Back to Landscapes

Although I've had an interest in photography for more than 10 years, it didn't really get serious until I bought my first DSLR in early 2007.  Since then, I've tried many different types of photography and over the last few months have spent quite a bit of time shooting people and trying to get a feel for using shallow DoF in images.  Recently, though, with the beautiful weather in the UK and late sunset times, I've been out with tripod, graduated ND filters and remote release - back to what is probably my favourite type of photography.

I fit my photography around a day job and family, so the times I have to take shots are often limited.  Keeping a positive attitude is important, and you often need to "break the rules" and try and become inventive in how you take shots (for example, midday is not generally considered a good time for photographs of any kind).

I want to do a kind-of journal for the landscape excursions I do over the summer, so I'll start with two - Hartley Wintney (where I work) and Corfe Mullen (near where I live).

Hartley Wintney

So, over a lunch time I nipped out towards Winchfield and this field caught my eye.  I stuck the car at an almost 45 degree angle (from horizontal!) on a steep verge, got my tripod and bag out and crossed to the field.  One thing I've started to learn is that if there's a great photo opportunity, you can't let things like a sensible place to park or a gate get in your way - as long as you're respectful and no-one starts shouting and waving a shotgun around I figure you can probably get on with it!

This was one of the first shots I took.  The field was fresh wheat, and in the middle was a patch of poppies - you can just see them in the shot below.  I have to admit to slightly altering this image by taking a pylon out that was on the horizon near the centre, but other than that, it's only had a bit of colour and contrast adjustment.  The shot was taken with a 0.6ND grad to keep detail in the sky - I really wouldn't be without my ND grads now.  I tend to use them in all landscape shots where there's a clear horizon and they've transformed the balance between ground and sky.  Often I think I go a bit towards the extreme side - ending up with a sort of HDR look - but the joy of photography is the ability to experiment.  Some things work well, some things don't, and on top of that the things you like one month may not appeal the next month.

Wheat field with Poppies

I was on a fairly dull path next to the field, and I wondered what it would look like from an insect view-point, so I stretched the legs of the tripod out (I've got a Manfrotto 055XProB tripod with a ball head - the tripod allows you to completely splay the legs out and rotate the centre column through 90 degrees to take low level shots).  This image has had quite a lot of tonal adjustment - recovery to bring the detail back in the sky (again, I used the 0.6 ND grad, but the sun was hot and bright and nothing could keep the detail there without going to HDR), and some fill light to light the green crop.  While I like the viewpoint of the image, I do find the blown out sun a bit distracting, but there's not really anything I could do about it.  In hindsight, a viewpoint which captures the sky without a direct shot of the sun is probably the way to go next time.

Insects-eye View - Wheat Field

As I mentioned, there's a patch of poppies in the middle of the field.  As I was planning on going, I thought I had to get to them to see if the shot would work.  I spent a good couple of minutes navigating my way along the tractor tracks so as not to damage any of the growing crop, and when I got about as close as I could I fired off a few shots.  A bit of tonal adjustment brings out the red of the poppies and green of the wheat against the sky.

Poppies and Wheat

Corfe Mullen

This evening was dull, but I'd made the decision to get out and take some photographs.  I'm writing this some time after this particular evening, and it's something I've done a few times now.  Without getting all deep and meaningful, it's beautiful being outside and taking the time to look at nature, landscapes, trees, growing crops, grass, the sky... even if you don't take any pictures, it's a lovely experience.

But this evening, I packed my "landscape" kit (5D2, 17-40L, ND grads, remote release, tripod), along with a raincoat and a sense of wasting my time and set out.  When I got to the place I wanted to take the shots (about 1 mile from where I live!), I got out and unpacked.  Luckily, as is often the case, a little gap appeared in the cloud around horizon level and the sunlight burst through to illuminate the bottom of the huge cloud layer that had been threatening to empty all over me.

Sunset at Corfe Mullen Heath

Again, these shots were taken with an ND grad filter (I generally start with the 0.6 and fiddle if things don't seem to be working, but generally the 2 stops offered by this filter covers most situations).  The shot below had a bit of acid applied I think - I've called it "Cocktail" as a friend pointed out that he used to drink something approximately this colour when at university!  It's a bit extreme in hindsight, but as I said above, it's nice to try these things - without doing that, how can you know what you're really happy with and what defines your own style?

Cocktail!

So to the last shot - long grass, heathland and the sun sitting just above the horizon.  The 17-40L at 17mm on a full frame camera gives a beautifully wide view, and if you keep the horizon moderately central you can hide most of the distortion you get from going this wide.  I've got into the habit of taking both landscape and portrait shots of most of the places that I visit - if you are planning on offering images for sale (especially to publications) then the choice of both formats increases the chance of them being useful.

Corfe Mullen Sunset

All in all, great fun to be out with nature and try and capture some of that beauty that surrounds us all the time, but most of the time, most of the people never notice...