A 1-2-1 Workshop on a Perfect Yorkshire Dales Day You always book workshops in the Yorkshire Dales with a sense of trepidation, and prepare yourself to explain what each location looks like “when it’s not grey, raining and grim”. No such worries for this 1-2-1 session with Jonathan – perfect weather for afternoon landscapes. Perfect for me is a breezy day where sparse clouds pass in front of the sun making patches of light and dark. We got that in spades, so instead of starting at Gordale Scar, I decided…
Category: Yorkshire Dales
January’s Malham Workshop 2017 We always run a landscape workshop at Malham in January fo those who’ve got a new camera for Xmas and want to learn how to take great countryside shots in the best area of the dales. It’s also pretty close to Leeds and Bradford, so not far to travel. This year we had pretty grim weather, not raining all the time, but a lot of grey skies and the occasional shower. A Slight Deviation So when it’s grey and wet, you need a Plan B destination, for…
A 50 year Wait – Tornado Steam Train Scheduled Service I didn’t wait 50 years – but it was 50 years ago that the last steam train service ran over the iconic viaduct in the Dales. It was only for a few days in February so I decided to brave the weather and head up there. I’d incorrectly assumed that every train would be steam, so had a shock when I saw about 6 normal boring ones going over the viaduct! So I got a LOT of shots without the…
Wensleydale for New Year Wensleydale is one of my favourite Dales, it’s long, wide, full of waterfalls and lovely villages – and has nice cheese! This new year I was up there with friends and popped out now and then to get some shots of the area – especially one fantastic sunset on New Years Day, where we went up Butter Tubs Pass. Looking back over the valley to Ingleborough was pure magic. Snowy grass in the foreground, dramatic skies in the distance, and eventually we got a rare Sun…
Is Swaledale the best Dale? There are so many dales, all with different character, all with different features. Swaledale is known for its steep sides, lead mines, waterfalls and 1000 barns – so lots to go at for the photographer We went up there yesterday – Richard Spurdens with his new Canon 5D mark 4 and me with the huge 500mm lens. Boys and their toys. Here are a few from a quick play in LIGHTROOM – you can see the autumn colours were strong, and we found some really…
Front to back sharpness Here’s how it’s done! Even at F16 with a wide lens, you can struggle to get everything sharp in a photo. If you like getting a foreground object such as a boulder or stream in your shot – the background may get blurry – of the foreground may get blurry… it depends on where you focus. How about doing 2 shots, 1 focussed on the background and the other on the foreground? That’s what we did here – the video takes you through how to automatically…
Yorkshire Dales Lightroom Tutorial – Ribblehead Viaduct A sunset shot – without a great sunset So you’re driving up a long country road with no real signs of life apart from the odd farm or bird of prey, then all of a sudden this massive viaduct pops up! That’s Ribblesdale – it’s full of stuff to photograph, and here is the best bit, right at the top of the valley. In the summer the sun sets over the back of Whernside, so not so good for sunsets – but in the…
Ribblesdale – a fantastic photography destination Coming from Ribblesdale, I’m obviously biased – though I’m a good 20 miles downstream from most of these destinations The Ribble is 70 miles long, starting at Ribblehead and entering the Irish sea at Preston. It’s a stunning journey down the valley, past Settle, Clitheroe and Ribchester – though these locations are all from Settle to Ribblehead So here’s our pictorial guide to Ribblesdale Above the valley These are from above Langthwaite – take the Malham Road and you’ll find them. Scalebar Force A…
McFade Summer Nights Workshops 2016 A look back over 12 fantastic evenings – but first some background Where did the idea of Summer Nights Workshops come from? Ever since I took Photography seriously I’ve regularly gone out for smaller outings – usually with 1 or 2 friends. We’d find places to go, new things to try out and gradually get loads of ideas and locations to return to. I found that it broke the weekend up and gave us something to look forward to. Gets you out of the “office mindset”…
Shooting the Milky Way – If at first you don’t succeed… Pack up your bags and go back another night! That’s what happened with our legendary Brimham Rocks workshop this year – the first run was a wash-out no sign of a star, never mind the milky way. Horizontal rain, cold, and no shelter anywhere saw us calling a halt on proceedings before cameras broke and people got hypothermia! A few weeks later we returned, and wow – the results were magical! Perfectly dark – no moon! To see the…