Landscape Photography – Having a Dabble in The Lake District

Although I’ve learnt a lot in the last three years, I have so much more to learn. Although not entirely a beginner any more, I would say my technical experience with photography is limited to a “need to know” basis. If I’ve struggled with it, I’ve researched it and found solutions to it. I can remember coming back from a shoot with my kids and I’d really struggled with the light. The images were contrasty and the colours were odd. I was so frustrated and I didn’t know what I’d done wrong. I deleted all the depressingly bad images, and spent several days researching the angle you should have the sun at, how to light outdoor portraits, about polarising filters, and heading out in the soft light at the beginning or the end of the day rather than while the sun is high in the sky.

Lake District, landscape photography with Nikon meet ups

Sheep with a view

I learnt so much from making those mistakes that day, and I would now know what to do if I had to be out taking photos in the harsh light again. There are however large gaps in my technical knowledge. I know very little about techniques such as panning, free lensing, or long exposures. Mainly because I haven’t been inspired enough to want to learn it for myself. I can really appreciate the skill in these images, and I can see why panning* a Formula One car looks better than taking it with a really fast shutter speed, but I haven’t as yet wanted to take these pictures for myself.

*panning is tracking the motion of the object with your camera, and a relatively slow shutter speed. This gives an amazing sense of motion and speed with a blurred background, whereas the object is sharp and clear. Obviously with a fast shutter speed and the whole scene frozen, it gives no sense of the speed at which the car was travelling. Very tricky to do, I should imagine!

Some people love the technical shizzle. Some people however are entirely intuitive, and just because you are using a camera on auto mode, or just an iPhone doesn’t mean you aren’t a great photographer. A large proportion of being a good photographer is about spotting the shot, the composition, being in the right place a the right time. If you have spent three days on a mountain waiting for a snow leopard, then you click the shutter in automatic mode, are you any less of a photographer?

I think I fall somewhere between these two camps. I know my camera well, I shoot in manual mode, I understand f stops, shutter speeds and focus points, I like to try and get my images technically “correct” (ish 😉 ) When it comes to landscape photography though, I don’t own the attachments and filters needed to do long exposures, and I don’t entirely know how to do them. I am also aware that in many people’s eyes this makes my landscape shots “incorrect”. So I’m putting myself out here a bit by posting these on my blog.

Last weekend I was invited to The Lake District as part of a Nikon organised meet up. The Nikon School based in London have run several of these meet ups to different locations, people enter into a ballot in order to come along, and a lucky 30 are chosen! So I was very grateful to be invited along too, and very excited to see The Lake District again.

Buttermere, Lake District landscape photography with Nikon meet ups

Buttermere – I focused on the white building on the far shore, so at f5.6 this left the foreground out of focus, but I like it as it draws the eye through the image to the mountain

I was the only photographer there without a tripod, attachments and filters. To begin with I was a conscious of this, but then I figured we don’t have to pretend to be experts in every area of photography! Just because I’d never done it before, didn’t mean I couldn’t snap away too and learn a lot from the day.

So why use a tripod for landscape photography? This is the basic version – it’s about depth of field. When shooting landscapes you want as much of the picture as possible in focus, so you want to shoot at around f11-f14. You also want to keep your ISO as low as possible to keep the detail in the image. The higher the number on the f-stop, and narrower the aperture – therefore less light is getting into the camera. To balance the exposure with a narrow aperture, and a low ISO, will result in a slower shutter speed.

If this is gobbledygook, don’t worry. I will do a post soon on the photographic triangle and shooting in manual mode. Until then you can have a look at the basics here, I think this post explains it really well.

Derwent Water, Lake District landscape photography with Nikon meet ups

Derwent Water – extras points for spotting two swan bums 😉

Slow shutter speeds without a tripod can cause problems with camera shake, leading to a blurred shot. Of course there are good stances you can adopt to help this. Always look through your view finder, not the live view screen. This will help you to stabilise your camera against your face. Plant your feet well on the ground with one foot infant of the other! Sounds obvious, but it helps. Of course you can look for rocks or fences too to put your camera on, but this is restricting.

There is a basic calculation which I would always try to stick to when hand holding your camera. That is to keep your shutter speed around double the focal length you are using. For example, shooting at 2oomm? Then don’t let your shutter speed drop below 1/400. Shooting at 50mm? Then stick to 1/100.

I took all the images in this post at f5.6. I probably could have pushed that number a little higher, but with my 24-70mm lens I wanted to make sure the shots were sharp so I kept my shutter speed at around 1/200 – 1/500

Buttermere, Lake District landscape photography with Nikon meet ups

Buttermere – this view again 🙂 I love the foreground details, makes me want to wade in

So once you have committed to carrying a tripod for your landscape photography, then you might as well have a bash at using some longer exposure times! Why are long exposures good for landscape photography? If you are shooting in low light, sunrise or sunset you will get more colour and drama in the sky. You can also create some lovely effects with smoothed out water, and soft blurry movement in the clouds. If you are leaving your aperture open you risk damaging the sensors on your camera, and this is why you will need to add filters… aaaand this is about the limit of my knowledge.

I did have one try at a long exposure, with the assistance, tripod and filters of one of the Nikon crew. It’s the image below and you can see the softness in the clouds and the smooth water, and also the depth of colour in the sky. What are your thoughts? Do you like it? I do – and it’s a better picture than the hand held ones I took at this scene. Their is more depth in the colours and clarity in the distance. However in my opinion long exposures are not without their problems, blurry ducks and boats being two of them! I photoshopped out a few blurry boats in the foreground of this image. Maybe it’s not the best technique for every landscape scenario?

Surprise view Lake District Nikon Meet Ups

Surprise View – f14 | 30sec | ISO 100

So why am I writing this post if my shots aren’t “correct” and I don’t know much about landscape photography? Because I like them! And to encourage you too to go out and takes the pictures, even if you feel you don’t have enough kit or knowledge to do it “properly”. I learnt a lot that day, and I had a brilliant time, in a beautiful place, with really nice people. None of whom seemed to think any the less of me for being the only one without a tripod!

And I quite like round clouds anyway 😉

Buttermere, Lake District landscape photography with Nikon meet ups

Buttermere

Buttermere, Lake District landscape photography with Nikon meet ups

Buttermere – obsessed with that tiny white building on the shore

This post is not sponsored, just something I fancied writing! Thank you so much to Nikon School for inviting me along, and if you would like some tuition I can recommend them, they really know their shizzle 😉

 

Next Post
Previous Post

You Might Also Like

18 Comments

  • Reply Diana July 14, 2017 at 4:42 pm

    Love this although I don’t pretend to understand all the technical bits. But that clear brown water makes me thirsty, and the air looks so clear and crisp, you just know that you wouldn’t have hay fever there! A fabulous and informative blogpost, and doesn’t Buttrmere look wonderful?

    • Reply Hannah Argyle July 14, 2017 at 4:52 pm

      Thank you so much! I’m glad the pictures look fresh and clean, because that’s exactly how it was. Cool crisp air and fresh water, just perfect! We should go together some time xx

      • Reply Hannah Argyle July 15, 2017 at 12:08 pm

        Thanks Julia! Yes so beautiful, I loved it there. And yes if we don’t try we don’t learn from what we did wrong!

  • Reply Simon Ward July 14, 2017 at 4:45 pm

    Personally there are know wrongs or rights in landscape photography and no need for all the filters etc, your pictures all portray the conditions we had beautifully that day, I had recently upgraded my equipment and although had a tripod shot alot of my image freehand and without filters or opting to bracket my images so I could capture the full dynamic range to combine later. I too felt out of my comfort zone as I’m used to going out for sunrise or sunset so daytime with harsh light was challenging. But most of all it was good to meet fellow like minded people and having come away and seen the different styles they usually shoot day to day and how well they all captured the day we had. Great article Hannah

    • Reply Hannah Argyle July 14, 2017 at 4:51 pm

      That’s reassuring to know Simon! I guess I have read too many articles telling me it’s basically no good if it wasn’t done with a tripod. I was out of my comfort zone too with the harsh light, and if I hadn’t been so tired I’d have been back out at sunset! It’s always lovely to meet other photographers isn’t it? Everyone was so friendly and generous with their knowledge, I really enjoyed everything about it 🙂

  • Reply Julia July 14, 2017 at 7:07 pm

    Lovely photo’s Hannah, the Lake District is so beautiful isn’t it? And it doesn’t matter how far along the learning journey you are, if you want to have a go then go for it I say!

  • Reply Tim July 14, 2017 at 9:15 pm

    Really helpful tips on settings, but also on “taste” – as with all things we have different takes on our likes and dislikes. To me the Buttermere “wade in” is lovely and the foreground water is enticing but we must remember diversity and change. Many thanks.

    • Reply Hannah Argyle July 15, 2017 at 12:09 pm

      Thank you so much for reading! x

  • Reply Inés July 15, 2017 at 1:07 am

    Thank you for posting about landscape photography. I am going on holidays to Switzerland in one month and was researching about that, so perfect timing. Your pictures are stunning, great job! I don’t have a tripod either. Lake District is so beautiful. I need to go back, the only time I was there it rained the whole of the 3 days 🙁 but still beautiful. You mentioned that is best to shoot at f11-f14 but your pictures were taken at f5.6 and are really nice and sharp. Can I ask you what was your ISO? Also, did you use evaluative metering, or what do you advise for landscape photography?

    • Reply Hannah Argyle July 15, 2017 at 12:15 pm

      Thank you so much for reading! It’s always so great to hear it was useful to someone. How exciting you are going to Switzerland, I’m sure it’ll be amazing! My ISO was 100 in all of these pictures. It was a very bright day, so I guess on a rainy or cloudy day I’d have struggled with these settings and no tripod, and may have had to go even lower with the f stop or risk a lower shutter speed.
      I always use spot metering, and I actually experimented a little bit with this. When the mountain was backlit I metered from the sky, underexposing the mountain but keeping the blue sky from being blown out. I then was able to sort this out in editing. I edited by reducing the highlights by almost 100 in every picture to preserve the sky, decreasing the shadows to brighten the foreground and increasing the clarity to stop it from looking too flat. Most scenes I played around with the exposure and took shots both exposed on the scenery, and on the sky, but in the end it was the ones where the sky was preserved that I liked the best post editing. I hope that makes sense! x

      • Reply Inés July 16, 2017 at 10:16 pm

        Thank you, Hannah, for your reply, is very helpful! Yes, I am looking forward to my trip to Switzerland. Thanks!

  • Reply Mona July 15, 2017 at 1:22 pm

    Gorgeous photos and loved seeing the technicalities behind them too. I want to visit the lakes asap now 💙

  • Reply Dee July 15, 2017 at 4:58 pm

    I struggle with the technical side of photography… I just shut down whenever I see numbers 🙂 I always shoot in automatic, and lately I’m using my phone more and more to take photos… Regardless, this was a great read! I hope to learn more about my Nikon and all its capabilities.

  • Reply Georgie July 16, 2017 at 8:32 am

    Beautiful imagery Hannah – really magical. I’m no photographer and wish I could get the hang of it. Especially landscape photography. Thanks for sharing the tips in the comments too. I need to learn about ‘spot metering’!

  • Reply Lucy carden July 16, 2017 at 10:47 am

    Lovely post! The little white house on the hillside is a holiday let, have stayed there before. There’s a path from the house that leads down to the lake, so really good for sunsets over the water!

  • Reply Emma Rollason July 16, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    Brilliant post Hannah, you’re images make me wanna visit the Lake District even more (it’s on my list of places I want to visit). You have inspired me to learn more about my camera, I have 0 camera tech knowledge, but enjoy shooting and experimenting until it works and I get the image I want. I look forward to reading your post about the camera triangle and manual shooting.
    Emma x

  • Reply Gemma August 16, 2017 at 7:57 am

    Great post – I have always shot in manual mode but still making it up as I go along, but if composition, light etc come naturally you are half way there. Your post has inspired me to get out and about today on holiday and have a play around. Thank you.

    • Reply Hannah Argyle August 16, 2017 at 3:56 pm

      Thank you so much Gemma! I’m so happy you are inspired, I hope you’ve had a great day out with your camera! xx

    Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.