Landscape Photography Resources

I use these landscape photography resources almost every time I head out.  Weather = Light and drama. It is such a huge part of creating interesting and drammatic photographs. Knowing the tides, checking access to locations, knowing where you can park, checking the forecasts and having an idea of what you will encounter is half of the battle. 

Weather

The weather is a crucial ingredient in creating great landscape images. Glance through the winning images in the LPOTY (Landscape Photographer of the Year) competition and you will regularly see the majesty of the elements in all their glory. The weather helps to shape and define the light we capture. It adds drama and mood to an otherwise bland scene.

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I’ve included a few great resources to help you get to the right places and stay out of harm’ way.

The Met Office

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

This weather forecast is generated by the Met Office Weather Widget It is always best to go to the horse’s mouth and the Met Office website is a great place to start. The Met Office have been providing weather data to a host of businesses and organisations for decades.

The Sea and Tides

Much of the raw natural beauty of our coastline is best enjoyed not far from the water’s edge and misunderstanding the tides can place people in great danger very quickly. You only need to get it wrong once. Salt water and camera gear rarely mix.

It’s not just about being in the right place at the right time but making sure you are not in the wrong place at the wrong time

UK Hydrographic Office – Easytide

Easytide

Easytide is a great resource for coastal photographers.

Magic Seaweed

http://magicseaweed.com/

Magic seaweed offers global Surf Reports and great information about Surfing breaks throughout the UK and beyond. If you want an idea on what the sea will be doing it is a great place to start.

Sunset, Moonset Times and Location

Photographers Ephemeris

http://photoephemeris.com/

The Photographers Ephemeris is about the best app for Photographers. It gives you Sunrise, Sunset, Moonrise and Moonset positions for anywhere you would like to pinpoint on a map. An essential tool when planning specific shoots.

Photographers Ephemeris

Sun Surveyor

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ratana.sunsurveyor&hl=en

Sun Surveyor is another very useful app that overlays sun and moon positions in relation to maps, street view etc providing a 3D graphic overlay. If you want to know where the sun will be in relation to a building, a fixed position in a park, churchyard then this app will get you as close to the action as is possible.

Sun Surveyor

Maps and Routes

Google Maps

http://maps.google.co.uk/

Where would we be without Google Maps? If you don’t have sat nav and you have data coverage it can be a very useful navigational tool in he field.

Google Maps

National Trails

http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/

Fantastic mapping and local information about all of the UKs National Trails.

The National Trust

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

I’m a great fan of the work of the National Trust and their membership is great value. Free car parking at so many sites throughout the UK is worth the membership alone. Many sites have cafes and wifi access if you need to get some work done on the hop.

Car Parking

Parkopedia

http://www.parkopedia.com

There is no better parking resource in the UK than the parkopedia website.

Calculators and Charts

DOFMaster

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Being able to calculate the Hyperfocal Distance of a variety of camera and lens combinations is key when looking to maximise depth of field when shooting Landscapes.

Neutral Density Long Exposure Calculation Chart

There are very simple apps available to help you to calculate DOF and Exposure. The sums do become quite simple to remember but it is always useful to have a chart in the bag when working with ND filters and long exposures.

Quite simply if the scene you are metering requires a shutter speed of 1/500 on a brighter day and you would like to slow things down, lengthen your exposure to 2s, then you would require a 10 Stop ND filter (Filter Factor 3.0). For each additional stop with an ND filter the shutter speed required for correct exposure doubles. Just remember it might be worth considering ETTR (Exposing To the Right)..

Long Exposure Calculator

Also if you are using a DSLR’s in-built Digital Noise Reduction then each actual image will take twice as long to create as the noise reduction works by taking an identical shot with the shutter closed and then cancelling the noise from the first exposure.

 

 

 Neutral Density Filters – Long Exposure Calculator (Downloadable)

 Publications and Websites

OnLandscape https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/ OnLandscape is a bi-weekly online publication that is a fantastic resource for keen Landscape Photographers. It is packed with excellent articles, reviews and tips from the best in the business.

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