over the coast. This weekend being on the West Coast it was a luxury to have the vivid colours of a sunset over the coast at a reasonable hour. 

St Bees Sunset

The day drew to a close and my dad and I retired to our hotel to catch up on a pub meal and a welcome sleep. We would be off very early again the next morning.

Day 2 to follow.

To date I've been using ball heads, initially a Giottos, then latterly a vintage Linhof item. Bal heads are very good for making large adjustments and making quick setups. Where they fall down though is in making small adjustments, you have to unlock the ball which then releases the camera to move in every plane which is an issue when you only need to adjust one dimension. An example is when I set up for a shot which contains water, be it a lake, river or the sea, the horizon has to be level, your eyes are used to the sea being level, if it is only 0.5 degrees out of straight it is noticeable and looks odd. If I've composed a shot and need to straighten my horizon then with a ball head when I unlock it I run the risk of changing the entire composition.

One solution is a three way head, where three locking levers each adjust one plane of movement, left to right (panning), vertical (up and down) and angle (the lean of the camera from left to right). The better solution is a geared head, which is what I have just invested in. On a geared head there are still the three levers of a three way head but instead of simply unlocking they are now geared so they can be adjusted in small amounts by turning them.

I chose the Manfrotto 405 geared head. My tripod legs are Manfrotto and I find it good well made kit. The 405 is the second largest in the range of geared heads, the 410 being the smallest (it is actually officially called a Junior Geared Head) and the 400 being a heavy old monster more suited to studio work. The 405 fits neatly in the middle offering enough weight capacity for dSLRs and medium format gear.

I've just brought the 405 back from its first outing, an epic trip around the Lake District calling at every lake and I have to say I am very impressed. The gears can be unlocked to make broad adjustments before locking them back up and making small final adjustments. Once I was used to it I didn't need to take my eye from the viewfinder (or more often the angle finder) to make an adjustment which meant composition was much easier. My 1Ds Mkii is fitted with a gridded focussing screen so levelling the horizon couldn't be easier.

The other nice thing with the 405 is it takes the larger 410 quick release plate which feels really strong and inspires confidence particularly when the camera is tilted over in portrait orientation.

A very well made and useful piece of kit which I am sure will form part of my equipment for many years to come.

At 9am I did finally drag myself out of the house and went down to the sea, I took a few shots but surprisingly for early March the light was very harsh and nothing jumped out at me.

On my way back I passed under Valley Bridge in Scarborough, a bridge I pass nearly every day, and saw that the light was working just right, the shadow of the bridge cutting across the support.

I set up in portrait format, either side of the bridge were gardens which distracted from the bridge itself so portrait was the obvious choice. A smallish aperture kept everything sharp. I took three exposures, one at the exposure I metered to be correct, one two stops under exposed, one two stops overexposed.

When I processed the images I initially worked on the first exposure and set everything apart from the exposure. I also used Capture One's excellent perspective control to stop my verticals converging (a hazard of shooting upwards). Once I was happy with that exposure I copied across the adjustments to the other two images. Capture One then exported the three images as TIFs.

I used Photomatix to combine the three images into one High Dynamic Range (HDR) image, this meant I could capture a far higher dynamic range than my camera could normally record, the sky wasn't blown out, there was still detail in the bridge structure above.

From the Photomatix created file I then converted the image to an Infra Red style in Photoshop, added a touch of contrast and then it was finished, I hope you like it.

Valley Bridge Angles

What puzzled me with Focus is the number of people who appeared to have brought their entire photography kit with them, at every turn there were people with huge backpacks knocking into you, it is a good job I am a big lad, I would have been off my feet a couple of times if not. Also the number of slightly creepy old guys hanging about trying to photograph any model who appeared was a little cringeworthy, the models were there as part of demonstrations, usually of lighting equipment, which meant that the guys hammering their onboard flashes at them will have got shockingly poor photos, and will have missed what the advice and information the professionals demonstrating had to give.

Other than those two minor gripes it was a great day, I managed to restrain myself and didn't buy too much, a new double camera harness from Black Rapid which was superb, a quick release adaptor for my new tripod head (more on these two in further blog posts later this week when I've had chance to use them in anger) and some ink for my printer. 

The alarm woke me at 4.30am, it seemed to have come around quickly!. A half hour or so drive from the hotel North up the A1 to Bamburgh Castle was easy enough, there seemed only to be me, taxis and the police about at that time of night. A quick recce saw me avoid the main car parks and park a little further up the road towards the golf course. I put my wellies on (essential gear for seascapes, there is nothing worse than wet feet) and clambered down onto the beach by the light of my headtorch, another essential. At this stage it was still pitch black and with minimal moonlight I was grateful for the floodlights on the castle itself. I took up a position on a rocky ledge, high enough to keep me out of the waves and with the tide swirling below.

I quickly set up my camera on its tripod, I like to have quite a lot of foreground interest in my shots and to keep everything sharp I used a small aperture, f16, which gave me loads of depth of field but is within the sharpest range of the lens I was using, the Canon 17-40 F4. On a full frame camera body like my 1Ds Mkii this is a very wide angle lens, you get lots in the frame. I set an initial exposure running as there was now the first glimmers of light on the horizon. Whilst this exposure was running I started to set up my filters, the sun would soon be up and with the dark rocks I would have to use filters to balance the scene.

Bamburgh Castle Sunrise

A camera can only record so many brightness levels between black and white at any one time so if I exposed for the rocks to keep detail in them the sky would end up bright white without detail, if I exposed for the sky then the rocks would end up being completely black with no detail in the shadows. The way around this is to use filters which are pieces of coloured plastic with one end darker than the other, you line up the dark bit with the bright bit of the image and it keeps the whole shot in the range that the camera is capable of recording. 

As the sky got brighter I was treated to one of the finest sunrises I've ever witnessed, the colours started off blue,

Dawn Long Exposure, Bamburgh Castle purple and pink,

Dawn At Bamburgh Castle into blood red and yellows

Red Sky In The Morning... and then into orange and yellow,

Golden Sunrise At Bamburgh Castle a real spectacle of nature. As the sun rose I had to change filters to keep pace with the changing light, initially a 3 stop reverse grad (the darkest section in the centre, ideal for sunrises), then adding a 2 stop hard grad and then swapping that for a 3 stop hard grad.

I changed viewpoints a few times, as the tide receded I had to move to keep the water in the shot, I like how it swirls during the course of a long exposure.

By 7.30am the sun was up and the vivid colours had died back, it was time to head back to the car and up to the local butchers in Bamburgh for a very welcome meat and potato pie for breakfast. A really successful trip to a beautiful place.

My planning for a trip like this involves researching locations on the web, on Flickr (which has a useful mapping facility), using The Photographer's Ephemeris to see where the sun will rise and set, checking tide times, using Google Streetview to work out angles and what might work. By doing this I have a pretty good idea of the shots I want to achieve before I get there, working like this gives me more time on location working with the light rather than rushing to cram everything in. I will then work to get the shots I want, once they're in the bag I go for bonus shots, angles I'd not thought of, places I'd not researched, scenes that I happen upon.

Preparation also includes checking and rechecking both my camera gear and my personal kit. I will get my cameras out, clean the sensors and ensure I've got a supply of charged batteries. The batteries on my Canon 1 series cameras are good for well over 1000 shots, I carry up to 6 depending on where I am going and how long for, and also taking into account the weather, batteries die much quicker in extreme cold, if it is that cold my spares live in my coat to keep them warm till I need them. I will clean all my filters and lenses, set the camera settings up to roughly what I expect to be using, make sure I've got lenscloths (when shooting near the sea spray can be a problem) and microfibre towels. My kit is mostly duplicated so if something stopped working I wouldn't be stuck, I might have to change my approach slightly but it wouldn't be the end of the world. I'll make sure I have loads of memory cards, I prefer to use many smaller cards and change them more often than use just one, if that one dies you've lost a lot of work. My cameras also back up my shots internally to another card, I also have an external backup drive that copies the contents of a compact flash card to a hard drive.

My personal gear includes waterproof trousers, walking boots and wellies, a Gitzo fleece and Gitzo Four Seasons photographers coat, both of which have a multitude of pockets to carry gear if I don't want to take a bag. Sealskinz gloves and a warm, if not stylish, hat finish the elegant look! I use a Zippo handwarmer which keeps everything toasty warm. Emergency chocolate and drinks are in the car, Kendal Mint Cake in the bottom of my camera bag for worst case scenarios.

I'll post another entry on what my workflow is when I return from a landscape shoot like this next week.

I was about to go for some breakfast and call it a day when I thought I would try another spot, on Scarborough's South Bay, near the Spa. As I pulled the car up I suddenly felt optimistic that maybe, just maybe, I would get the shot I wanted. I made my way across the wet sand to some rocks that would make a good foreground. I waited, and waited and then suddenly the sun started to peep around the stormy clouds. I was treated to a stunning display which lasted maybe 5 or 10 minutes at most. 

My camera was set up already and waiting, the Canon 17-40 F4 lens set nice and wide, a narrow aperture (F16) to keep everything in shot in focus and of course, most importantly, filters ready. I used a Hitech 3 stop reverse ND grad to pull back the sky (for non photographers this has a dark band across the middle to stop the sun being too bright and going pure white). I also used a Cokin 3 stop solid ND filter to slow the water down, this also has the side effect of a slight magenta colour cast which suits this kind of shot.

I had chance to squeeze off 4 or 5 shots with different compositions, this was my favourite, I like the patterns in the sand in the very foreground leading your eye to the rocks, I also like how the sun's rays came through the clouds below the sun.

As quickly as the sun had come then the moment had gone, the sun came into clear sky and the light became quite harsh.

I retired to quickly process the shots before leaving for work.

The Sunrise That Nearly Never Was

Leaving Scarborough the day didn't look promising, a heavy sky brought frequent downpours as we headed through Pickering, across to Helmsley, down Sutton Bank, through Ripon and out towards the Yorkshire Dales. As we stopped for a bit to eat in Ilkley and had our picnic at the Cow and Calf Rocks on the edge of Ilkley Moor (baht'at!) the sun started to come out and it turned into a really nice, if very windy, day. 

I was hoping to do some long exposures at the Cow and Calf but it was so windy that even with a sturdy tripod I was going to get camera shake, I was struggling to stand and the cold wind bit through clothes and made your ears sting.

Back in the car we headed for Bolton Abbey. You pay £6.50 per car entrance fee which gives you access to the grounds and also parking in any of the three car parks.

Walking around the ruined priory a bride and groom were just having their wedding photos taken, a superb backdrop, I'm sure the photos will have turned out well, I was pleased to see that both photographers were using Canons too!

We walked around for a fair while, mainly along the banks of the River Wharfe which was in flood due to winter rain water coming down off the hills. 

This shot was the one I chose, I liked the tree on the left side to give a sense of scale and the distant hills framed the shot. The River Wharfe In Flood I used a Canon 17-40mm lens on my Canon 1Ds Mkii and a Lee 2 stop soft graduated ND filter to give the sky a little more contrast. Another way would have been to use my circular polariser but with such a wide focal length there was a danger of unwanted effects from the CPL so I stuck with the ND grad to keep the sky nice and blue. A soft grad was preferable to a hard as a hard would have darkened the tree to the left noticeably and would have left me with more to do in post processing. As it was all the raw file needed was a touch of contrast and the white balance setting.

I must bring this blog post to a close, I am planning an early start on Sunday morning to photograph the sunrise, it is a really clear night so fingers crossed it will be a good one.

A Winter's Morning

Arriving at Flamborough at a tropical -8 degrees I still wasn't sure if the trip would be wasted, mist obscured a lot of the coastline, in the far distance the sun was beginning to rise but it was on the whole grey.

Ken and Anand arrived, Anand having made a ridiculously early start from Manchester. We kitted up in warm clothes and waterproofs and set off down the cliff path towards the coastguard station. I showed Ken and Anand around the various viewpoints, then we split up, I took a climb down a gully overlooking the rock arch. I got settled in, set my tripod up and waited. And waited, and waited. Eventually the sun cleared the bank of cloud hanging out to sea. I knew I wanted the sun to be over the arch so I waited some more until the composition was right. I used a small aperture (F16) to give a great depth of field so everything was sharp, it also has the benefit of giving the starburst effect on the sun. A Hitech reverse ND graduated filter held the sky back and stopped the sun blowing out. I squeezed off a few shots as the sun changed position, this was my favourite. The small patch of snow at the front gives the much needed foreground interest.

Flamborough Head Sunrise Within 10 minutes or so the fog came back in and that was the morning done, a shot I was pleased with in the bag, time to go for a full English breakfast at the Harbour Cafe in Bridlington and defrost.