Buttermere, early morning in the Lake District
Oct, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I first visited the Lake District in England at the age of sixteen. I was taking an engineering apprenticeship and the company felt that two weeks camping at an army assault course in the remote hills would develop our characters. It certainly was a shock to the system but the lasting memories of the lakes has brought me back several times over the past forty or so years. This particular shot is of one of the best known lakes, Buttermere and was shot early August - possibly the worst time of year for a landscape photographer!Time
Camping once again, it rained solidly for almost the full two weeks with temperatures down to seven degrees on some nights. The sky was heavily overcast most days and, when the sun did appear, the harsh light proved difficult and always from the wrong direction. This was my third or fourth attempt to capture Buttermere and each time I drove for an hour through treacherous mountain passes in torrential rain but on this morning I was lucky. About five a.m. the skies started to clear, the wind subsided and I manged to get this wonderful reflection.Lighting
The Lake District, with it's changeable weather, has some superb morning light and I was lucky enough to get a few shots of the the morning mist but Buttermere remained overcast. The sun rose in the wrong direction but the line of trees had always fascinated me and I knew that, if I could catch the light hitting those trees, I might just be able to frame the water and add some distance and scale to the mountains. The shadows on the mountains helped and the sky and reflection held everything together.Equipment
Many years ago I bought my first SLR but life took over and it was only ever used for snapshots. Later I bought the inevitable digital compact and was encouraged by the numerous picture capacity for very little expense. What hadn't changed was that most of the shots were of very poor quality and ended up deleted. Two years ago, at the age of fifty eight, I decided I would like to take photography more seriously, I'd always been interested but I felt that I owed it to myself to start doing something I really wanted to and bought a Canon 5D Mkiii and a couple of lenses. This shot uses the EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM at 40mm, mounted on a tripod, f20, 1/6th sec ISO 100 but it is actually three exposures selectively layered in Photoshop because of the high contrast and deep shadows. There were no filters used, the sky and water were almost the same density.Inspiration
My early experience in the Lake District as a teenager left me with a certain respect for the landscape and a desire to go back again and again. More and more of this National Park is becoming overcrowded and, where there were wild paths there are now man made steps and handrails. The wilderness is disappearing and for me England is becoming more a set of theme parks than a natural environment so I wanted to capture those memories while I still could. Worse is that I now have osteoarthritis in my knees and will need replacements so armed with the 5D and a tent, I really wanted to get those pictures while I still could. However, living in southern England, the distances around mountain passes and the appalling weather meant that I drove almost two thousand miles during those fourteen days to get a handful of pictures but it was very worthwhile and a great experience.Editing
Most of the pictures from the lake District were shot in poor conditions: either strong summer light from usually the wrong direction or deep shadow in the valleys. To combat this, each image is shot several times on various exposures and I then layer them ans selectively mask areas in Photoshop. Some shots were either very flat while others were full of unwanted contrast so another composite of the images was tone mapped in Photomatix. My usual method is to then blend the HDR and Photoshop layered versions together to hold back the HDR as much as possible. This example uses the same methods and the HDR element is almost unnoticeable.In my camera bag
I always carry too much equipment around with me and sometimes I force myself to stick to one lens and body. The Canon 5D body goes in the bag first of course followed by lots of spare batteries and memory cards. The 24-105 L kit lens is next and then the 16-35 L wide angle lens. I do also have a non L 75 -250 Canon lens but rarely use it for landscape work. As well as lenses, I carry graduated filters and a polarising filter for controlling the light from the sky and reflections, a remote release, Manfrotto carbon fibre (but still heavy) tripod and a windproof umbrella for both me and the equipment.Feedback
For anyone interested in the more scenic landscapes I would have to say patience and determination are far more important than equipment. Of course, the better the equipment, the better the potential photography but you need to be prepared to revisit the same places over and over. Sometimes the light is just right but most often it is disappointing. Water can be still and reflective one second then opaque with the slightest breeze so you need to be adaptable, resourceful and prepared to think beyond your preconceptions. As an example, I traveled to the Lake District in mid summer expecting constant sunshine and harsh light. After all, the rest of the country was enjoying a heatwave. Endless times I made lengthy treks, early morning and late at night, to spots I thought would be ideal. At other times they probably would have but 'ideal' was in my mind. I have apps on my phone that tell when and in what direction the sun will rise and set but the weather was totally against me. Many times I felt like giving up and, on the morning this shot was taken, the light and the view wasn't what I had in my mind so I almost never took it. But I did, I got out of the car, walked around the banks and looked for another view. There was no early morning golden sunrise but instead a beautiful reflection that I'd not even considered and so far it has proved one of the most popular of all my shots.
