Blog

Devon Landscape Photography
Up on Dartmoor : exploring the Tors



A quick trip to go and visit some of the Tors and woodlands up on Dartmoor this weekend. The weather was grey and very overcast, with lots of haze around, so it was more of a recky trip than anything else.

First stop was Haytor, which as it was a dry and sort-of-sunny Sunday afternoon, was covered in people clambering all over it, so we quickly moved onto Saddle Tor which was much more enjoyable, with many varying rock formations, with many seemingly resting on their edges, or hovering in mid-air. If only there had been some different light.... another time.

Houndtor was next, which is a spralling mass of rocks and formations but was again covered in climbing children and families. The view from behind Houndtor, across Smallacoombe Rocks and up to Haytor was good and worth a return trip in decent light.



Lastly, following a tip from a friend who lives down that way (Thanks Mark!) we visted Wistmans Woods, a mile or so north of Two Bridges. A very old and ancient stunted Oak forest, it has a spooky and somewhat odd feel to it. Being spring there was no canopy and the lichens, ferns and algi were not in full growth, but it still made me think I had walked onto the set of Lord of the Rings and the forest scenes.



Finally a big thank you to Mark Lakemans for all his guidance and suggestions and to Cerian and Roody for their company up on the hills.

Dorset Landscape Photography
Trees, trees & more trees





The skies have been very hazy lately, with unclear skies and misty-looking valleys, so tonight, with the sun setting in and out from behinds broken clouds, I headed up onto the hills surrounding Bridport, Mapperton and Beaminster to see what I could find.

The evening ended up being all about trees. Thier shapes, forms, the patterns, their shadows, and the layers across the valleys set up by the haze and setting sun.

I started up on the top of Eggardon Hill, looking down across the valleys into Bridport, shooting into the sun to cause the trees to highlight and to form the patterns across the landscape.

From there, I followed on through Hooke, stopping off to see the progress of the Bluebells, which are still some time off. Then headed on to the hills over Mapperton and Beaminster, where the sun was setting across the valley.

Tonight was just a bit of fun. Shooting directly into the sun, with the resulting glare and issues with exposure is never easy, but tonight I also had strong winds gusting up the valley and through the gaps in the hedge, which added to the experience!!

Here is a copy of the recent article in the DSLR magazine ...

Dorset Landscape Photography
Sunset over Clavell Pier, Kimmeridge Bay





It was a busy evening down at Kimmeriedge tonight, with surfers out playing with the waves, folks kyaking in the bay, walkers stretching thier legs and a few other photographers out to capture the last few minutes of the evening light. We all got to see a wonderful sunset.

As the sun set, the high level cloud turned a dusky pinky blue. Using the Lee Big Stopper to quiet down the waves and add some movement to the clouds, the old Clavells Pier takes on a more dramatic look and feel.

Cornwall Landscape Photography
A misty and foggy weekend in West Cornwall





Poor weather conditions dominated this weekend as I travelled down to West Cornwall for a weekend of photography. Basing myself in St Ives, I wanted to visit the Tin Mines at Bottalack along with a trip to Cott Valley, Porth Nanven.

A bank of low lying cloud seemed to be lying across the area for the entire weekend, sometimes masquerading as mist or even fog, but it meant some challenging conditions to get some interesting light. To add some drama to the shots this weekend, I used the Lee Big Stopper in many of the shots, to add some movement and interest.

Low tides were also around this weekend, and at Porth Nanven, it uncovered a whole series of rock formations. There were so many options of compositions to shoot, that you could easily spend hours down there. I decided to use the large rounded boulders as the foreground and a long exposure to soften the water and turn the waves into mist.

A different composition, but again using the wonderful rock formations as the foreground interest.





Just up the coast from Porth Nanven are the Bottlack Tin Mines, with old disused mins laid out across the hillside. As I drove over the hills to get there, it was thick fog, but as I parked up and walked down the hillside to the viewpoint, I ended up under the clouds and mist, and even caught some sunshine for a while.

To get to the viewpoint, you have to go across a metre wide path, around 15m long, with a drop either side of a few hundred feet, down to the crashing waves below. All very dramatic! I used the Big Stopper to soften the crashing waves and create the highlighting effect on the water.





A coule of other shots of interest form the weekend .....
Firstly, as the low tide emptied out St Ives Harbour, it allowed a different viewpoint. Using the Big Stopper to add drama to the skies and soften the reflections in the water, I like the overall dramatic effect on this one.





The last one of the weekend was of St Michaels Mount. As I arrived at Marazion, the sun disappeared behind the bank of cloud/fog that was hanging around. The clouds were moving fast in a strong breeze, so once again I used the Big Stopper to add some drama.

Dorset Landscape Photography
Misty Sunrise over Bridport





A cold and still morning allowed the mists to form in the valleys around the quarry hills of Bridport this morning.

Arriving at the top of Quarry Hill with 30 mins to go before sunrise and the mists building across the valley floor, Bridport had disappeared under the covering.

As we neared sunrise, the mists built even more, growing around the base of Colmers Hill before withdrawing with the heat of the sun building.





As the sun rose, the light shone across the valley, lighting up the mists across the valley floor, hitting Colmers Hill and the surrounding fields.

Dorset Landscape Photography
A day on the Jurassic Coast





With the sunrise moving further North now as we head into spring, it is the last few days of watching the sunrise along/over the beaches down here in Dorset, so I headed off to West Bay this morning to catch the last of it.

The sky was covered in broken clouds which were catching the light quite well, offering some great colours as I arrived, but the waves were breaking up the beach and the spray was covering everything. I took a few shots, but the spray-covered filters were not helping.

As the sun broke the horizon, it was hidden behind some low lying clouds/mist/fog which allowed me to shoot straight into it and capture it breaking over the cliffs of Burton Bradstock, while the sky was glowing orange around it.





Later in the day, with much broken cloud still around, I headed for Kimmeridge Bay which, with a low and rising tide, promised to give some interesting shots.

As I arrived, the clouds above were breaking but building on the horizon and the wind was picking up again. I setup looking out over Clavell's Pier, one of my favourite spots in Kimmeridge Bay, and waited to see what developed.

As the sun disappeared behind the clouds sitting on the horizon it all looked dull and rather grey, but after a few minutes some colour started building in the clouds above and the rays of the sun from below the horizon started breaking up into the sky, giving a fan pattern.

Using the Lee Big Stopper 10-stop filter, an exposure of 3 minutes gives a smoothing effect on the water whilst providing some movement in the clouds.

I wasn't sure about the colour version of this, so I converted it to black and white using Silver Efex Pro. Let me know which you prefer.







]

Dorset Landscape Photography
Digital SLR Magazine : 1-Hour Photo





Earlier in January, I met up with Ross Hoddinott to take part in this challenge for the March edition of the magazine.

The challenge was to focus on the use of foreground interest in landscape photography and we met up at Kimmeridge Bay with a low'ish tide in early January, on a cold and clear day.

After warming ourselves over coffee and discussing the afternoon's challenge, we walked down to the bay towards some of the ledges and rocks that were uncovered by the low tide.

There were 3 main elements to the challenge : to look at lead-in lines and the how the use of horizontal or vertical formats affected this; maximising depth-of-field and achieving balance in the frame. The results from these 3 sessions are shown below.

The challenge wa sponsored by Nikon and I was able to use the latest D7000 and 16-35mm F4 lens, which was good fun and helped me make the decision to upgrade my own lenses, which I did the following week.

The main photo shown above was taken at the very end of the day, after sunset, as the clouds began to light up a wonderful dusky pink. Using a Lee Big Stopper to soften the water and capture slight movement in the clouds.
D7000, 16-35mm Nikkor @ 16mm, F11, 30 secs, Lee 0.6 ND hard grad & Big Stopper, ISO100

Dorset Landscape Photography
Sunset over the Cobb





As the sun starts turning North again as we move into spring, its the last few days to catch the sun setting over Lyme Regis and the Cobb, from Charmouth, before it starts setting over the hills and mainland once again.

I ventured out again tonight as the sky was clearing and with plenty of breaks in the clouds, I thought we might have a good one.

As I arrived at Charmouth, the clouds have thickened again and started to lower, leaving just a think bank between them and the horizon. The sun popped out for a few minutes before finally setting, but we didnt have the skies like yesterday. Still, was a lovely sunset to capture.

Dorset Landscape and Seascape Photography
Sunset over Charmouth, Lyme Regis & the Cobb





A couple of shots from this evenings outing along the Jurassic Coast to Charmouth, where not only did the light hit the cliffs along the coast to Golden Cap, but the sun set to the horizon, viewable all the way down over the Cobb in Lyme. A lovely evening, if a little cold.

Here is a copy of the recent article in the Dorset magazine ...

Dorset Landscape photography : Dorset Magazine features photos from Graham Wiffen





The February 2011 issue of Dorset Magazine has included a selection of my photos in their Readers Photos section. The article is on page 32.

The images selected can be viewed in the Gallery, where prints can also be purchased.

Dorset Landscape / Seascape Photography:
Full moon sets over Golden Cap





A second bite of the apple this morning as I ventured out to get the last few minutes of the nearly, almost, quite, 99.97% a full moon as it set over Golden Cap.

This time, as I was late getting out, I went to West Bay to catch the last glimpses of it before it went down bewhind the hills of Charmouth and the Golden Cap estate.

Another chilly start, but as it was setting so late, the sun had just risen and was lighting up the cliffs along the Jurassic Coast to make the scene really glow in the early morning light.

Dorset Landscape Photography / Seascape Photography
Full moon sets across Lyme Bay





I decided to get up early this morning to catch the full moon again as it set down across Lyme Bay. I tried a couple of view points, but found Hive Beach in Burton Bradstock gave the view I was looking for.

I arrived well before sunrise and the reflections of the moonlight across the water were wonderful: forming a path across Lyme Bay right into the heart of Lyme Regis. It was so bright in the sky compared to everything else, that is was difficult to minimise the halo effect around the moon.

It was a cold morning, but well worth the trip. Gorgeous views and a great way to start the days.

I took a few shots from the hillside overlooking Hive Beach before moving up to the top of the cliffs and looking the other way to see the sunrise. Not much cloud about and rather misty, but the birds made it work. Thank you.

Dorset Landscape Photography :
Full moon rises over Colmers Hill





A full moon was due tonight at 9pm, so at around 4.30pm when it rose, it was almost there ..... to the naked eye anyway.

I decided to catch it rising behind Colmers Hill, a local landmark here in Bridport and West Dorset; a small hill with a collection of trees on top which can be seen for miles around.

There was a mist forecast which would have looked great, swirling around the hills and valleys, but alas, it didn't arrive. However, as the moon rose, the sun had only set a few minutes earlier and the clouds/mist/smog sitting on the horizon turned a pale warm pink colour to warm up the sky. Unfortunately, it also made the moon a little misty.

I used the new Nikon 70-200 F2.8G lens for this shoot, mostly on the tripod with VR turned off.









As it was an almost cloudless sky, I decided to check out the moonset the following morning too. See next post.

Dorset Landscape Photography
Sunset over West Bay





The skies remained clear all day today and as the sun was setting, the final minutes gave a wonderful golden glow ..... hence Golden Hour.

I walked up the cliffs out of West Bay towards Eype and turning round, and watched the golden limestone cliffs of West Bay, Freshwater and Burton light up in the evening light.

I used the Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8D lens, 35mm, f9, 1/40th.

Dorset Landscape & Seascape Photography
Sunrise over the Chesil Bank





A clear and cold morning today as I headed down to the beach to tackle sunrise. A falling tide meant that the beach was almost completely clear of footprints and the limestone cliffs were highlighted by the sun as it rose above the horizon.

The clear, cloudless sky made the high contrast across the scene very difficult to cope with and as a result I blended a couple of shots together to achieve the result I was after.

A wonderful sunny day followed, which after the last week of grey clouds, rain and storms made a pleasant change. Long may it last !

The Blue Sky Gallery in Bridport is now showing a selection of my photographs, available as mounted prints.

The gallery also offers framing services, so if you'd like your new picture framed, thay can help you with that too.

Next time you're down in the area, please pop in and ask Mathew to have a look through the selection.

Dorset Landscape & Seascape Photography
Stormy evening over the boats at Hive Beach, Burton Bradstock

A stormy evening down at Hive Beach and it was only just as the sun was setting that a break in the clouds, and rain, started to develop. I setup the camera and captured this shot using one of my newly acquired lenses.

As part of my medium term plan is to go to full frame, I have just upgraded my lenses and am now the happy owner of the Nikon AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8D and the 70-200 AF-S VR f2.8G lenses. I used the 17-35mm for this shot, to see how it faired.

The clouds were dispersing even as I took this shot, and soon after they had disappeared completely.

Dorset Landscape & Seascape photography
Sunset of the Jetty, the Fleet.





I headed out to what promised to be a great sunset tonight, but as the sun dropped lower in the sky, the high cloud dispersed and the lower cloud thickened. It was a low tide at the Fleet which could have been great with a colourful sky, but it wasn't to be.

I used the Lee Big Stopper again tonight to add some movement to the clouds and to smooth out the ripples on the water. I then decided it would be a much better shot as a black white, so I converted it using Silver FX Pro.

Taken using Nikon D90, ISO 100, Sigma 10-20mm at 11.5mm, F9, 5 minute exposure.