Landscape

Photography
magazine

On the map: Machrie stones

Issue 1 Photographers Portfolios: Bill Allsopp and Steven Russell

Exhibition Psychology: Ian Cameron

March 2011
Reader’s Journeys: Santorini
http://landscapephotographymagazine.com

Shooting the Void: Adrian Hall

Editor's Views

Hello everyone

What is Landscape Photography magazine

all about and why did we come up with
such project? Being landscape photogra-
phers by nature, we always felt the need for
a bespoke and unique magazine that would
only speak our language, that of Landscape
Photography and of course the absence
of such magazine has brought us to this.
10
We have been working hard to produce
something new and unique. We would Portfolios
like to thank all our contributors for their
helpful and inspiring articles and images.
Some will target those new to landscape
photography and some will aim to a more
advanced audience and hopefully will

bring some inspiration to thousands of

us all around the world who are look- 4
ing for something new and exciting.

We would like you to take part in this

venture and not only give us your feed-
back via the individual article pages on
the site but also contribute your work.
This may be your images, articles, let-
ters or anything else that can be of in-
42
terest to landscape photographers.

Help us to help you

Front Cover:
Mouse island, Corfu by
Ivy-May McIntosh.

Li ghtb ox 26
C ontents

Articles

14 Viewpoint: Exhibition Psychology by Ian Cameron

32 This Month: The Art of Available Night Light by Alister Benn

38 Readers Journeys: David Hay takes us on a tour of Santorini

Tutorials

50 Photo Tip: B...right Histogram

52 Lightroom Beginners Guide

55 Beginners Guide: Exposure by Mike Bell

 Portfolio:
Bill Allsopp LRPS

4  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 Here by the sea and sand
Titled after a song by The Who from their album Quadrophenia
Here by the sea and sand nothing ever goes as planned. And it
would not go as planned that day at Bude. I was after a low angle
shot of the light reflecting from the incoming tide on a stretch of
almost flat beach. The clean shot I wanted kept eluding me as the
frothy age of the incoming tide cut up the picture. The final
decision was to lose the detail by panning with a long exposure.

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  5 

P o r tfo li o - B ill A ll so pp LRPS

First and foremost

I am a landscape
photographer but
I also enjoy mak-
ing flower photo-
graphs and make
pictures of any-
thing that appeals.

My first camera was a box camera which I was giv-

en aged about 5. I progressed through various film
cameras, both 35mm and roll film and finally went
digital in 2002. It has been a re-awakening for me. I
was never entirely happy in the wet darkroom and
always preferred to be outside but the digital de-
velopment of my pictures is almost as much a joy
and passion as being out with the camera. I now
give occasional talks to photographic societies on
digital monochrome. If this is of interest to you or
your club please contact me.

Current equipment is a full frame Canon DSLR,

various “L” lenses and a Leica. The little Leica D-Lux
5 has been a revelation. It is so wonderful to be
able to make great pictures with a camera which
is the size and weight of a fag packet! It has taken
me back to my roots and by the time this article
is published I expect to have reduced my canon
gear to just two lenses; perhaps that will help fix
my hernia!

My biggest problem is being landlocked in Leices-

tershire, by nature and inclination I would rather be
almost anywhere else, Leicestershire is such a dif-
ficult place for a landscape photographer littered
as it is, by roads, huge steel sheds and pylons. To
compensate, when I do not have time to travel fur-
ther afield it has made me search for more detailed
pictures within the landscape and it is in the de-
tail that many of the best pictures are found. The
“grand view” is very elusive in the midlands.

Recently I have become much more focused on

6  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 P o r tfo li o - B i ll A ll so pp LRPS

Sunlit fog
Leicestershire had lots of fog in November 2010. I
took a morning off work to spend three hours in
the woods near Beacon Hill with my Leica D-Lux 5.

monochrome. It appeals to me in so many and reduces contrast; that leaves the photogra-
ways, bad weather is a boon, mist fog and pher free to manipulate that contrast as he wishes
rain all add mood to a picture, help to hide it to be. Try it, get outdoors on a damp dismal day
the ugly mess man makes of his environment and see what gems are waiting for you!

Top Left: Rotting Stumps

14 second exposure using a 10 stop

B&W ND filter on a 100-400 zoom at
370mm. Lindisfarne harbour.

Bottom Left: The mill at dawn

From another three day trip to North Norfolk.

this is the mill at Burnham Overy Staithe.

Bottom Right: Frosty dawn on the New

Forest

A slide almost 30 years old taken with a Pentax

6x7 system I had then. I miss the superb quality
of the slide it produced but not the weight of
carrying that system.

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  7 

P o r tfo li o - B ill A ll so pp LRPS

Martin’s Tree

I heard about Brimham rocks, in Yorkshire from

my friend Martin Henson. We went up to Harro-
gate for a week-end in February and as we were
out in the car passed a sign “Brimham rocks” and
went to see for ourselves. This is a single expo-
sure which required “just a bit of editing”

8  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 P o r tfo li o - B i ll A ll so pp LRPS

Waiting for the combine

Isolated trees are a gift to most photographers,

combine that with soft evening light and I defy
anyone to not stop for a snap!

EOS 1Ds MK3 17-40 mm lens.

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  9 

On th e m ap - M ach r ie S to n e C i rcle

Mysterious places
Machrie moor stone circle

In this edition of On The Map we explore one

of the many Stone Circles scattered around the
Scottish landscape.

10 - Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 On th e m ap - M ach r i e S to n e C i rcle

Machrie Stone Circle By Dimitri Vasiliou

Camera Canon 5D
Lens Canon 24-105L IS
Focal Length 45mm
ISO 50
Shutter Speed 1/4 sec
Aperture f/16

About The stones on Machrie Moor, on the West of the island.

The Isle of Arran, off the West Coast of Scotland, On the moors of Machrie, there is a complex of
has many stone circles and standing stones dat- stone circles, cairns and hut circles which makes
ing from the Neolithic period and the early Bronze it one of the most intriguing, remarkable and
Age. The finest collection of circles can be found awe inspiring archaeological sites in Scotland. It is »
March
March- -Landscape
LandscapePhotography
Photography Magazine  -  11 
Magazine - 11 
 On th e m ap - M ach r ie S to n e C i rcle
» well worth a visit as the area has
plenty of photographic poten-
tial. Although the stone circles
date from around 1,800 to 1,600
BC during the Bronze Age pe-
riod, there is plenty of evidence
to suggest much earlier use of
the site. It is now believed that
people have been present in
this part of the island for up to
8,000 years ago. The whole area
is boggy ground but we need to
remember that the stone circles
were built in a period of much
drier weather, before the growth
of moss and heather rendered
the land unusable for cultivation.
Photographer’s
View
I had heard of the place from
someone who had visited the
12  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March
OS Landranger - NR 910 325
See website for links to Google Maps and
area on a walk and I must ad-
mit that his view of the stones
made quite an impression on
me. I decided to do a small re-
search and found many images
of the stones on different inter-
net sites. I made the decision to
go there and if I remember well,
it was around September time.
Took the Calmac ferry from Ar-
drossan and in 55 minutes I was
on the isle of Arran. Machrie is on
the West side of the island and
Brodick (ferry terminal) on the
East. The drive is only around 25
minutes.
I parked the car and started
finding my way there. The walk
lasted around 50 minutes but it
was worth it with plenty of Scot-
tish wildlife on the way. Upon
my arrival I was faced with an
Bing
abandoned farm, a sign that ex-
plains the site’s history and a se-
ries of stone circles. Only one of
them is the most distinguishable
and consists of three upright
red sandstone pillars, the tall-
est of which is just over 17 feet
high. I sat on one of the smaller
rocks, looked around and tried
to imagine how life would be
like 8,000 years ago in this area. I
soon realized that I was the only
living soul around for miles and
admittedly, I felt a chill sliding up
my spine.
Right away I knew that I couldn’t
leave the place with just another
picture, similar to the thousands
I had already seen. Somehow
I had to do the place justice,
somehow I had to bring it back
to life, add a new dawn to it. And

this is when it hit me, “A new
dawn”. It had to be a sunrise and
immediately I started visualiz-
ing what I wanted to capture. I
had a fair image in my head and
all I had to do was to calculate
the “When”. Compass came out,
map and everything else and
soon I discovered that for what I
was aiming, the best time of year
would be June. Sunrise in June.
Hold on a minute, this occurs at
just after 4am, which meant that
I would have to start my walk just
before 3am, oh boy. As a pas-
sionate photographer though,
the date was marked into my cal-
endar and the following June it
all happened.
How to get there
Have a look at the 2 maps first
and pressuming you are driving
there, you will arrive from the
North side on the west coast.
Pass Machrie Golf course and
around 100 meters after Machrie
Water (the wee local river) there
is a sign pointing to the Stones.
On your right hand side there is a
On th e m ap - M ach r i e S to n e C i rcle
small layby that can take only 2-3 and is considered as “Scotland in
cars if you push it. Please park miniature”. A long weekend stay
carefully as the space is very lim- on the isle can be very creative
ited and please keep clear of the (photographically) and produc-
farmer’s gate. Cross the road and tive as there are plenty of places
climb over the stile by a gate. one can visit for both sunrise and
Follow the grassy path straight sunset. Machrie beach, Blackwa-
ahead. At the next gate and stile terfoot, Corrie, Shiskine, King’s
continue to follow the obvious cave on the west, Lochranza,
path. Continue along the path Glen Rosa are only some of
to reach the ruins of Moss Farm. the locations that can produce
Once there, the stones and rest some stunning images. Visit the
of the ruins can’t be missed. place and good luck to all and of
course, I wish you good light.
What else
Arran is a beautiful little island
Dimitri was born in Greece but moved
to Scotland in 1997. He remembers
his first impressions were how wet
this country was! Needless to say
that his first impression of Scot-
land simply being one big puddle
of dampness evaporated like dew
drops in the morning sun as soon as
he started visiting the highlands. He
was totally overwhelmed by the sheer
beauty of Northern Scotland and
this, in return, led him to rediscover
his fascination with photography.
Dimitri enjoys his presentations to camera clubs around Scotland and they
have been highly successful. He loves sharing his knowledge with other
enthusiasts and this drove him to become a tutor on Landscape photog-
raphy. He now runs workshops via his company “Earth’s Beauty Tours”.
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  13 
 Viewpoint:
Exhibition Psychology
Ian Cameron

Many years ago before I took the leap from amateur to professional landscape photography, I recall
walking into an art exhibition in Chicago. There were three artists displaying their paintings and as
I was at a loose end and I love looking at pictures in I went. The artwork was contained in a large
hall, the three artists were down at the far end sitting together and speaking to various folk that
were viewing the exhibition. The artwork was displayed on three walls one dedicated to each of the
artists.

Blue Ice Green:

Pentax 67II, 90-180 zoom, polariser, f/22 at ½ sec-

ond, velvia 50.

14  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

I have come to the conclusion that I respond to im-
ages very directly and very quickly and my atten-
tion was immediately drawn to a single medium
sized abstract on the end wall which I instantly fell
in love with. I went straight toward it and then
spent the next ten minutes or so marvelling at it
and I’m afraid gave most of the other images fairly
scant attention. Eventually, still filled with admira-
tion for this one picture I approached the artist’s
desk and gushed over it to the artist responsible.
He probably thought I was an English eccentric
but thanked me never-the-less and told me he’d
put me on his list in the, “like it camp”. Somewhat
perplexed I asked him what he meant and he
flipped his list around informing me that he had
more comments about this one picture than any
other. There were three columns on the list, “ love
it”, “hate it”, “don’t recall it”…In short the “love it”
list was loaded with admiring comments, but what
astonished me was that the same picture had also
courted some of the most vehement comments,
but the column labelled “don’t recall it”, was just
about empty.
He looked up at me and laughed and said “now
that’s a good picture, because love it or hate it at
least folk appear to remember it”.
It is a point that has always struck a chord with me
and one that I still try and include in my own pho-
tographic exhibitions. After all if you have hired an
expensive hall and gone to the expense, stress and
time of producing your own works of art you want
it to at least be remembered, though I have to ad-
mit for it to be admired is preferable.
A year or so ago I set up an exhibition of my work
in the north of Scotland, advertised it and did »
Ice Stasis:
Pentax 6711, 55-100 zoom, polariser, f/22 at 4 sec-
onds, Velvia 50.
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  15 
Main Image: Elgol Crimson:

Pentax 6711 45mm lens, 0.75ND grad,

f/27 at 8 seconds, Velvia 50

Right: Blazing poppies:

Pentax 67II, 55-100 zoom, polariser,

0.6ND grad, f/22 at 1 second, Velvia.

16 - Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 V i e wpo i nt : E xh ib iti o n P sych o logy

» everything practical and cost effective Of these images I was quite surprised
to promote it. I also did what it seems a at the two approaches, men were much
great many artists and photographers more drawn to the dramatic, wide angle
don’t do and tried to be present during and often the darker, moodier image,
the exhibition as much as I possibly could. their reactions to the pictures struck me
I suspect my presence there helped me as quite odd. I noticed that they would
sell more pictures than perhaps I would actually reel back from the picture to ad-
had I not been present at all. The reason mire it. I also observed that having appar-
I decided to be there as much as I could ently enjoyed it, that not a single one of
is because I regard it as an opportunity this style of image sold. The pictures that
to meet the folk that might purchase my sold best were universally mid to short
image and hang it on their wall, a singular telephoto images, pastel in colour, gener-
honour and matter of personal pride that ally light or high key and compositionally
is not, and has never been lost on me, and composed in horizontal layers.
definitely not one I take for granted.
That style of image seemed to elicit a dif-
The revelation for me though, was the ferent response, instead of reeling back
enormous amount that I felt I had learned from it, the individuals would tend to
from watching the reactions of the folk shuffle closer, lean forward and point and
that viewed my work, which happily for trace with fingers outstretched toward it.
me ran to two to three thousand during On approaching the exit door they would
the three weeks or so it was on. I was also rarely intimate to me that they liked this
lucky enough to sell a great many images or that particular image, they invariably
and found myself having to replace stock walked out without a word and then half
several times during its course and that an hour later the men would return with
enabled me a chance to build up a profile their partner and both would make their
of the folk and type of image that sold. way directly back to the same image and
often a sale would result.
This is what I found from my own obser-
vations in respect of my own pictures. I Can you draw conclusions from this? I »
have no statistical analytical skills
but my wife does and it was with
this in mind that I tried to gather
information for the aforemen-
tioned profile.

There were roughly equal per-

centages of men and women at
the exhibition and most seemed
to adopt my own viewing ap-
proach, a casual glance at a picture
and move on, but certain images
courted a much lengthier stay.
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  17 
 V iewpo i nt : E xhi b itio n P sych o logy

» don’t know and my wife says that I should

always bear in mind the old adage there
are lies, damn lies and statistics, but
these are my conclusions in respect of my
pictures.

In most cases it appears the female choos-

es which images hang on the domestic
walls and the male will tend to choose only
for office based environment, usually seek-
ing the assistance of a female colleague for
the final decision. Although occasionally
the female chooses independently of their
male partner it never once occurred the
other way around, in most cases it seemed
to be at least a joint decision with the veto
going to the women.
magazine... Having quizzed a few buyers about
If I want to sell my work it would appear that I must their decision it invariably came down to an im-
aim to please the female perspective and that gen- age that would fit well with their chosen décor yet
erally seemed to be satisfied with images that dis- didn’t shout or demand attention.
played the following attributes, pastels, soft warm
colour hues, generally low in contrast and high Finally if you observe your potential buying public
key, (not moody), layered horizontal compositions reeling back from a picture which never-the-less
almost exclusively with a slightly compressed short they seem to be impressed by, at least to the ex-
telephoto perspective. Quintessentially the exact tent of telling me how much they like the image,
opposite of the sort of image you would expect then there isn’t a cat in Hells chance of me selling
to see dominate the front cover of a photographic the image to them to hang on their wall.

To book a photograph-
ic workshop with Ian
please visit his site:

www.transientlight.co.uk

Above: Applecross Sunset -

67II, 200mm lens, 0.45ND grad,

f/16 at ½ second, Velvia 50

left : Island In The Mist -

Pentax 67II, 90-180 zoom, unfil-

tered, f/16 at ¼ second, velvia 50

18  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 Landscape

Ne
Photography

xt
M
magazine

on
th
At a website near you 1st April, 2011

Picture of the month: Fly geyser

Issue 2 Photographers Portfolios: Jon Sargisson and Mike Bell

April 2011 Black & White by Martin Henson

http://landscapephotographymagazine.com Reader’s Journeys: Anafi

S hooting the Void
The C olour P urple
By Adrian Hall

In landscape photography, one of the first and most

common questions that people will ask is about
methods for controlling the sky. To most mortal men
‘controlling the sky’ might seem a grandiose task on
a par with something a modern day Icarus & Ithacus
might take on. However, to a band of dedicated, some
might say almost-committed, early rising, wet-boot-
ed, cold-footed landscape photography devotees it is
one of the most basic skills we have to master. Now of
course if an infinite number of chimps, working on an
infinite number of typewriters, for infinite amount of
time could produce the works of Shakespeare then it
is not beyond the wit of man to see that us landscape
chimps will come up with many complex ways to
solve our sky based issues and probably then spend
The Same Image with and without filters
quite a lot of time arguing about which is ‘the’ way.

To start from the beginning, why do we need to con-

trol the sky? Well if you look at the shot on the right,
you will see that the sky is basically not there, the sea
is fairly bland and the foreground rock is overly dark
compared to the rest of the image. This is why we
need to control the exposure manually when captur-
ing complex scenes.

With some simple exposure control and finishing

touches in photoshop the snapshot is transformed in
to a picture with some emotion.

Of course it is not only the sky where we need to con-

trol the exposure. Photography is basically all about

20  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March


‘light’. You have a sensor or a piece of film and you
need to capture the light that the lens is pointed at
in sufficient amounts to make the image that the
photographer envisaged at the time of exposure.
The light makes the image and the light is what
will guide the viewer to the areas of the image we
want them to see and the way that we want them
to see it. The problems come from the limitations
of technology Vs the complex human form. The
human eye & brain combo is a pretty lethal ma-
chine and can outwit the most complex technolo-
gy. This is the reason that we have to jump through
hoops to try to replicate even the most basic of
views that we see and process without thought on
a daily basis.
The most common manifestation of this issue is
where the sky meets the land. Generally the sky
is substantially brighter than the land. Our human
brain knows this and the eye can cope with a sub-
stantial dramatic range and so we see the detail
in the ground and the buildings or mountains in
the distance but also the little fluffy clouds float-
ing through the sky. The camera sensor though
cannot cope with these dramatic differences and
must be exposed for one or t’other correctly. This
will result in either a blacked out foreground or a
burnt out sky with no detail in one of them. If you
are really lucky, you might even burn out the sky,
black out the land and correctly expose for just a
small part of the sky. This then is the start of the is-
sue that we need to overcome. Realising this is un-
fortunately is also only the start of many problems.
Many residents of the photographic virtual world
tend to believe that they have ‘the answer’ and
that there is some flaw in the argument of people
who choose other options and they secretly be-
lieve that this flaw also translates to flaws in their
psyche, personality and probably their moral fibre
too.
At the moment there are several principal &
S h ooti ng th e Vo i d - Th e C o lour P ur ple
popular ways to address this issue (and many sub
methods within them):
1. Graduated Filters
2. Manual Blending
3. HDR
4. A mix of the above
Shoot low contrast scenes e.g. cut out the sky
altogether
So let us take a quick look at these different meth-
ods in as balanced a way as an honest man with
a pre-defined preference can manage. In these ex-
amples, I have included some initial costs of what
it would take to take to get started with each of
these models and an overview of how they work.
1) Graduated Filters
a. Cokin P Series rough cost about £100 to buy the
adapter ring, the filter holder and a mix of hard &
soft grads reputed to have a purple colour cast.
b. Hi-Tech more than Cokin but less than Lee
c. Lee Filters – Very good quality filters with hardly
any colour cast (reputed to scratch easily)
d. There are loads of others and you can spend
lots and lots if you are so inclined.
These come in 2 types, soft grad or hard grad.
The difference is the rate at which they change
from dark to light. Soft – has a soft fade and hard
– changes quickly. They are each better suited to
different situations and cameras.
They also come in different strengths to cope with
different light conditions and can be stacked to in-
crease their strength. The basic premise is that you
darken the sky to within a couple of ‘stops’ of the
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  21 
S h ooti ng th e Vo i d - The C o lour P ur ple

land so that you have detail in both and so that the not taking advantage of the options we currently
sky does still appear lighter than the ground e.g. as have available and does not do as good a job as
your eye saw it. we are capable of representing the image as pre-
visualized or witnessed.
The alleged benefits of graduated filters are that
they allow you to ‘get it right in camera’. Howev- The main downsides are: colour casts on your shots
er, they are limited in the situations that they can that are very difficult to remove. More chance to
cope with and most landscape photographers get something dirty: finger prints, sea spray etc
these days process their images digitally anyway & additional expense. Image quality (IQ) can also
so I personally am not sure of the benefits of this suffer using cheap versions of these filters. If you
model in a digital work-flow, unless you generally are spending good money of the best glass you
like cleaning and carrying things that is. If, how- can afford to get the crispest, sharpest image then
ever, this is already engrained in your practice or would you really want to stick a cheap bit of purple
you are a film-based photographer then sure: ‘why plastic between you and your subject?
change’. Otherwise, look carefully at what you
want to achieve and consider if this model will ac- That said, some of the most gorgeous landscape
tually allow you to deliver on those intentions and images you see from some of the most accom-
provide a justifiable return on your investment. plished photographers will have used Graduated
filters so they can not be all bad, just a bit cumber-
If a photographer does adopt this way of working some and old-fashioned maybe?
and they honestly limit themselves to it then they
are essentially restricting the number of situations If you do choose to go down this route you will
that they can shoot or at least the accuracy that need:
their capture can convey.
1. Adapter ring to fit to any lenses you want to
The main reason for this limitation is that the grad- attach the filter holder to
uations are straight lines and even if you use a soft
grad there are many situations when the elements 2. A filter holder that slides on to the ring
in the foreground continue up in to sky e.g. build- 3. The set of filters (probably start with soft grads
ings on hills, mountains, trees that you use to frame though some people say only hard are neces-
the shot etc. There are also lots of occasions when sary for crop sensor cameras)
there will be light elements in the foreground that
you will want to darken down too.

As for my opinion, well I like purple as much as the 2) Post Processing

next man. It is a lovely colour: Regal, some might
say. Freud, I believe, had other opinions. However,
when it comes to landscape photography we do
not need to add our own splash. I also love burnt
and blackened trees as photographic subjects but
I think that unless I am on charred ground or the
Namibian desert then I do not think we need to
add the effect ourselves. For me this model is just
A. Manual blending
The basic concept of this model is that you take
a shot for the light area(s) (usually the sky) and a
shot for the darker area(s) (usually the land) then
put one on top of the other and ‘mask’ the bits that
you do not want to see. This results in a final image;

22  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

not coloured, not perfumed, just as-is. As scenes
grow in complexity and your skills grow with prac-
tice you can blend more than 2 layers to represent
the scene as envisaged at time of capture. Chang-
ing ‘blending modes’ of the different layers also af-
fects the output and pre-defined actions are avail-
able to purchase on-line. At its simplest this takes a
few moments, at its most complicated it can take
little while to get right. You can even replicate the
straight-cut effect of a hard or soft edged gradua-
tion if you are nostalgic for the dark (room) ages.
For my money this allows you to get the closest to
the scene that you witnessed in the field because
there is nothing between you and the scene ex-
cept your skills, your lenses and your sensor.
This method allows you as the photographer to re-
tain control and not be restricted by a hard-edged
piece of coloured glass or to hand processing
rights a software app either developed by a well-
meaning software developer on the other side of
the world based on algorithms and equations.
You can do this in a variety of programs such as:
Elements (about £100?), Photoshop (more expen-
sive) or similar apps by other manufactures. You
can usually download trial versions of the software
too free for 30 days and you will probably need
these programs anyway even if you choose one of
the other processing work-flows.
One of the things that you will find with this model
is that many people, who generally do not have
too much experience with photography, call this
‘photo-shopping’ as if it is a modern idea robbing
photography of purity, truth and decency. In reality
though, landscape photographers have used this
model since the days before filters were invented.
Manually blending shots in post-processing to re-
tain detail in the skies was actually how Eadweard
Muybridge (he of trotting horse fame) had to pro-
cess his landscape images in the days before Ansel
Adams was even a twinkle in the milk-man’s eye.
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  23 
The image on the previous page shows how this contrast scenes. However, if you only need a cou-
manual blending can cope with complex lighting ple of stops then this can be a great user defined
situations and provide an accurate, faithful image. alternative the ND filters for the following reasons:

a) No colour cast

B. Virtual ND filters b) User defined strength

Programs like the latest version of Aperture or
Lightroom now allow you to apply a ND filter to
raw images post capture. This has some advan-
tages over the ‘actual’ filters in that you can add
or remove parts of the filters to give them a user-
defined shape. However, the camera can only cap-
ture a limited dynamic range if there is too much
contrast in the scene then the highlights or the
deepest shadows would still be lost i.e. in situa-
tions with a very bright sky and dark foreground
it will not work. Therefore you cannot rely on this
method alone unless you only shoot fairly low
c) User defined amount of graduation
d) Easy to alter the exact position or other settings
post capture
e) Can actually brighten areas of the image as well
as darken (see the foreground rock in the opening
shot)
This image shows some of the customisable set-
tings and the options allowed by this simple and
powerful tool as used here in Lightroom 3.

24  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March


C. HDR
HDR refers to ‘High Dynamic Range’. The principle
behind this is that you take several images of the
scene so that you have detail captured for all the
areas of shadow and highlight within a scene. The
computer will blend these images together based
on the settings chosen by the user to generate an
image that represents potentially even greater dy-
namic range that the human eye could have seen.
HDR is gaining in popularity and the techniques
and software are constantly being refined. i-
phones even have an HDR mode built in now. In
the past this method of processing has had a poor
reputation because it is very easy to mis-use. Many
HDR images on the web will have a ‘cartoon’ look
of being over-saturated and over-processed. This
can work extremely well for gritty, urban scenes
and really add punch. However, when the same
techniques are applied to landscapes, for me per-
sonally, I am left cold.
However, for some practitioners who spend the
necessary time to refine a method that works for
them they can extract some real beauty from chal-
lenging scenes. The things to watch out for if at-
tempting this method are: obvious signs of over
processing, too much detail in area of shadow.
Shadows are not evil and do exist. These can be
used to your advantage. ‘The Shadows’, however,
are another matter altogether though and I can
think of no good reason for ‘The Shadows’ at all
and if there was a software program to remove all
trace of Cliff & his buddies then I think we should
all take full advantage of it!
Programs like Photoshop have HDR embedded
but you can also buy standalone apps such as pho-
tomatix. Again the cost for this software is some-
where round the £100 mark.
S h ooti ng th e Vo i d - Th e C o lour P ur ple
The other methods are fairly self-explanatory but
the honest ‘answer’ is that there is no 1 way to pro-
cess or capture shots. The best advice I can give is
to try out various techniques then dedicate your-
self to a particular process, reach a decent stand-
ard then try branching out and experimenting to
augment your usual workflow. Understanding, dif-
ferent ways of working and increasing your knowl-
edge can only increase the number of situations
that you are equipped to deal with. The end image
is after all, what that really matters. For my money
though, if you can tell how a landscape image was
processed then the process needs refining. When
you look at a landscape image, you should be
thinking about the image not obviously over dark-
ened trees, unreal skies or glowing halos.
This topic is hotly debated on many Tog’ing forums
and you just have to pick a method that works
best for you.
Basically there will be a cost but whether you
choose to use software of hardware the cheapest
option will be about £100 or so. Good luck and do
remember that whichever model you go with the
truth you find is only ‘your truth’ and not ‘the truth’.
There is room for more than 1 Landscape model in
this world so can’t we all just get along?
Adrian is a photographer, student, follower of light
and dark and a sunset junkie. Anytime there is a
spare moment he can generally be found knee deep
in foaming icy surf or lying down covered in mud on
riverbanks hoping for half a chance of a reflected
moment of sunlight. You can keep up to date with
his latest images and read about his latest photo-
graphic exploits on his blog or Flickr stream.
Above all he loves learning from the many and var-
ied creative ways that his fellow photographers are
always finding to use light on a daily basis to tell
their stories and is constantly learning and look-
ing for the next challenges, experiences and trips
to form the next steps on the photographic path.
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  25 
 Li ghtb ox

Castlerigg Stone Circle Sunrise

This was an early start for a sunrise whilst
holidaying in the Lake District. I was rewarded
with a beautiful sky. F13, 1/2 sec, av mode.

26 - Landscape Photography Magazine - March

More of Marie's and other photographers
images overleaf »
March - Landscape Photography Magazine - 27 
L ig htbox

Misty Storr Dawn, Loch

Fada, Skye, Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle,

Loch Alsh, Scotland

Marie Kerr: I moved to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 2007, and a year later I decided to take
up landscape photography as a hobby.  I have learned much along the way from peers, tu-
tors as well as trial and error. I like nothing better than getting up at silly o’clock to catch
the first light. I’ve recently started to travel to other countries on photography trips and my
hobby has opened up a whole new world for me. www.mariekerrphotography.com

28  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 L i g htbox

Barry Hamilton: I’m

an avid amateur, live in
Cabot, Arkansas, USA,
and I’m older than 39. I
got into the digital age
just a few years ago, af-
ter my Canon AE-1 and gear were
stolen. I’ve been very fortunate and
have had some wonderful experi-
ences, as well as learning a lot, meet-
ing up with other photographers to
shoot, including two trips to The UK,
the Olympic Peninsula, White Sands,
among others. Photography now
takes the largest portion of my time,
including scouting, shooting, pro-
cessing, and participating in various
photography forums.

www.flickr.com/photos/crookedhill

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  29 

L ig htbox

Sue Berry: I am the sort of female who is more likely

to be found perched on a  rock with the tide com-
ing in or lying in  the mud photographing wildlife,
than  relaxing  on a spa break! Although these days
more of my time is spent photographing wildlife
in the UK and Africa, I love spending time whenever I can in
more remote spots of the UK  doing my best to capture the
beauty of the landscape in the best possible light. Heaven to
me is being in a beautiful remote spot before sunrise, waiting
for the light with a flask of coffee....life doesn’t get any better!

www.sueberryphotography.co.uk

Top: Loch na h-Achlaise, Rannoch moor, Scotland 

Middle: Ord bay, Skye, Scotland

30  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 L i g htbox

Simon Watterson: He is the

author of Portrait of the North-
ern Ireland Coast and Portrait
of Mourne. These books ex-
plore the mountains and coast,
the rivers and woods, and the ancient
and modern habitations of his native
Northern Ireland. He is a regular hill-walk-
er and wild-camper and uses his camera
to share the experience along with route
descriptions and suggestions of places to
visit on his website

www.northern-focus.com

Top: Machrie moor, Arran, Scotland

Mid: Saltburn pier, England

Bottom right: Sea of Moyle, Ireland

Bottom left: Glen Sligachan, Isle of Skye,

Scotland

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  31 

 This Month: The Art of Available Night Light
The Art of Night Photography is a limitless play-
ground pushing us to our limits of technique and
rewards us with images worthy of any world-
class portfolio. Skills once held dear by a coveted
few are now within the capabilities of anyone
willing to step outside their box and try some-
thing new.
Sure, there are certain restrictions with equipment,
but I hope to demonstrate with this article that
just about whatever you shoot with is capable of
delivering surprises. If anyone starts to say “it’s all
been done” you can quietly but firmly say “you’re
wrong.”
Part I - Available Light
These are the words that spin through my mind
on any walk in the mountains, by sparkling rivers
or under the dappled kisses of an ancient forest;
whether I have a camera in my hand or not, I feel
light, I think about light and I love available light.
My study of photography over the years has been
a multi-layered process: Technical skills, Artistic
skills and most importantly of all, understanding
light. The verse above talks about the sun, our
32  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March
by Alister Benn
primary source of light and life, maybe not in the
most fashionable corner of the Cosmos, but the
views can be spectacular!
And most of us as photographers are well versed
in using the suns various colors of light to best
effect, notably when she is low in the horizon at
dawn and dusk. So why do the vast majority of the
millions of camera owners in the world pack up
when the sun sets? I doubt they’re all scared of the
dark, but maybe the technical shift is intimidating
and folks think it is beyond their capabilities. Well,
here is some news, “night photography isn’t just
for the pros.”
Depending at what latitude you are at and the sea-
son, the suns influence can still be photographed
for up to a couple of hours after sunset, and the
subtle light and tones it casts on the landscape can
be enchanting. The moon is a highly reflective ob-
ject and again, depending on its phase can illumi-
nate the world in beautiful ways, available moon-
light should be a top priority for any aspiring night
shooter. Away from the wilderness around conur-
bations the lights of humans provide countless op-
portunities for photography, and finally even the
 Th is M o nth : Th e A r t
stars themselves can light up a scene enough to
capture details and superb images. If there is light,
regardless of its magnitude, a photograph can be
taken, we just need to use our imagination and
work at it.
The other big consideration is that our cameras
with the shutter open for 30 seconds or so can
pick up an awful lot more light from a scene than
we can see. It may be fair to say, any night shot
intended to replicate the luminosity of the origi-
nal scene may make extremely dark images. And
a good deal of this article is going to cover these
shifts in our perception and give us reason to be
out at night instead of doing something less profit-
able with our time.
Part II - Subjects
I could make a carte blanche statement like this,
“anything you shoot during the day can be shot
at night if there is enough light.” But that isn’t too
useful, although it may end up as the summary. I
started my career as a bird photographer, yet I
have never tried shooting birds at night, although,
as I think about it, a flock of roosting Avocets in
shallow water may make a phenomenal subject
under a full moon. Landscapes make up a vast part
of my repertoire and I would say any landscape
you shoot during the day would probably make an
enchanting scene by moonlight or starlight; it just
throws up some technical and logistical challenges
that need to be overcome.
of A vai l able N i g ht L i g ht
Alister Benn is a
Scottish photogra-
pher and with his
Chinese wife, Juanli
Sun, they are both
known to their
friends as Ali. Alis-
ter and Juanli have
spent the major-
ity of their time in
the high altitude
mountains of Ti-
bet, Nepal and the
neighbouring Prov-
inces of Sichuan
and Yunnan in Chi-
na. Initially it was their love of birds that motivated them to pick up
cameras and head into the rain forests of Asia, but in 2004 a trip to
the Canadian Rockies awakened a keen interest in the landscape and
for Alister in particular, night photography.
Alister has kindly offered this article for the readers of Landscape
Photography Magazine and we will publish it in 3 issues. As the arti-
cle contains five parts, in this first issue will include Available Light /
Subjects / Equipment. Techniques / Summary will be included in the
following issues.)
Cityscapes:
I am a bit of a freak for architecture; in fact that
genre of my work has been my most lucrative from
a professional point of view. I enjoy the interac-
tions of materials and light, they make dreamy sub-
jects for creativity. But as the sun sets, the tones
shift and manmade lights begin to dominate, with
their subtle nuances of temperature (Note 1). I love
walking around a spectacular city such as Hong
Kong or Paris at night, a long lens on the camera
and a tripod searching for details. Of course the
fun doesn’t stop there, with wide-angled lenses
and prolonged shutter speeds, car lights become
trails and people crossing the street become a blur.
It’s all about abstraction, getting under the skin of
reality and bending it to our will.
Landscapes:
Images with a strong compositional element
work great during the day, and they work great at
night, with the added benefit that there is unlikely »
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  33 
 This M o nth : The A r t of A vail able N i g ht L i g ht

» to be many similar images on

the Internet showing the same
shot. How many people have
a photograph taken from Tun-
nel View in Yosemite, the Grand
Canyon, the Great Wall of China
or Mount Rundle in their photo
files? How many people have the
same scene taken under a full
moon? 5%, 1%, who knows, but
it’s an awful lot less than the first
group. We can add life and vital-
ity back into all those old clichés
we’ve seen a million times be-
fore, we have a chance to be the
first to shoot an image instead of
the who cares what number! The
parameters of the box have been
documented, as the current gen-
eration of photographers strug-
gles to leave their mark on the
history of our art, what is there
left to be shot?

“Night Light gives us all an op-

portunity to create something
memorable and unique, and that
inspires me like nothing else.”
With cityscapes it is most likely
that artificial light will be the
dominant source, and that dictates our strategy. get them right is a lot harder.
With landscapes, the amount of available light de-
pends on many factors, cloud cover and the phase Part III - Equipment
of the moon not least. The scenes proximity to cit-
Most photographic disciplines demand a certain
ies or other settlements are also a factor, and for
amount of specific gear to achieve the best re-
some of you finding a really dark location may
sults; you don’t go out to try and photograph mi-
prove difficult to impossible. But like resourceful
grating Warblers with a 14-24 wide-angle zoom
individuals that we are, we shoot to our strengths
and you don’t head out at night without a tripod.
while acknowledging the limitations of gear and
I will list here in bullet form my list, what I would
scenario.
consider a minimum for going out on a nighttime
I will cover cityscapes in this article, but it will be landscape shoot. I will pad this list out with para-
landscapes that I will go into most detail with, as to graphs about why certain things are important,
34  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March
 Th is M o nth : Th e A r t
as they are sometimes less than obvious.
1: A camera with a BULB function and a CF card!
This may sound blindingly obvious, but I am sure I
am not the only one who has turned up at a loca-
tion only to find the CF card was still in my card-
reader in the office. Always check, and/or keep
some spares in your camera bag. Most DSLR cam-
eras have a maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds,
more than enough for most city shooting, but
not much for landscape work (depending on the
moon). The BULB function allows the camera shut-
ter to remain open for as long as the shutter re-
lease button is depressed. This way shutter speeds
of minutes or even hours can be undertaken.
I don’t shoot film, so everything I write in here is
about Digital shooting, and in particular what you
can do with a DSLR, so if your camera has a BULB
function and better still includes a remote cable
release facility, we’re good to go.
I just want to raise the issue of ISO at this stage,
although I will get onto it in more detail further
on. Having the latest camera body with phenom-
enal ISO performance does help when it comes to
short shots under 20 seconds, as even with a fast
lens you need to get as much light on to that sen-
sor in as short a time as possible. To get my Milky
Way over Mount Kailash shots I was shooting the
Nikon D700 @ f2.8 for between 20 and 25 seconds
at 2500 ISO to get the stars exposed and still not
turning to trails. If your camera body just cannot
shoot at that level of ISO without developing seri-
ous noise issues then you need to consider more
traditional star trail techniques where you never
have to go above ISO 200-400.
2: A Lens
I know that’s obvious, but I wanted a title to write
under. The focal length depends on the sub-
ject and how much sky and foreground you are
of A vai l able N i g ht L i g ht
looking for in your composition, however the 14-
70mm range is probably my most used. The key
consideration is to have a lens with a wide aper-
ture, f2.8 or even 1.8 or 1.4 if you have them. The
reason being, at their widest aperture, they can
see better in the dark, and composing the image
is considerably easier when you can see. The wide
aperture is less important for star trail images as
it is usual to shoot around f4 or so, but when you
want to freeze those stars into points of light, the
faster the lens, the shorter the shutter speed and
the less the Earths rotation affects the stars, but
much more on this later.
3: Sturdy tripod.
I don’t tend to go out to shoot at night if it is windy,
gusts on long exposures make pretty wild results,
and few of them are good! Getting sharp shots at
night rely heavily on having a solid foundation for
the camera to rest on.
4: Remote cable release as a minimum, better
yet one with a timer facility.
It isn’t practical to hold
the shutter button down
for a couple of minutes;
the added vibration of
the shaking hand will be
enough to ruin the imag-
es. Most camera brands
have remote releases
available for their bod-
ies. I use the Nikon MC-36
that has a timer/delay fa-
cility. The Canon equiva-
lent is the TC-80N3.
5: Mirror Lock-up.
This is a feature that many cameras have, and it
can be good practice to use it all the time when
using a tripod. It requires two presses of the shut-
ter button to take an image; the first opens the »
March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  35 
 This M o nth : The A r t of A vail able N i g ht L i g ht
» shutter mirror and the second opens the shutter
curtains to expose the image. It works best with a
remote chord, as it reduces potential shake from
hands and also the slap of the shutter can cause vi-
bration. I would use this technique with cityscapes,
landscape images and traditional single-frame
star trails. However, mirror lock up (MLU) does not
work with a tier remote if you have set a delay time
between the frames (as for stacking). Disable the
MLU or the timer will freeze after frame 1 and you
will not capture any images.
6: A fully charged battery and a couple of
spares if you have them.
Two things drain batteries fast, long exposures and
cold temperatures, and we’re usually doing both.
Making sure the battery is at 100% is a good plan
and a spare will be handy. Many battery grips for
cameras such as the Nikon D700 or the Canon 5DII
allow for two batteries to be used, extending the
length of time you can shoot. The advent of Im-
age-Stacking night shots really helps squeeze ex-
tra time out of batteries, but more of that later.
7: A flash-shoe bubble level or some other
means to make sure your camera is level.
Composition at night is one of the toughest chal-
lenges we case, and having a level camera is not
easy by eye in the dark. I have a little APP on my
IPhone that I can level the camera with, it also has
a hyper-focal distance calculator
8: A head torch + spare battery, or a second
emergency torch.
These are essential items for security reasons first
and foremost. You may walk up a track from the
trailhead in late evening light, finding your way
back in the dark is not always straightforward. For
that matter, if heading into the wilderness, ad-
equate navigation gear such as map & compass
are also essential AND knowing how to use them.
I use a Garmin GPS to mark locations of good
36  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March
compositions during the day and use it to get back
to at night; I do not use it for navigation.
On the subject of torches; if you are out with a
mate try not to shine the torch in each other’s fac-
es when you talk to each other. The night is a spe-
cial time, and if there is a moon, very quickly your
eyes adjust to the dim light and you can see very
well. I do not use a torch to set up my gear, I can
do the whole thing by feel and I would heartily rec-
ommend you to try and achieve that same level of
proficiency.
9: Warm clothes suitable for the conditions.
If you’re going to be away from a place of warmth,
car or some shelter, it gets cold fast at night, es-
pecially if you are standing around for a couple of
hours. The usual jackets, boots, hats thermals etc
will be welcome. Nothing turns you off night pho-
tography faster than being freezing cold.
• A flask of hot chocolate or whatever warm
beverage you prefer. Just luxury at 2am.
• If you have a short attention span a book can
be handy, I prefer to soak up the atmosphere
though instead.
• A mobile phone for security
The above list constitutes the essentials; of course,
if you’re heading into the wilderness the usual
precautions and equipment are essential. Just be
aware of your security and well being, no shot
is worth walking off a cliff for. Likewise walking
around cities in the dead of night with ten grand
worth of gear may not be prudent in certain neigh-
borhoods or countries. Be smart with these things
and don’t take risks.
Don’t miss the second part of this highly
interesting article in our next issue.
 How to
participate!
Each month we publish your images and articles for other
photographers to enjoy and learn from, be part of it.

Don’t just leave your images sitting in your hard drive, pub-
lish them in these pages and let the whole world enjoy them.
We’ll showcase the best photographers in Portfolio.
Lightbox

On the map
Have you discovered a good location and would like other
photographers to visit it?

If you have an interesting photo tip and would like to share it

with everyone, then submit it and we will take care of the rest.

Readers Journeys
Of course you have a very interesting and inspiring article on a photography trip
you have been in the past. The question is, would you like to share it?

Magazine cover
If you have an image worthy to be our magazine cover, we would be proud to
publish it for you.
This month
We are looking for interesting articles about landscape photography. Can you write
one? Have you written one?

l an dsc ae

For details on how to submit your material check

www.landscapephotographymagazine.com
S ec ti o n   -  A r ticle N am e

Santorini
Island of light
By David Hay

Forty years ago I saw a wonderful slide show of Santorini sponsored by

Kodak. I said to myself that one day I would go there and photograph
the beautiful white churches and their blue domes.

When I retired recently Santorini was the

first place on my list of photographic des-
tinations to go to. I joined Dimitri Vasil-
iou of Earth’s Beauty Tours for a week
exploring the photographic potential of
Santorini.

Santorini is shaped like a croissant with

both pointed ends facing west. This
means you can get good sunsets from
both the northern and southern tips. We
were based near the centre of the island
which meant we could reach anywhere
on the island in around twenty minutes
so travelling time to locations was quite
short.

Naively I imagined that there were only

a few blue domed churches in Santorini.
In fact it was covered in them. The larg-
est number of blue domes I managed to
fit into one composition was five! Bril-
liantly lit white-washed buildings could
potentially pose a problem for exposure
with lost highlights but we were out

38  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 Reader’s Journeys:
S Santorini
  -  A N ec ti o n r ti cle am e

photographing mainly in the early morning and

later in the day towards sunset. Contrast levels
were lower then with an attractive warmth to the
light.

I took my lightweight camera kit with me, a Canon

EOS 40D with 18-55mm IS and 55-250mm IS Canon
lenses. My ultra-wide zoom was a Sigma 10-20mm.
Keeping your kit to the minimum size and weight
in hot climates is a real benefit as it allowed me to
use a lightweight tripod (a small Gitzo G1027 and
ball head) and a small shoulder bag. I also had a
Canon 70-300mm IS lens that I only took with
me, instead of the 55-250mm, when we were out
shooting sunsets.

Throughout the trip I had my camera set to High-

light Tone Priority (HTP) as it helps to protect the
detail in the brightest areas such as whitewashed
buildings. HTP works by underexposing the image

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  39 

Reader’s Journeys: Santorini
S ec ti o n   -  A r ticle N am e

by one stop then lifting the ex-

posure of the mid-tones and
shadows back to normal. I shot
RAW and Jpeg throughout to
give me the safety net of a RAW
file if highlight recovery was
necessary. In fact only one of
the nearly one thousand frames
I shot had a loss of detail in the
highlights. This was a view of a
church showing the surface of
the sea in the background with
the light path of the sun across
it. Retrieving the RAW file, I was
unable to recover any more de-
tail in the highlight areas than
already existed in the HTP jpeg.

As Santorini is a collapsed vol-

canic crater, the inner shore is
mainly a steep drop of up to 800
feet into the sea so there is not
much scope for shoreline pho-
tography but there are great
views of buildings clinging to the
edge. From the high points on
the island there are great views
across the crater looking up or
down the island or across to the
isolated islands that make up the
fragmented crater rim.
As well as the classic views, I set
myself a couple of themed pho-
to projects, ‘Blue and white’ and
‘Crosses’. As the week went on I
also added another one, ‘Cats
and dogs of Santorini’. When it
came to publishing a Blurb book
on Santorini the themes came
in handy as they allowed me to
integrate groups of photos on
these subjects throughout the
book.
I felt that Santorini was a pho-
tographers paradise with photo
opportunities everywhere we
went. Walking along paths in
the villages revealed photogen-
ic details round every corner. I
like to use all the focal lengths
at my disposal to produce a var-
ied selection of photos of each
location. It was possible to go
from ultra-wide angle shots
to detailed shots of domes,
crosses, cats and dogs at almost
every location.
The weather had been almost
perfect all week with great sun-
sets every night except one. I
came home having thoroughly
enjoyed my trip to Santorini and
would recommend it as a prime
photo destination to anyone.
To see more of David’s im-
ages from Santorini visit
his site: imagepro.photog-
raphy.com/davidhay

40  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 S ec ti o n   -  A r ti cle N am e

Steps
Canon18-55 @ 29mm. 1/350th at f16. We all walked
past this photo but only I stopped and photographed
it. The image works equally well upside down!

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  41 

 Portfolio:
Steven Russell
Scotland’s Mountains

42  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 Cairngorm
The Cairngorms form the highest, coldest and snowiest plateau in
the British Isles. On this bitterly cold and windy day, I had to work fast
with my exposed fingers. The reassurance of my dSLR’s controls and
lens protected by a large hood helps in these conditions. (Canon 10D,
24-70L)

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  43 

P o r tfo li o - S te ven R ussell

Photography rapidly became a passion of mine

9 years ago after buying my first digital camera.
My love of hillwalking, the outdoors and travel
fuelled this as I strived to capture the transient
nature of the landscape and essence of the sub-
ject. Self-taught purely through internet articles
and forums, my website has to date received
1.25M visits and I have been published in a range
of magazines, reference books and calendars.
More recently, with the birth of my daughter, my
focus has moved closer to home and portraiture
provides an exciting new set of challenges.

44  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 P o r tfo li o - S te ve n R ussell

Ben Nevis and The Mamores

Ben Nevis is framed by two of the Mamores

range. Images stitched using PTGui image
(5 stitched images; Canon 10D, 15-30EX)

Last Light on the Mamores

In this shot I revealed some detail in the foreground tones by applying a digital neutral density gradent totwo alternate stitched panora-
mas from different RAW conversions. On the mountain I prefer not to deal with hardware lens filters and find that when properly exposed,
dSLR files (particularly those from full frame sensors) offer easily enough latitude to work with. (4 stitched images; Canon 10D, 15-30EX)

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  45 

 P o r tfo li o - S te ven R ussell

Top: Mamores

Between Loch Leven and Ben Nevis one can find a very long ridge that stretches more than 20 miles from
West to East. All these tops form a group of mountains well known as Mamores.

Right: New Year’s Eve on Beinn an Lochain:

Shrouded in dark midwinter mist for the entire ascent, the clouds momentarily broke on the summit to reveal the outlines of the surrounding Ar-
rochar hills. After hours of imaginative build-up, these ‘unveilings’ provide some of my favourite moments on the hills. (Canon 10D, 15-30EX)

Bottom: The Highest Place:

The relentless southern slope of Ben Nevis rises above neighbouring peaks, from this angle appear-
ing small in comparison. (4 stitched images; Canon 10D, Sigma 15-30EX)

46  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 P o r tfo li o - S te ve n R ussell

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  47 

 P o r tfo li o - S te ven R ussell

Strath Fillan from Ben More

With the added weight of gear in winter, short
days and climbing partners to keep up with,
I sometimes give up the weight penalty and
take a digicam. Although I prefer to compose
with wide-angle vistas, having a range of
focal lengths remains an advantage on the
hills, allowing compressed compositions such
as this telephoto landscape. (Canon S70)

48  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 P o r tfo li o - S te ve n R ussell

Top: The Black Mount:

An awesome location normally, but on this occasion the eery cracks and moans of shifting ice really added to the
atmosphere. (6 stitched images; Canon 10D, 24-70L)

Middle: Slioch:
Late light on the slopes of Slioch in the North-West Highlands. (3 stitched images; Canon 10D, 24-70L)

Bottom The Arrochar Alps:

This is a panoramic image that I only realised the impact of later when I stitched the component images together.
Using rectilinear projection (which maps all straight lines in three-dimensional space to straight lines on a flattened
two-dimensional grid), the diagonals in the composition cross the frame well. (3 stitched images; Canon 10D, 15-
30EX)

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  49 

 B eginners G uide
E xposure
Mike Bell

Of all the technical issues new photographers struggle

with, exposure has to be one of the hardest.
Yet when you walk out of a photographic shop with a new camera, it will have a modern accurate expo-
sure meter built into it. So you set the camera to full auto and all your shots will be perfectly exposed,
that’s right isn’t it? Well, a lot of the time the camera does a decent job. But if you want your image to
reflect what you saw in a
beautiful landscape you are
likely to be disappointed.
Why is that? Maybe you
need a more expensive
camera? Well unless you
have a very basic model
you will find that the choice
of metering modes is very
similar across the range
from digital compacts to
top-end DSLRs. The answer
is not to get a better cam-
era but to seize control of
the one you’ve got and ad-
just the exposure yourself.
You can go fully manual
(as I do with tripod based
landscape work) or utilise
two other features that
most cameras have - spot
metering and exposure
compensation.

50  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

Spot metering
In this mode the camera meters only
from a small circular area, usually marked
in the centre of the viewfinder, and com-
pletely ignores the rest of the scene. This
is invaluable when your image contains
an obvious discrete subject and the rest
of the content is secondary.

The image of an autumn leaf in a river

shown on the previous page is an exam-
ple. The leaf was sunlit but it was on a dark rock with shadows all around. Normal metering would have
given me an image with lightened shadows and an overexposed leaf. Not what I wanted at all! So I
aimed the spot meter on the leaf, pressed the exposure lock button on my camera, recomposed to put
the leaf off-centre and pressed the shutter. If you are using a tripod and a camera with Live View you
can move the spot metering box around the LCD screen and adjust the settings until the meter shows
proper exposure. The end result is the same.

Exposure compensation

Camera metering often fails to deliver a pleasing result when a scene is predominantly bright (like a
snowy landscape) or predominantly dark (like a night scene). The camera’s meter will try to render most
scenes an overall medium grey.

With normal metering this snowy scene (above) would have appeared underexposed, making the snow
grey instead of white. I set positive exposure compensation to tell the camera to expose more and got a
result that looks correct. In this example +1 stop compensation was applied.

With normal metering of a night scene (shown below) like this the shadows will get overexposed mak-
ing them grey instead of almost black. Here I set -2 stops of exposure compensation to tell the camera to
expose less and got a result that looks more natural.

Find out how to set exposure compensa-

tion on your camera and do some experi-
ments until you get a feel for it.

To see more of Mike’s work visit:

www.discovered-light.co.uk

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  51 

 Tutorials - Adobe
Lightroom

For some, the best thing that happened to photographers

since sliced bread, the most amazing piece of software that
keeps all our files organised and our nights restful. Or is it?
Folders and files
For some others, it was the worst experience of their lives.
I’ve heard of horror stories from people who had download-
ed the trial version, installed it, opened it and...this piece of
software was immediately hated and banned from their lives
for ever. So, what on earth is going on really and why all this
controversy? The answer is very simple, lack of knowledge.
Having used Lightroom for awhile, I must admit that it is a
very easy and straight forward marvel of technology as some
F7
pros refer to. The point is, where and how do you start?

Some say that Adobe should supply a dvd with video tutori-
als with every purchase, others say there are dvd tutorials out
there already that people can purchase privately, the problem
is, people don’t know where to start from and have no idea of
video tutorials existence either.

In the next issues of this new and brilliant magazine, I will do

my best and try to showcase where and how to start and of
course how to use Lightroom.

Import My approach will be very simple and easy to understand, not

F6
52 - Landscape Photography Magazine - March
“
Having used Lightroom for awhile, I must admit that it is a very easy and straight
forward marvel of technology as some pros refer to. The point is, where and how
do you start?

F5

by computer geeks but ordinary people with not much com-

puter software knowledge. Advanced users will find my way
of “teaching” Lightroom a bit naff to say the least but if this is
what it takes for people to understand how it works then so
be it. I will not go into how to download and install the pro-
gram, I expect you to have this much knowledge as you prob-
ably have tried it in the past anyway however, if you still need
advice on how to do so, you may request it via our letters sys-
tem and I will try to implement the procedure in another issue.

So, lets get on with it. As you can see I have included some
so called “Screen grab” images. The large one is the very first
F8
screen you will see as soon as you open Lightroom, depend-
ing on your system (PC or Mac) and five smaller ones from the
preferences panel. There are some red arrows on the main
one as you can see. Click the 4 outer ones and see what hap-
pens. All the side windows can be expanded, allowing you to
use all tools available but also can be retracted.

You can also try the shortcuts f5-f6-f7-f8, the same thing hap-
pens. It is good to know that at any time you can get rid of
those windows and gain space, especially when you are work-
ing on a small screen. »

March - Landscape Photography Magazine - 53 

 Tuto r ial s - A do be L ig htroom

» Don’t click “Import” just yet though, it is good

practice to set up your preferences before you
start working on anything else.

I must say here that these are my personal prefer-

ences and are pretty basic, they will be fine to get
you started though and when you get more expe-
rience you can always go back and change them.
One more thing, I will not write anything about
preferences, instead, zoom into the 5 jpgs and en-
large them, it will be easier to set the preferences
on your Lightroom. Lets start by clicking...
about “how to” and “where to” import images in
Edit > preferences (Lightroom > preferences on the next issue.
a mac)
Have fun and let us know how you got on by leaving
and start editing. Enough for now though. All your feedback on the site.

54  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March

 you will know this but there is web search about pulling and
always landscape photography pushing exposures. Be careful
toggers out there who are just though, you don’t want to lose
starting or even the ones who (wash or burn) the highlights in

B... right know it but perhaps do not the file as they can not be recov-
know why. The common saying ered once lost.
histogram is “Keep your histogram b...right”.
Here is the story. The camera
Amazing technology, we can’t You don’t need to do so for eve- always tries to get the best ex-
live without it these days and as ry occasion but for images like posure or so it thinks. Take a
it would, it has “infected” pho- the one in this page, it is worth test image and then add some
tography also. Just a few years pushing it to the right. exposure compensation (read
ago, the only people who knew the camera’s manual on how
about histograms were those us-Why you will ask? Because push- to). If you have flashing black
ing Photoshop. Nowadays every- ing the histogram to the right areas in the review screen (you
one who is in some way involved(while exposing) will force the should have this option enabled
with photography knows about sensor to gather as much infor- in your camera), then pull back
it. I will not bore you to death
mation as it can, giving you the the exposure compensation
about what it is as you can find
advantage to pull back the ex- until nothing flashes. Now you
out searching the web however, posure in software but properly will notice that the histogram is
I would like to mention how to process dark areas in your im- pushed to the right (in its box)
use it. age by pushing them, the more and the file contains enough in-
information you have in this raw formation for you to work with.
Of course the vast majority of file the better. Again you can Now your histogram is b...right.

March - Landscape Photography Magazine  -  55 

 Classifieds
To advertise here email adverts@landscapephotographymagazine.com
 The Contributors

Creative DesIgn:

Celtic Shadows http://www.celticshadows.co.uk

Guest Portfolio:

Bill Allsopp LRPS http://www.monochromeart.co.uk

http://www.britishlandscapephotographs.co.uk

Steven Russell http://www.stevenrussell.co.uk

Guest Articles:

This month: Alister Benn http://availablelightimages.com

Viewpoint: Ian Cameron http://www.transientlight.co.uk

Shooting the void: Adrian Hall http://shootingthevoid.com

Reader’s Journeys: David Hay http://imagepro.photography.com/davidhay

Beginner’s guide: Mike Bell http://www.discovered-light.co.uk

On The Map: Dimitri Vasiliou http://www.dvattika.com

58  -  Landscape Photography Magazine - March