Wast Water, 8 image pano, 105mm, f8, iso 100
If you had told me a couple of weeks ago that I would spend a whole week in the Lake District without a single drop of rain, then I would have thought you had taken leave of your senses! Yet that is exactly what happened last week, whilst running a workshop for a couple of private clients.
For landscape photographers, clear blue skies are probably the worst conditions that you can have. The skies are featureless, they leave too much empty space in an image, during the day the light is too harsh. Couple this with the lack of rain over the previous weeks and the lakes were at the lowest level that I had ever seen and the streams that feed them we just trickles as opposed to the raging torrents that I have seen it the past. This somewhat limited us to what we could do during the day, so the majority of the time we were arriving at our chosen locations well before sunrise which meant early starts and then shooting through golden and blue hour each evening.
However every cloud does have a silver lining and the lack of light did allow us to explore the lakes in detail, finding compositions that didn't work last week but have huge potential for the future. As we well know, planning for landscape photography is key, knowing what conditions are needed to create that portfolio image, help us get onto location when forecast are favourable. With the use of apps such as Photopills and The Photographers Ephemeris we can really maximise our chances of being where we need to be at the very moment when everything aligns.
Despite the conditions last week, it wasn't lost on me that 12 months ago we were limited to 1 hours exercise per day, were unable to travel and we have had to endure so much with our way of life being impacted on. Whilst we all want amazing light, it was wonderful to be able to get out with the cameras once again.
The following images were taken last week, and whilst they will never win a competition, I want to share them to provide you with some locations that you may want to visit if or when you visit the lakes.
Esthwaite Water, 16mm, f8, iso 100, 25 seconds.
Kelly Hall Tarn, 3 image focus stacked, f8, iso 100, 28mm
Coniston Jetty, f11, iso 100, 4 seconds, 16mm
Coniston Jetty, f11, iso 100, 4 seconds, 12mm
Blea Tarn, f11, iso 100, 10 seconds, 18mm
Blea Tarn, f8, iso 100, 4 seconds, 105mm
Blea Tarn, f8, iso 100, 1 second, 70mm, 6 image pano
Aire Force Waterfalls, f11, iso 50, 0.4 second, 18mm
Rydal Caves, 3 image exposure blend, f8, iso 100
Woods Above Rydal Water, 2 image focus stack, f8, iso 100, 200th second, 28mm
Duke Of Portland Boathouse, f8, iso 100, 240 seconds, 35mm
Friars Crag, Derwent Water, f16, iso 50, 30 seconds, 20mm
Surprise View, Derwent Water, f11, iso 100, 20 seconds, 24mm
Above Crummock Water, 4 image pano, f8, iso 100, 400th second, 100mm
Old Mill, Seatoller, 3 image focus stack, f8, iso 100, 0.4 second, 16mm
Monk Coniston, f11, iso 100, 16mm, 60 seconds
Monk Coniston, f8, iso 100, 70mm, 30 seconds.
Wast Water, f11, iso 100, 10 seconds, 16mm