Community in Photography. Why it’s Important and Why It Matters.

If you’ve been here before, you will know that I used to live in London. It was whilst living here that I found my love of photography, but after several, very busy years, I needed a change of scenery and a change of pace so I decided to pack up my things and my move my entire life 260 miles north, to the North West England and set up as a landscape photographer in The Lake District.

Now there isn’t much that I miss about London. I have made the right choice for me, but one of the things that I do miss very dearly is the community of photographers that I was a part of when I lived in the Capital. Not just the people in the communities, many of whom are incredibly talented photographers and videographers, but the sense of community and the sense of belonging to something which is much bigger.

I would regularly attend large group meet ups hosted by bigger organisations and this was a good way for me to do things which were outside of my norm, things such as shooting models or exploring new parts of the country with a bunch of new people. They were also great for networking, something which is missing (in my experience) in landscape photography and is something that I am seeking to address in the future.

These large organised meet-ups were great and were where I met some people who will be lifelong friends of mine. The only downside is that you would have anything up to 200-300 photographers, all shooting the same models/scenes at the same time and this made getting something which was truly original very difficult.

These meet ups and the networking they provided also led to me joining something called “Photobattle London” - a group of photographers who would meet once a month, have two hours to photograph a theme, about 72 hours to edit your best image, submit it for public vote and potentially win a print of it (I won this twice!). This lead to the creation of a WhatsApp group which is one of the most supportive places I have experienced in photography; they really are a great bunch of people, who I have seen properly in way too long!

TL;DR

I miss the sense of community I had as a photographer in London. Landscape photography can be very solitary, especially in places like the Lake District, and I’d like to explore creating a friendly, supportive community where photographers can meet, shoot together, and share the experience. This post is about seeing whether there’s interest in making that happen.

So what is missing?

Landscape photography is so very often a solitary pursuit, and there is a lot to be said for that. It is a great way to get out into nature, to explore and to see what you can create from the incredible places that you find yourself.

I think that added on to the solitary nature of what we do, there is the fact that people don’t want to divulge their best locations (and why should they, they worked hard to find them!), going out as a group and sharing these means that everyone knows where they are and can end up creating ‘honeypots’ of photographers. This isn’t a complaint or a whinge, social media has created a monster in terms of giving people an easy way to get to some of the best spots (not just for photography) and it can mean that if you wanted to get away from some of the crowds, you can inadvertently end up walking towards one!

I think one of the other things that causes the lack of community in landscape photography is the transient nature of the population in Cumbria, which is where you will find the Lake District. There a LOT of holidaymakers who may be here for a week or two, or a day or two and then they might not visit again. This is another barrier which is raised to building a lasting community of photographers.

Despite the size of the landscape photography world, there’s often a lack of regular, in-person connection between photographers.

Exactly what I’ve been describing: a strong, supportive, and friendly community of photographers who meet regularly to get out into the landscape, take photos, talk, learn, and enjoy doing it together.

Landscape photography doesn’t need to lose its solitary nature — that’s part of its appeal — but it also doesn’t have to be lonely. There’s space for both quiet, individual practice and shared experiences with people who understand why standing in the rain at sunrise feels like a good idea.

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Online Communities

Online spaces play a huge role in modern photography, but they don’t always replace the value of meeting and shooting together in person.

I can almost hear people saying “but what about the online landscape photography community?” and they would be right to ask that question. There is HUGE online landscape photography community which spreads across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook… all of the socials. It’s an active community and one that is very knowledgeable

Some of the photographer with much larger reach than I can muster have their own online communities, which bring people together from all over the world. These are great places where people can ‘meet’ to discuss photography, do some online networking and share and critique each other’s work.

I do however, think that what these communities lack is the ability to pull people together, in real life and get out there to take part in some photographer.

Why Does It Matter?

For many photographers, community isn’t about validation — it’s about shared experience, learning, and enjoying photography together.

For some people, it won’t matter and you’ll be sat there thinking “what is this bloke on about”? Some of you will be completely apathetic, and some of you will be interested to find out some more. I am not ruling anyone out of this, I am talking all of you, even the sceptics.

Community matter because of everything I spoke about in the opening to this blog - it’s a great way to meet people who like what you like, who enjoy doing what you do and have fund doing it.

It’s not about thousands of people roaming about with cameras, it’s about being out in the landscape with the people, enjoying doing what you love, sharing tips talking about the nerdy stuff and learning.

What I Want To Do About It:

Get Involved

I’d like to explore building a friendly, supportive photography community centred around the Lake District — a space where photographers can meet, get out into the landscape, share ideas, and enjoy shooting together. This isn’t about money, selling anything, or large organised events. It’s about people who enjoy being here and taking photographs.

You don’t need to live in the Lake District to be involved — you just need to enjoy spending time here with a camera. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please fill in the form below. That’s all you need to do.

Registering your interest doesn’t sign you up to marketing emails (unless you choose to), and there’s no obligation attached. It simply allows me to gauge interest and get in touch with updates as things develop. I’ll also share updates via Facebook and Instagram for those who prefer to follow along there, feel free too drop me a DM there if that’s more you thing.

Lake District Landscape Photography Community Interest - complete the form below!

The Bookshelf - #3 - Forty Farms

Forty Farms

Amy Bateman

Jake Island Ltd

Available on Amazon from £27.05

I think that Forty Farms by Amy Bateman is one of those books that, if you’re a landscape photographer in the Lake District, then it is criminal not own a copy! This is an amazing book, written by Amy Bateman who is both a prominent photographer and also a farmer, so there are few (if any!) more qualified to write this book.

In Forty Farms, Bateman looks at the changing face of farming in Cumbria across 40 different farms over the course of 12 months between 2021 and 2022. She interviews the farmers and tells us about the details of these conversations, which she describes as “…frank, sometimes funny, occasionally painful but always fascinating”, she also talks about the narrowing the gap between the farmer and the consumer, and this something that this book does incredibly well.

The interviews, for me, are fascinating and give a great insight into the farms that I see all of the time whilst doing landscape photography in the Lake District, but also explores the wider county of Cumbria (remember it’s the 3rd largest county in England, lots of people forget about the bits that aren’t Lake District) and talks to farmers from a variety of backgrounds, running a variety of farms.

Ok so the images. These are great. Really great. And they tell some awesome stories, each set of photos for each farm has a narrative that goes with them. They tell the stories of the people, the landscape and the incredible work they do as farmers. Oh and there are plenty of photos of animals - it’s a book about farming in Cumbria, so this is a bit of a given.

This book includes a bit of everything, there’s wildlife, portraits, drone photos and some shots that could almost be considered lifestyle/travel with a sprinkling of everything else.

A lot of the photo books that I have are informative, but this is informative in a different way. There are some objectives set out at the front of the book, which Bateman absolutely meets throughout the 336 beautiful pages of this book.

If you’re looking for a photo book you can read as well as just look at, then this is for you.

You can get a copy in just about every bookshop (and lots of others) in Cumbria and they often have it in Booths as well! If you can’t get to one of these places then it’s also available nationally and of course, on Amazon.

I Finally Ditched my Apple Magic Mouse and it Changed my Life.

This isn’t a blog I ever expected to write. I loved my Apple Magic Mouse — but like everyone else, I had one major issue: when it runs out of battery, you can’t use it while it charge and until I had upgraded, I hadn’t realised what I was missing out on.

Whoever decided to put the charging port on the bottom clearly wasn’t thinking about real-world use.Whoever decided to put the charging port on the bottom clearly wasn’t thinking about real-world use.

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links; if after clicking of these, you make a purchase, I may receive a small kick back at no cost to you. This is great way to support the blog and allows me to get out and explore, review products and keep the content coming for this blog

Part of not wanting to move to any other mouse was down to me being a bit of an Apple fanboy and thinking they could do no wrong, but I saw some videos on YouTube whilst I was researching the Logitech MX Creative Console, and a lot of reviewers were talking about the MX range of mice and these piqued my interest. People were also talking about the keyboards that Logitech made, and it just so happened that I was on the lookout for a new keyboard after my Apple keyboard died and wouldn’t recharge. I had been making do with a cheap keyboard from Amazon, but I knew that this was a relationship that wasn’t going to last.

As I was browsing for keyboards, I found a deal on the keyboard which allowed me to buy the keyboard and the MX3 mouse was thrown in for an extra £10. Couple this with the corporate discount scheme that I am a member of and I had an offer than I couldn’t resist - they went straight in my basket. (I got the MX Keys S by the way, and it’s the best/nicest keyboard I have ever owned).

Now this isn’t intended to be an in depth review, more of an overview, but I will say that as per the title, this has been a life changer for me. The scroll function is much better, it feels smoother moving across my desk pad and the buttons are much quieter but still have a satisfying click. The ergonomics on this thing are awesome and it feels it feels great in the hand, with everything easily reachable without adjusting your grip. Oh, and it’s also fully customisable so you can make it do an absolute ton of things.

One of the things that has been great for me is the thumb wheel. This is configurable, but I am using it scroll between different tabs, especially when browsing. I need to have things open so I can switch between them when I am researching or need to look at different sources of information and having two browser windows open is just not enough!

Logitech MX Master 3S Mouse

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Logitech MX Keys S

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Logitech MX Keys S COMBO

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Logitech Creative Console

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The thumb wheel however isn’t just for switching tabs - that’s just what it does in one of its configurations. In Photoshop I have it mapped to brush size, in Premier Pro it scrolls my time line horizontally and in Lightroom I have it set to zoom in and out of my images.

Underneath the thumb wheel are two buttons (call front button and back button), which I have mapped to copy and paste in all applications and then there is the gestures button, another multifunction area of this mouse. I won’t bore you with all the mappings that I have set up, but having the ability to alt+tab between windows, without actually having to alt+tab is, for a new mouse nerd, awesome.

The LogiOptions+ app is where you can set all of your customisations up, and it’s really easy to do. I like doing this kind of thing and making my tools work for me, but even if this isn’t your kind of thing, it’s really quick and it’s really straightforward.

But the biggest plus for me? I can charge this thing without having to be without my mouse for a couple of hours. The charging is pretty swift (via USB C) and the battery lasts for well over a couple of weeks - I am not a heavy user, everything I am doing is related to either my photography or this website, I’m not using it for gaming, it’s very much studio/office/admin work so granted, the battery isn’t taking much of a hammering.

Compared to the Magic Mouse, this feels like a tool designed for actual productivity rather than aesthetics.

Should You Get One?

If you’ve got the budget — yes.

This is one of those tools that quietly transforms how you work. More speed, less friction, and far fewer interruptions.

Who Should Buy One?

• Photographers

• Videographers

• Editors

If your workflow relies on shortcuts, fast navigation, and switching between apps, this will genuinely improve your efficiency.

If you’re just doing basic admin, it’s probably overkill.

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The Bookshelf - #2 - This Pleasant Land

Hoxton Mini-Press (Written by Rosalind Jana)

This Pleasant Land - New Photography of The British Landscape

Available on Amazon from £22.14

Welcome back to episode of my short blogs about some of my favourite photobooks. This week we are looking at This Pleasant Land (Hoxton Mini Press), which takes a fresh look at British landscape photography.

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links, if you make a qualifying purchase after clicking one of these links, I may receive a small kick back. This is at no extra cost to you, but does help me to keep this blog running, so thank you if you decide to make a purchase.

One of the first things you notice about this book is the way it looks, the sage green cover makes you feel calm when you see it and the front cover image (shot by Toby Coulson) gives a really good idea of what is contained within the pages of this rather weighty, beautifully produced and bound collection of photographs.

I should have probably said collections, plural, rather than collection, because this book contains sets of images which are projects that have been gathered together from 24 photographers to make this book, which puts a new, often irreverent perspective on landscape photography of the British Isles. The images have been gathered over the course of 20 (ish) year period, so This Pleasant Land, published in 2023, provides a great look at post millennial Britain.

All of the photos are presented on what I would call a semi gloss-type paper and it really suits the look and feel of the images that are contained within.

The book opens with a beautifully written introduction/short essay from Jana, who sets out what she has hoped to achieve with the book and gives the whole project and the concept of landscape photography some real clarity, right from the outset. In it she talks about “an initial moment of open air absorption”, which is something we are familiar with as landscape photographers and that feeling is emanating from these pages.

The other promise that this book delivers on is that photographers have been able to “present their time bound view of this nation’s terrain. From its meadows and mountains, to scrap heaps and amusement arcades, its winding, mineral rich rivers and woods to the far-fetching fens… the bleak, the uncontainable and the marginal”. The book does that well, even on first glance but when you get to spend some time with it, you will see that it really does it.

This book avoids of the usual tropes/cliches that we tend to find in so many landscape photography books, this is particularly evident when you look at the section of the book presented by Sarah Pickering entitled “Explosions” in which she photographs pyrotechnic simulations and how these kinds of things can blur the line between entertainment and violence. It takes on even more meaning when you read the words that accompany it. I won’t quote them here, I will leave them for you to discover.

One of my personal highlights is Man on the Shore by Jem Southam. There’s something about it that feels reminiscent of Another Place on Crosby Beach—though this figure stands alone, which gives it a very different emotional weight.

For me, this doesn’t feel like a traditional landscape photography book at all. It feels much closer to a curated collection of fine art photography—diverse, contemporary, and quietly challenging.

This is absolutely one for the coffee table of any landscape photographer, and it would make a great gift as well.

Prices correct as of 3.30pm 01/04/2026

Check out some more of my Bookshelf entries by clicking the links below.

Do You Need Filters for Landscape Photography?

Do you actually need filters for landscape photography—or are they just another expensive accessory you’ve been told to buy?

It’s a question that comes up a lot, and after a recent conversation with some colleagues, I realised there’s a lot of confusion around it.

The short answer? Yes… but not straight away.

In this post, I’m going to break down when filters actually matter, when they don’t, and which ones are worth investing in once you’re ready.

TL;DR:

You don’t need filters when you’re starting out—focus on mastering exposure first. Once you’re confident, a variable ND filter and a circular polariser are the most useful additions. Filters are best used when your camera can’t achieve the effect on its own, not as a shortcut for poor technique.

What are filters?

Filters are essentially small pieces of glass that you place in front of your lens, either by screwing them into the internal thread on your lens, via magnets or by using a filter holder which attaches to your setup so you can drop them in front of the lens. Some cameras and lenses have built in filters, but we’re talking some big money purchases and if you’re spending this money, I am going to assume that you know enough to not have to read this blog and so I won’t be mentioning them other than to let you know that they exist.

Then there’s the plethora of filters that exist, they all do different things and have a different impact on your images. I’ve put a table together to help you understand what they’re called, what they do and how they do it:

Filter Name	What It Does	How It Does It (Lay Terms)
UV / Protection Filter	Protects the front of your lens from dust, scratches, and knocks.	A clear layer of glass that sits in front of your lens and takes the damage instead.
Circular Polarising Filter (CPL)	Reduces glare and reflections, and boosts colour contrast.	Filters out certain reflected light, reducing shine on water, glass, and foliage.
Neutral Density Filter (ND)	Reduces light so you can use slower shutter speeds or wider apertures.	Works like sunglasses for your camera, darkening the whole scene evenly.
Variable ND Filter	Lets you adjust how much light is reduced.	You rotate the filter to control brightness, like a dimmer switch.
Graduated ND Filter (GND)	Balances bright skies with darker foregrounds.	Half the filter is dark and half is clear, so only part of the image is affected.
Reverse Graduated ND Filter	Controls very bright horizons at sunrise or sunset.	Darkest in the middle where the sun sits, fading lighter towards the top.
Colour Filter	Changes colour tones or contrast.	Lets certain colours pass through more than others, altering the image look.
Infrared Filter (IR)	Creates surreal infrared-style images.	Blocks visible light and lets through invisible infrared light.
Diffusion / Mist Filter	Softens images and adds glow to highlights.	Spreads light slightly as it passes through, reducing sharpness and contrast.
Star Filter	Creates starburst effects from light sources.	Etched lines split bright light into visible rays.

As you can see, I wasn’t lying when I said there was a lot to choose from, especially when you’re a beginner. The choice can be overwhelming. Hopefully this helps to demystify a little for you.

Why don’t I need filters when I first start out?

I say this because when you’re first starting out and learning photography, it’s best to learn the basics and really nail the exposure triangle so that you can guarantee you’re properly exposing most of your photos. To use an old adage, we need to learn to walk before we can run! Adding filters into the mix too early can complicate things so spend some time learning the exposure triangle before you start with filters. It shouldn’t be a huge amount of time (a couple of weeks if you’re shooting regularly) before you’re ready to start adding filters into the mix.

So what when I can expose properly?

I think that a good place to start is with a variable ND filter, that screws to the front of your lens. To find the right size look for the marking on the side of your lens that tells you the internal thread size, or consult the manual for your particular lens. I don’t recommend the use of graduated ND filters - I’ll explain later.

A variable ND (usually called a VND) will give you some flexibility in how much you change the amount of light entering your lens and it means you only have one extra thing carry around rather than 3 or 4 filters per lens (If I am taking 3 lenses, I only have to take 3 filters and not a whole bag full!).

NDs work in stops of light, so you can get anything from a 1 stop to 10 stop and beyond.The darker the filter, the longer your exposure time or larger your aperture will need to be. Do some research to see which one will be the best for you and what sits within budget.

Variable NDs do have some drawbacks, one of which is that they can cause artefacts in your images if you don’t rotate them far enough and you’ll also want to make sure you don’t over tighten them or they can be a pain in the rear end to remove.

Once you’ve got to grips with your ND, you pretty much have everything else nailed as nothing else is going to affect your exposure as much as one of these.

Most people are going to be using NDs to extend exposure times when there is too much light to get the shutter speed and aperture they need to get the image that they want. They’re great when you want to do something like smooth out the water in a standing body of water (or a river with much longer exposure times) or show some motion in waves and waterfalls.

When should I use a filter?

This is really down to the atmospheric conditions (light, wind, river flow state etc_ where you are and what effect you are trying to achieve, it’s a bit like the question “what are the best settings for landscape photography”, in that there’s no one single answer.

Get some filters, learn what they do and how to use them and then go out and experiment with them. You’ll find that, as with exposing without a filter, you will need to get your settings dialled in, check them and then hone them. On a day where the weather and light are changeable you could find yourself needing a filter and then 2 minutes, you haven’t moved but the clouds have and now you don’t need it and can still get the same result.

Using a 10stop VND in this image allowed me to get a 30 second exposure which made the water completely smooth and captured some of the movement in the clouds.

What sorts of filters will suit my style?

The answer to this is going to depend on what type of photography you do or are going to do and what you want to achieve.

If you’re shooting landscapes then you’re going to want a set of NDs or a variable ND and a circular polariser. I love my polariser, it lets me see through water! It does this by doing complicated physics and removing the glare and reflections from the surface - low angle shots with interesting detail under the water can look amazing with one of these! You may also want to consider a mist filter, but this is a much more creative decision and will give a certain look to your images - they’ll look slightly softer.

If you want to save yourself some money then you could invest in some step-up/step-down rings and just buy one large filter. This allows you to select the correct thread size for your lens and the correct thread size for your filter, just be aware that this does come with some limitations - for example, I have a 10-18mm lens and when it’s at 10mm, it can see its own lens hood, so it’s definitely going see the step up/down rings. However, when you’re just starting out, this can be a good way to explore shooting with different lenses and just having one filter.

You can also buy filters which are mix of circular polarisation (CPL) and VND. These are more expensive (you’re getting two filters in one) and obviously, they are slight bigger/heavier. I have one for 85mm lens and like having everything all in one place.

I have explained this below in more detail, but don’t bother with graduated NDs.

I know that the rest of this section is a bit of a deviation from landscape photography, but I think it’s useful to know why these filters exist!

Street shooters you might want to consider a variable ND and a polariser too! The polariser is going to be useful if you’re shooting from inside to outside through glass and will mean that you’re able to try and mitigate some of the reflections. if you’re after some motion blur but want to preserve your aperture when there is too much light then you might want to think about VND too. I used to use a VND for some of my light trails work when I wanted longer exposures but there was just too much ambient light, especially at night when there were tons of street lights and/or neon signs to allow me to get what I wanted.

You might also like some of the more creative filters like mist filters or star filters. Star filters can look great at night, but don’t overuse them. They turn every point of light into a little star like shape. For me, these need to be used sparingly and you need to pick the shot carefully. Mist filters, sometimes called pro-mist filters, give your photos a dreamy, cinematic look. These are another one that I used to use a lot at night in the city, but when I am out and about shooting landscape photography in the Lake District, I tend to reach for this in the day when I want things to look a little softer.

Most modern cameras have a UV filter built into them so using one for its actual intended purpose is a bit of a moot point these days. I also don’t see the point in sticking a cheap piece of glass between your highly engineered piece(s) of optical glass and your subject.

Some photographers will keep one attached to protect the front element of their lens from dust and scratches, but if you keep your lens hood on and make sure your lens is clean and well looked after, you shouldn’t run into any problems here; you just need to be careful!

Which Filters Should I buy?

As with so many things to do with photography, this is going to very much be dependent on your budget. There are lots of companies out there who are making these, and they are all competing for your money. Ultimately, you get what you pay for, but buying cheap when you’re first starting isn’t (I don’t think) in this case going to do you any harm.

If you search on Google, you will find a ton of companies trying to sell you things. These range from brands like Lee, NiSi and Kase (pricey but very good) to Kent Faith (also known as K&F concept) who are at a great place in terms of price, build and image quality (these are the filters I used and I love them) and then there are the hundreds of places who want to sell you something cheaper.

K&F Concept VND Filters

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K&F Concept CPL Filter

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K&F Concept Diffusion/Mist Filter

View on Amazon

K&F Concept Step Up/Down Rings

View on Amazon

Urth is also another decent brand to consider, especially if you’re into ethical shopping as they plant trees in deforested communities with every purchase, you even get to register your trees. When I first started out, they were called something else and didn’t have as much market presence, but I visited them at the photo and video show at the NEC this year and was really impressed.

Most filters, be they VND or CPL will create a colour cast on your images, which is often very easily corrected in post. They are called Neutral Density as they’re not supposed to do this… You can buy true VND filters which are very well balanced and don’t create the colour cast, but beware, they are very expensive and if you’re just starting your journey into filters then they’re really not necessary.

You should also buy something to keep your filters safe. They aren’t cheap, but they are fragile so having something sturdy to keep them in is always a worthwhile investment. I use the one that I have linked below, which is from a manufacturer called JJC. I don’t know much about them, but what I do know is that this case is tough and has taken a bit of a battering. My filters on the other hand, have not.

What about graduated filters?

I don’t have any of these and don’t want any! I used to think that I needed them, and maybe I did, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t bother.

Graduated ND filters are plates that you slide into a clip/filter holder that attaches to the front of your camera. They have a clear half and a dark half that had a neutral density coating. Some have a hard stop and some are graduated but both do the same job. You placed the dark part of the filter over what you wanted to darken and the rest of your image would have a different exposure value as it wasn’t affected.

They are most commonly used to darken skies, but if you don’t line them up perfectly with the horizon then you are either ruining images or creating yourself a problem in post. I don’t see them being used much at all any more and this is because of what we can do with the linear mask tool in Adobe Lightroom. The finished product is just as good and it’s much easier to do it post than to fix it in post because you have messed it up.

By all means, get one (they’re usually quite expensive) and find out for yourself, but no one has ever looked at any of my images and said to me “I’ll bet you wish you used grad. for that”.

So, do you need filters for landscape photography?

Yes, but they’re not where you should start.

Mastering exposure and understanding light will take you much further than any piece of gear ever will. Once you’ve got that foundation in place, filters become incredibly powerful tools that allow you to expand your creative options.

A variable ND filter will open the door to long exposures, while a polariser can completely transform how your scenes look by cutting reflections and enhancing contrast.

Beyond that, everything else is a creative choice.

Build your kit slowly, learn what each filter actually does, and only add something when you know exactly why you need it. That way, you’re not just collecting gear—you’re building a toolkit that genuinely improves your photography.

Filters FAQs

Question	Answer
Do I need filters for landscape photography as a beginner?	No, not straight away. Focus on mastering exposure first—aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Filters become useful once you can confidently control light.
What is the most useful filter for landscape photography?	A neutral density (ND) filter and a circular polariser (CPL). ND filters help with long exposures, while polarisers reduce reflections and enhance contrast.
Are expensive camera filters worth it?	Yes, in most cases. Higher-quality filters reduce colour casts, preserve sharpness, and avoid unwanted artefacts in your images.
Can you replicate filters in editing instead?	Some effects can be recreated in post, like exposure balancing. However, motion blur and reflection control (polariser effects) cannot be fully replicated.
Do professional photographers still use filters?	Yes. ND filters and polarisers are still widely used because they achieve effects that editing alone cannot replicate.
What filters should I buy first?	Start with a variable ND filter and a circular polariser. These cover most landscape photography situations.
Are graduated ND filters still useful?	They can be, but many photographers now prefer post-processing tools like gradients, which offer more flexibility and precision.

The Bookshelf - #1 Liam Wong TO:KY:OO

Liam Wong

TO:KY:OO

Thames and Hudson

Available on Amazon - £27.45 (30/03/2026)

Welcome to the first instalment of a series of entries into this blog where I talk about my favourite photo books. This isn’t focussed on a particular style of photography; it’s a selection of the books that I own that really enjoy looking at. These aren’t intended to be reviews, but if I have taken the time to write about it here, then you should assume that I think it’s really good!

These aren’t going to be long, detailed entries, but just enough to whet your appetite and maybe think about going and grabbing yourself a copy for your collection.

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click any of the Amazon links in this blog and then make a qualifying purchase, I may receive a small kickback at no extra cost to you, This is a great way to support the blog and allows me to keep writing entries like this, as well as the gear reviews that you see here.

Liam Wong’s TO:KY:OO is one of the most striking contemporary street photography books, capturing Tokyo’s neon-lit streets in a cinematic, cyberpunk style.

So, Liam Wong: TO:KY:OO. This might seem like an odd choice for some who does landscape photography in the Lake District. I think a bit part of my love for this book stems from my time spent shooting in London, as well as my desire to visit Tokyo in the future so that I can shoot some photos in this style - the locations in this book are incredible!

But who is Liam Wong? He was born in Edinburgh and studied Computer Art at University. He worked in the games industry for a time, with companies such as Ubisoft. During a trip to Japan with a Canon 5DMK2 he started making photos of the rain soaked Tokyo streets and the photographs he captured during that time formed the basis of what would become his breakthrough project, Tokyo Nights.

The images gained significant attention online for their distinctive look. Wong’s photographs often feature bold neon colours such as pink, purple, blue, and red, which contrast against the darker tones of the city at night. Rain-soaked pavements and reflective surfaces play an important role in the compositions, amplifying the glow of the surrounding lights and adding depth and atmosphere to each scene. Many of his images also include solitary figures walking through the frame, reinforcing a sense of quiet isolation within the busy urban environment.

It’s been said, since time immemorial that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I mean, come on.. look at this thing at the top of the page. The colours, the composition, the reflections… You just know that this book is going to be IN-SANE.

Why This Book Stands Out

Other than the colour, the first thing that you notice is that this is a really well produced book, the cover feels great and the paper stock that has been chosen really shows every single image off at its absolute best. It’s a glossy paper stock, because matte just wouldn’t have worked for them. It does however work in the final section where we are shown some of the colour palettes and edits that went into making this book.

This was one of the first photo books that I bought, and I was at the front of the queue when the second one, After Dark, came out 3 or 4 years later, because I had enjoyed this one so much.

The book takes all around this incredible city at night, and has some real CyberPunk and Bladerunner vibes - Wong even says in the foreword that when he first visited and it rained, it was like being in the world created by Ridley Scott in Blade Runner.

This book tells the story of the place and some of the people that live in it, it is full of vibrance and contrast. The colours pop and the shadows create more mood than you could try and explain. There are photos showing entire streets, some that showcase the neon lights and there are some great detail shots and portraits in amongst it.

This book was a huge influence on my work when I lived in London, and if I do any street photography now I live in the Lake District, these are the kinds of colour I am looking for, though admittedly, they are fewer and farther between.

For such an impressive book, I feel like this is a real bargain of a book, and you can grab your copy on Amazon for less than £30. If you’re into cinematic street photography, neon colour, or simply want a book that looks incredible on your shelf, this is absolutely worth adding to your collection. You can check it out on Amazon below.

Liam Wong : TO:KY:OO

View on Amazon

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Gear Review: Logitech MX Creative Creative Console - Keypad and Control Dial

In this Logitech MX Creative Console review, I take a hands-on look at whether this highly customisable control surface can genuinely speed up editing and streamline creative workflows and consider if this is a worthwhile upgrade for photographers and content creators.

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links - if you click one of these links and then make a qualifying purchase, I may receive a small kick back and this really helps to support the blog and the best of it is that it doesn’t cost you a single penny extra!

You can check current pricing here if you’re interested.

TL;DR

The Logitech MX Creative Console is a thoughtfully designed, highly customisable control surface that genuinely speeds up creative workflows making it an excellent investment for photographers, designers, and content creators looking to work smarter, not harder

Why Choose the Logitech MX Creative Console?

I am someone who likes to do his research because I like to get things right the first time, especially when I am spending money (or birthday vouchers!). There is a lot of hype around other macro-key products, particularly the Tour Box Elite and the longer standing Elgato Stream deck.

Alternatives to the MX Creative Console

I quickly ruled out the Stream Deck as it doesn’t have a scrub wheel and to buy something to compliment it means spending more money and another decision to find something that works and that I like.

The Tour Box was a serious consideration for me, the reviews are good, it looks smart and it works well with DaVinci reosolve, and it’s that last part that made the decision for me. Everyone online is telling me how good it is to edit in DaVinci using this, but I don’t edit enough video, let alone in DaVinci to make this worthwhile.

The MX Creative console however, works across most of the Adobe Creative Suite (it’s really strong in Photoshop and Lightroom) and is context aware so the buttons change depending on the software that you have open. It can even control aspects of your main operating system, which I find really handy.

First Impressions and Build Quality

What’s in The Box?

In the box, you get your keypad, your dialpad, a USB cable (because the keypad doesn’t connect via bluetooth, so I would like to see that improved in the future, though it does mean that there is no latency) and a stand which props up the keypad so that it rests at a good angle for you to work with. The underside of both of these components has some material stuck to it in order to create some friction to stop it sliding all over your desk. Mine are both placed on a large desk pad so I’m not too concerned about this, but I have tried it on a bare surface and it seems to hold up well.

Build Quality , Design & aesthetics

Straight out of the box you will notice that this thing is light, but that isn’t reflected in the quality of the materials, which feel solid enough and like they will be able to stand up to being sat on my desk for the next few years. That said, if I do want to take them anywhere with me, I would probably buy a case to transport them in. The wheel is made of metal and feels good under than hand.

A quick word on the unboxing, just because people like to know about that kind of thing: It was a solid 5 out of 10 in terms of excitement, it’s certainly not the experience you get from something like an Apple product. I will however point out that there is nothing in the packaging that can’t be recycled, so a full 10/10 on that front.

When it’s plugged in, the control buttons are bright and pretty vibrant - they look great on the desk. The buttons are soft and feel pretty satisfying to press, and that’s always nice.

You’ll also notice that there is a lot of similarity with the now discontinued Loupedeck line of products and suspect that this is no accident given that Logitech acquired Loupedeck in 2023 and sales from this brand were discontinued in March ‘25.

The console comes in two colours, graphite and pale grey. I have opted for the graphite for two reasons: Firstly, I have the MX Keys S, which are also a dark grey/graphite colour, as well as the MX Mouse 4 which is the same colour so aesthetically, it looks good and all ties together (not quite with my blue Mac, but that’s another story). Secondly, in my experience, light grey and white things that you are constantly touching often ended up looking quite grubby and I want them to carry looking good for longer.

Connection and Set-Up

The initial set-up is really easy and the LogiOptions+ software that comes with it is really intuitive and actually quite enjoyable to use.

The setup process is completely guided and you’ll need to grant a couple of permissions (I’m using a Mac so if you’re on a Windows machine then your experience here may differ slightly). The ‘easy to set up Logitech MX Creative Console’ would be a good (if slightly unimaginative) sales line for them.

Logi Options+ software setup

The software does a good job of detecting what you have installed on your computer and then you just need to select which ones you want to have shortcuts installed for. Each piece of software comes with some pre installed shortcuts/actions to get you started and this means that you pretty much can straight into playing with it.

Page one of your keypad is the system actions page, and this comes preloaded with things like volume controls, open Finder and music controls, and honestly, it’s really good.

I have added some more actions to the next available page to do things like cmd+tab and to close windows quickly. I have also added some buttons to open the apps that I use the most, so that’s all of my photo and video apps as well as things like Word and Mail. The other thing that I have done is to set up some buttons to open websites that I use frequently, like Google, Amazon, YouTube and of course, Squarespace!

We also need to talk about the contextual awareness of the whole system. It’s awesome. It’s quick and it’s intuitive. As soon as I switch from one app to the next, the pages have changed and my buttons are ready to go. Each of the Adobe apps has its own set of pre-installed shortcuts. Logitech have done a great job of picking the ones that they know we will need in each of the apps, I haven’t had to change much, but I do know that I can add anything I find isn’t there really quickly through the LogiOptions+ app.

The dialpad (or as I keep calling it, the wheel), is just as easy to set up. It’s far less visual than the keypad, and that’s ok. I think the two off set each other really well and having too much visual output on the dialpad would be information overload for a lot of people.

The main jog wheel feels really good under your fingers and moves smoothly, though I think one improvement I would like to see in future updates of the hardware is for it to have some kind of haptic feedback, it moves very smoothly, but that extra feedback would really complete the experience.

The same is true of the vertical scroll wheel, it feels good and works well but it would be much better with some feedback through the fingers. There are also four buttons on here, all of them fully customisable within each of the apps that you want you to set it up for.

Real World Usage: Editing Workflow Performance

I don’t think it would be going too far for me to say that this has been game changer for me. I have made some small changes to layouts, just to put the buttons that I use the most often in the right places for me, and I have added things that I use that weren’t programmed-in out of the box and I think I have got it just where I want it.

For example, editing a landscape image in Lightroom is now much quicker because I have my tools on my desk in front of me, I can use the dialpad to increase and decrease the value of sliders and I can bring tools and masks up really quickly with the touch of a button, rather than having to use several clicks.

I’m not just using it for anything photography related, but I am doing a lot of the day to stuff on my Mac from this, everything for launching websites to closing windows.

The MX Creative Console has sped up my workflow across all of the apps that I use, but the changes it has made for me in my creative apps are massive. I am much quicker and, dare I say it, better organised as a result of this; not just on my computer, but also I am more minded to keep my desk much clearer!

The contextual changes you will see are instant. For example, when I click to open Lightroom, the contextual awareness picks this up straight away and switches my keypad to the Lightroom icons. Pressing the buttons is instant as well, there’s no lag and the tool I have selected is ready to use. I think that this is partly down to the fact it is plugged into my computer, that being said, I haven’t had any noticeable lag with the dialpad, which is connected via Bluetooth.

The one thing I have noticed, other than what I have already mentioned is that the large wheel on the dialpad is touch sensitive, which is nice, but if you inadvertently catch this with your hand as you move around your desk then you can end up changing things that you didn’t want or need to.

How I use it in my own workflow

I have been thinking about how to speak about this, because it’s had a big impact on the way I am working and I only expect this to get bigger as I use it more.

But what has it actually done for me? It’s removed the need to memorise and recall shortcuts, and some the things I do regularly I am now building muscle memory for. I need a brush in Photoshop? I have a button for that now. Want to put in a radial or linear gradient? I have a button for that too. I can’t make my mind up if this is making me quicker or lazier. Perhaps both.

It has relieved the need for some of the longer shortcuts that I would use, which is nice, so now instead of cmd+shift+r for reseting an image, I have just one button to press. It also means that I am using my graphics pab slightly differently - the buttons I have on there are now largely redundant.

My graphics tablet’s buttons have always been a bit of a bit of a bugbear of mine, they are largely just in the way and I didn’t really use them. Having the MX Creative Console means that I no longer have to guess what I set these buttons up to do, because I can see the shortcuts in front of me. If you’re looking for a graphics tablet and the MX console isn’t for you then, then I’d recommend something like the Xencelabs Combo Medium.

Who Should Buy One?

• Photographers (Lightroom/Photoshop users)

• Designers (Photoshop/Illustrator)

• Video editors (Premiere Pro/DaVinci users)

• Productivity-focused users

This is going to appeal to a lot of people, especially those who want to streamline their work flow. Those of you who are willing to spend the time customising it so that it wors the way that you work will get the most of it - one of the biggest plusses for this is its customisability.

It works equally well across Lightroom, Photoshop and Premiere Pro. I have used it with some success in Davinci, but I don’t know this software well enough to give anything meaningful here other than ‘it works’ and it does the basic stuff I need it to.

If you’re looking to speed up your editing workflow and reduce reliance on keyboard shortcuts, this is one of the most effective upgrades you can make.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fully customisable means that it will be suited to all workflows.

• Adpative/Context aware so keys change with your workflow and you don’t need to adjust.

• The tactile dial gives you some real precision control

• Two-part modular design means you can find the ideal placement for you on your desk.

• Is being regularly updated with more support

• The Logi Options+ software is intuitive and make set-up much easier.

• Not ‘laggy’ with the inputs and responsiveness

Cons

• Wired connectivity for the keypad means another cable trailing across your desk and another USB port used up.

• Setup and customisation can take a while, but worth it if you want to get the most out of it.

• If you already fly around the shortcuts, this might not be much of a benefit.

• Nine keys isn’t as many as some of the competitors, so you spend time moving through the pages.

• It’s quite lightweight so doesn’t feel as premium in the hand as some of its other competitors.

• Jog wheel could be improve by adding a notch/groove for a finger to sit in.

My Tips for Getting the Most out the MX Creative Console

• Spend time setting it up in the way that you want.

• Put the shortcuts you use or will need the most on the first couple of pages to save scrolling.

• Think about your desk placement and get it somewhere comfortable.

Should You Buy It?

In a word, yes. Especially if you fit into one the categories I have mentioned above. This is a truly great piece of kit and I am constantly finding new ways do things with it, its made me much more productive and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a button?

Where to buy the MX Creative Console.

The MX Creative Console is currently available on Amazon, I paid £175.04 on 2nd April 2026.

You can also buy straight from Logitech, who at the time of writing have some good deals avaialable so it’s worth a look there too.

Other retailers are available but if I try to list them all here it’s going to be a big list!

At around £175, it’s not cheap—but for something that you’ll use every single day, it’s an investment that quickly pays for itself in time saved.

Final Thoughts

This is great piece of kit that I have only owned for a week or so and it is already becoming an integral part of my workflow, which I am not sure what I would have been doing without. Paired with the MX Key S and MX Mouse it’s really helped my productivity. The mapping is great and means that you can really make each of these things your own, and make them work how you want them to work and think that this is one of the MX Console’s strengths.

Specs

Controls

• 9 LCD keys with dynamic app-aware icons
• Precision dial for fine adjustments
• Custom layouts for workflow optimisation
• Multi-page controls for extended functionality

Software

• Logi Options+ control platform
• Smart Actions (multi-step automation)
• Auto-switching profiles per application
• Plugin ecosystem for creative apps

Connectivity

• Bluetooth Low Energy
• USB-C charging and connection
• Up to 10m wireless range
• Rechargeable battery (dial module)

Compatibility

• Windows 10+ and macOS 12+
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• DaVinci Resolve & Final Cut Pro
• Affinity Suite and Figma

View on Amazon

All details correct as of 02/04/2026, tested using Apple Mac M1.

Why Photo Books Are Important

I love photo books, I have an ever growing collection of them and have just asked from some more as birthday gifts. I think that they are a great thing to own, make fantastic points, I love to receive them as gifts and they serve as a great way to find inspiration, locations and ideas.

This blog is also a bit of a precursor to a series that I am going to start to add to the page where I take a look at some of my favourites, whilst explaining what they deserve a space on my bookshelf and maybe suggesting why they deserve a place on yours.

If you’re someone who doesn’t own any photo books yet, then my blog “10 Photo Books You Should Own” is a great place to start to look for inspiration.

Over the last 15 years, since the launch of Instagram, the way that we view and consume photography has changed in a huge way, much like the Instagram platform itself. Social media presents images to us in such a way, that we look at it for a couple of seconds, decide whether we like it or not, we might double tap it and then we swipe away. A lot of the time, unless it’s something that goes viral, we won’t see it again. These are fleeting moments with images, we’re making a quick decision about them and then we rarely see them again. Everything is rushed.

Imagine doing this in gallery. You’d soon be out of breath and you wouldn’t really appreciate anything that you saw in any sort of meaningful way.

Photobooks, for me at least, are the antitheses to the way we consume images on social media. They force us to slow down when we’re looking through them, we’ve paid for them and we should enjoy them. But please don’t just buy them to allow them to sit on the shelf, make time for them and spend time with them!

It’s useful to think of the different ways we view photography in another way. Imagine that posing your images online is like making a boiled egg, having an image in a gallery exhibition is like making a roast dinner without having to look at the instructions and a photobook is like making a Michelin star level Soufflé and being able to do it consistently. All three of these involve work with ingredients (your photos) but each one is a step up, until you reach the pinnacle.

They also all have different barriers to entry/success. Anyone can pick up their phone and post on social media - you have control over this, it’s your account and you can post whatever you want on it. A gallery exhibition means that someone/some people have to like your work enough and think that it is credible enough to be on a wall somewhere that people want to come and see it.

A photo book on the other hand requires not only a publisher to take a chance on you, it’s going to involve multiple people making decisions along the way and it also needs you to have a large, credible body of work that people will be willing to part with money to look at. It’s the highest barrier to entry and when you buy one, you can usually rest assured that what we’re getting is really the cream of the crop - it’s going to be something that we want to spend time with to enjoy and digest, to relax and maybe, just maybe, be inspired by.

Unfortunately, buying photo books isn’t always cheap, especially if you want a good, well produced one, but for me, that is always offset by the fact that I have something tangible, which is mine, feels good in the hands and looks great on my bookcase, or in some cases on the coffee table.

For many photographers, a dream is to have their own photo book, some are in the fortunate position that they are able to design, develop and publish their own, but this comes with a further barrier to entry in terms of the financial risk involved. If you can’t sell them, they’re yours, but you can only look at one copy of it at time. If this is something that you intend to do at some point, do your research and make sure that you know exactly what the risks involved are.

Photobooks are one of the most powerful ways to experience photography, whether you’re looking for inspiration, ideas, or simply a deeper connection with the images you see

But Why are Photo Books Important?

For me, this is about several things, which include, but are not limited to quality, intention, permanence and control.

There is not doubt that social media is an easy, quick and largely free way to enjoy photography that is being shared by other people, no matter how good we think the stuff that we see is - we’ve not paid for it, so we don’t mind skipping a few dozen images before find something that we like and that we want to engage with. If you sat with a photo book for 20 minutes and only found one image that you liked in the whole thing, you wouldn’t be very happy, right?

Granted, you’re unlikely to spend money on a photo book by a photographer whose style or subject matter you don’t enjoy — but sometimes you take a chance, and it doesn’t pay off.

The good thing about most photobooks is that they’re created by credible, well-known photographers. We’re buying into their work and their style, so more often than not, we know what we’re getting.

I’m going to talk about quality and intention together, because they’re intrinsically linked. When you get your hands on a well-produced photobook, one of the first things you notice is that the images are presented exactly as the photographer intended. This extends right down to the paper the images are printed on. Some books even use multiple paper types within the same volume, ensuring each image is shown at its best.

A great example of this — even though it’s technically a magazine — is the British Journal of Photography’s quarterly publication. The first thing I noticed when I opened my first copy was the variation in paper stock, and how much that influences the way the images are presented.

TO:KY:OO by Liam Wong is another excellent example of intentional design. I know I mention this book a lot, but it illustrates the point perfectly. The book is filled with vibrant, low-light images of Tokyo and is printed on smooth, glossy paper, which allows the colours to really pop and gives the images a striking presence. These same images wouldn’t have the same impact on the matte paper used towards the back of the book, where colour palettes and contact sheets are presented. They’re still strong images — but the presentation changes how we experience them.

Then there’s layout and sequencing. The order of images helps to tell a story, and the layout supports that narrative. On social media, we’re constrained by the platform. On our websites, we’re limited by design structures. But in a book, there’s far more freedom. We can use full-bleed spreads, pair images across pages, or group multiple images together. We can add text exactly where we want it — not where a platform dictates.

Finally, control. While this overlaps with quality and intention, it goes a step further. Control is about the finer details — particularly colour. When we share images online, we have very little control over how they’re viewed. Screens vary in brightness, colour temperature, and calibration. There are countless variables.

With a printed photobook, however, and with the right workflow, we can calibrate images to the printer and fine-tune every detail so that the final result matches our vision as closely as possible.

In TO:KY:OO, Wong takes this even further with fold-out pages that extend across four panels, allowing for stunning panoramic images to be presented in a way that simply isn’t possible on social media — and rarely practical on a website. It adds both impact and a sense of occasion to the viewing experience.

And then there’s permanence.

There’s something inherently fleeting about social media. Once we scroll past an image, we rarely see it again. Even viral content has a short lifespan. Platforms now prioritise video, and even when still images are promoted, they tend to favour unpolished, behind-the-scenes content over carefully crafted work.

Photobooks sit at the opposite end of that spectrum. They bring together considered, intentional, often highly polished work in one place. They live on our shelves, within reach, ready to be revisited whenever we want — whether for inspiration, study, or simply the enjoyment of engaging with photography at a slower pace.

They’ll be here long after we’re not.

Conclusion

Photobooks ask more of us as viewers. They ask us to slow down, to look properly, and to engage with images in a way that social media rarely allows. But in return, they give us something far more meaningful — a deeper connection to the work, a clearer sense of the photographer’s intent, and a lasting source of inspiration that we can return to time and time again. That’s why photo books are important.

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

Why You Need a Website as a Landscape Photographer.

Having a website as a landscape photographer isn’t about chasing followers or pretending photography is a business. For me, it’s about focus, ownership, and having a place that reflects how I want my work to be seen. This post isn’t a tutorial — it’s an honest look at what my website does, why I use it, and what it actually takes to keep it running.

This blog has not been sponsored by Squarespace, which is a fantastic all in one website building platform which requires no knowledge of coding to create incredible looking websites with a variety of templates to suit every use case. If you need a website, make your next move with Squarespace.

See what I did there? Heard it or something very similar before? Chances are, that if you have even a passing interest in landscape photography or live with someone who does, that you have watched/heard a lot of YouTube videos where this ad-read pops up at the start of the video or somewhere in the middle of the main body of the video. And now you have ended up here, on my site that I have built, and host, on Squarespace. What are the chances?!

TL;DR

There’s no single reason landscape photographers should have a website — and having one doesn’t automatically make you better or more successful. For me, a website provides focus, ownership, and a permanent home for my work, whilst social media supports it by driving traffic. It takes time, effort, and money, but if you’re intentional about how you use it, a website can become a valuable foundation for your photography.

Website vs Social Media: What’s the Difference for Landscape Photographers?

Social media platforms are great for sharing work quickly and reaching new people, but they come with limitations that many photographers only notice over time.

Your images are displayed in a feed alongside thousands of others, often heavily cropped or compressed, and their visibility is controlled by algorithms you have no influence over. A post that performs well one week may be effectively invisible the next, and on some platforms, this invisibility might come within few hours. You’re really at the mercy of the algorithms on social media.

A website, by contrast, gives you full control. You decide how your images are presented, in what order, and at what size. There’s no algorithm deciding who sees your work, and your portfolio isn’t buried under newer posts. A website also allows people to discover your photography through search engines, not just social feeds, making it a long-term asset rather than a fleeting one.

In short, social media is rented space, while a website is something you own (but that you host in rented space). Used together, they work best: social platforms drive attention, while your website provides context, credibility, and a permanent home for your work.

I have a website, I have done for about 5 years, but have only recently really started to build up what I am doing here and using it to its full potential. After a quick read of this post before publishing it, I have realised that I could have titled this “Do you need a website as a landscape photographer?” and that would have been an equally adequate and appropriate title!

But do you need one? How do you know if you need one? I hope that this blog helps you to answer these questions.

Why Do I Use Squarespace?

I haven’t always been a Squarespace user. I used to use Wordpress and Wix when I first started out. When I lived in London, I was running a (now defunct) blog on Wordpress and the first iterations of my photography website were built and hosted on Wix. I ended up moving to Squarespace quite quickly after I had used a free trial I found on a YouTube channel.

I preferred the whole experience on here and found the UI to be much more intuitive. It was also easier for me to set up my shop and get payments sent to me. For me, this is a good experience and it makes doing things like writing this blog much easier.

If I could change one thing, I would like it if my blog had much more of the drag and drop functionality that the other parts of my site have have, but I think that’s down to the website template I use not supporting the versions of Squarespace that have rolled out since, this is one of the reasons that the blog always appears the way that it does.

What Can You Have on Your Website?

I know this is cliché, but the sky is the limit when it comes to what you choose to put on your site. You can choose the sections that you want and fully customise this to what it is that you want to show. If you scroll to the top of this page, you will see the sections that I have chosen in the site header, but ultimately, what I want to be able to do can be boiled down into the following categories (in no particular order): Sell prints, sell workshops, generate leads, show my work, write this blog and build my client base. Having this website helps me to do a lot of this all in one place. Of course, this isn’t the whole story, other things such as networking and completing the right kind of work are also important, but having this website allows me to do a lot of this in a way that is more passive than having to find time which I often don’t have to get out and network and work with other people.

How Can I Make Money from My Website?

The truth is, this is the hardest bit. Being a landscape photographer in The Lake District, means that I am but a small fish in a very large, very well stocked pond. Competition is tough and it’s hard to sell prints and hard to sell workshops. This its largely down to the time in which we are living and the current socio-political climate; people don’t have a whole bunch of spare money to spend on luxuries like photography workshops and buying prints to hang on their walls.

I also do things such as including Amazon affiliate links in things like my blog and on the ‘my gear’ section of the site. These are run through the Amazon Affiliates programme, and what it means is that if someone clicks a link on the site and then makes a qualifying purchase on Amazon, I can potentially (not always), make money from the purchase at no extra cost to the purchaser. This is a small amount of money, usually around 3% of the total purchase price per item (more for some types of items and less for others) and this gets paid out at the end of each month that you hit the payout threshold (if you don’t it roles over to the next month so you don’t lose anything). It is not a big earner. Anything that I do make goes towards buying gear that I will use and can review on here.

Another way I encourage people to support the blog is via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Not a massive money-spinner this one, but anything I make goes straight back into creating more content for the website and supports writing this blog.

Selling workshops has been by far my best earner on the website, but having a full time job outside of photography makes it difficult for me to fit in with when people are available - a lot of the time people are on holiday in the Lake District and when they are free, I am at work. That said, I will always try to fit people in and will do my best to work around the schedules. It’s all about being as flexible as my pre existing commitments will allow me to be. This is not a website problem, this is a ‘Chris problem’.

The amount of money I make is wildly disprotionate (and not in a good way!) to the amount of time I put into things such as maintaining and updating the website as a whole, writing blogs like this one and testing and reviewing gear. It’s a poor return on investment, but sticking with it and trying to improve whilst at the same time, trying to help others to do the same is what spurs me on to keep doing it.

So What Does My Website Do?

In short, my website is the foundation of my photography, with social media working to support and point people towards it.

For me, my website acts as a central shopfront for my photography. It’s where I can show my work properly in the way that I want to show it (i.e. not constrained by how social media thinks I should show it), promote print sales and workshops, and talk about something I genuinely love doing. It gives people a clear place to view my images, get in touch, make purchases, and read information that I hope they’ll find useful and encouraging.

It also gives me a real sense of focus. Social media plays a big role in modern photography, and keeping my channels up to date helps show a more immediate, behind-the-scenes view of what I’m working on. Used alongside the website, social media becomes a way of driving traffic rather than replacing it — guiding people towards more in-depth content, galleries, and resources that live on the site. Together, they work best when the website acts as the foundation and social media supports it.

Does it Take Much Maintaining?

Yes. And no. Writing the blog is the most time consuming thing I have to think about, at the time of writing this (Jan 2026), I have enough posts scheduled to take me up to the end of March, which is about when this post will go live, assuming I manage to get it finished in time!

Each one takes between one and two hours to write, find images for, sort out the SEO and the excerpts, take care of the accessibility and everything else that I need to think about.

So if you think that this will be the 15th blog of this year, that’s 30 hours(ish) worth of time that I have already put into this, and that’s just the writing. Then there’s the research and product testing that goes on top of this and it soon starts to add up in terms of commitment.

Let’s be clear though, I do this because I enjoy doing it, no one is making me do it and no one is directly affected by it if I don’t do it, doing this part of the website is very much a labour of love!

The initial set-up of the site was really easy, the Squarespace templates are really well designed and well made and it makes setting up a really simple, straightforward process.

You don’t need to know how to write code (though if you can or you know how to get AI to do it for you (you may have noticed some of the images in the blogs are of an AI generated character), then you can include it on your site) and you even have a plethora of stock images available to you, which can be a real timesaver if you’re in a pinch or you are writing about something you haven’t photographed - see my blog about bucket list photography locations for an example of how I have used stock images in this site.

Adding images to my portfolio page is really simple, all I need to do is to upload the images and Squarespace does all of the heavy lifting for me. I just need to decide how I want the images to be displayed on my site.

The print shop I run on here does take a lot of maintaining, I need to refresh the images that are on there, price them, upload the pictures I want to sell and track all of the data that this page gathers. Finding a way to display them in way that is useful to customers took some time but I finally managed to sort something. There are paid, 3rd party services that can do this for you, but I wanted to do something that was free and I think I have managed to sort this now. The store is currently closed, because updating it takes time and I want to make sure that I have it just right when I am ready to reopen it.

How Can I Get Better at Running my Wesbite.

I am lucky that in the UK (specifically England), there is an organisation called “Free Courses in England”, which allows you to take accredited, RQF level 2 and 3 courses for free. This isn’t a plug, it’s just something that based on my experience, I thought was worth sharing.

I have completed a number of these, but the ones that were very useful for me were the Level 2 Certificate in Digital Marketing and the Level 2 Certificate in Managing a Business Startup. The former really helped me to understand SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), which is how Google recognises your content and then ranks it so that it can be displayed to people who have searched for things using their service. Having completed this course, I think it is part of the reason that several of the blog posts appear near the top of the search engine results pages for their related search terms and two of the pages are even right at the very top!

The Business Startups course gave me a lot of food for thought, especially around data protection. If you decide to collect and store user data on your website (such as through a contact form or for newsletter signups) then you need to make sure that you are doing this in a way which is compliant with the relevant laws for your country/territory. This course really highlighted some of the best practices for me and they are things that I make sure I do to protect both user data and myself - get this wrong and their can be big trouble!

So Why Should You Have a Website?

I’m going to nick one of Squarespace’s slogans for this, but “A website makes it real”.

What does this even mean for you though? For me, it meant that I had a real focus and something to aim for, I had another reason to take photos other than for the sheer love of wanting to create images that I liked. I haven’t shifted my mindset in any way to take images that I think other people will like, that’s not why I do it. People are fickle and for every one person who likes one of my images enough to buy it, there will be at least 100 who don’t like it and that’s just part of being a photographer, or for that matter, any kind of artist be that visual or other wise.

Having a website gives you somewhere to showcase what you think is your best work, it gives you a way to engage with other people who like what you do, outside of the social media mainstream. It allows you to promote your work to new audiences and find new ways of doing what you do.

The decision to have a website is one that is purely personal. Having one doesn’t automatically make you a better photographer, but if you build it and maintain it, it can be a way of helping to develop your skills, not just in photography, but in other areas of the photography business that can help you to grow both your photography and other areas of your practice. It will certainly make you more resilient!

It might be that you just want to share your work with the world, which is a great thing to do. You might want to build a community of photographers, something which I am trying to do this year and have already started working on behind the scenes. You might want to try and sell prints or presets or make money in another way. The choice is purely down to you and whatever choice you make will be the right one for you and a perfectly valid choice at that.

Just be warned, that there is a cost implication to all of this, not just monetarily, but also in time and your time is valuable (this blog post alone has taken almost two hours of my time, and I haven’t done the SEO stuff on it yet). But, in terms of cost you will need to think about buying your domain and paying money to renew it each year (think of it like rent, someone owns that space on the internet and you have to pay to use it) and then you will need to host your site as well, which is another cost to consider. It’s a competitive space, so there are often good deals on which help to get you started.

If you want a bespoke email address and not just a generic @gmail.com (other email services are available) then there’s a charge for that as well, it’s a small one, but it’s still a charge. My bespoke/vanity email is still just a Gmail account, when I log in, it’s still like ‘normal’ Gmail, I just have a different bit after the @ sign! You might want to consider this last option if you’re trying to take this whole website thing seriously as having an email which is linked to your website not only looks really professional, but it also helps to engender trust with your audience. There’s not requirement to do this, and plenty of businesses function perfectly adequately without them - this is all down to choice and how much money you are prepared to spend on what becomes an extension of your photography.

Final Thoughts

Having a website isn’t about chasing validation, followers, or turning photography into something it doesn’t need to be. It’s about intention. It gives you a place to slow things down, to present your work on your own terms, and to build something that reflects how you see photography — not how an algorithm does.

Whether you use a website to share images, write, sell work, or simply document what you’re doing, the value comes from committing to it over time. It won’t make you a better photographer overnight, but it can help you become a more focused and resilient one. And for me, that alone has made it worthwhile.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this useful/insightful! If you’d like to be the first hear about new blogs and reviews and to keep up to date with what I am doing and see my latest work, please sign to my mailing list by clicking here.

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

You Won’t Take Any Good Photos Today: Shifting Your Mindset in Landscape Photography.

You won’t take any good photos today. Got it?

I normally try and take a positive tone in this blog, so this feels like a bit of a harsh way to start something off, but I promise I am going somewhere with this… bear with me.

If you know me, or you have been here before, you will know that my “real” job is working in a school, as Music teacher, who just happens to teach photography as well - the latter is definitely my favourite part of my role! One thing I am always talking to students about is adopting a “growth mindset”. This is about switching the way that we think, so instead of thinking “I’m not good at this”, we say “I can get better at this/I have room to grow/this is how I can better” and instead of “Other people are better than me” we might try thinking “Other people might be ahead now, and I can learn from them”.

So, to start writing this by saying “You won’t take any good photos today”, seems ostensibly negative and completely antithetical, but when we unpack it, it actually starts to take some of the pressure off of us as photographers. And it doesn’t have to be just applied to photography, you could switch this up to anything else that you do!

If we look at it again, saying that “You won’t take any good photos today” is very different to saying “You can’t take any good photos today”. We can all take good photos, we have the knowledge and the skills to do it. We just don’t always do it!

So when we say this, we’re not saying that we can’t do it, we’re saying that we won’t. This is isn’t about being negative, it’s about lowering our own expectations the amount of strong outcomes that we have when we’re getting the images out of the camera, and lets face it, we’ve all been disappointed at some point or other when we’ve been to a location we’ve been excited to get to and got home to find that the shot we wanted wasn’t quite right, the light didn’t help or whatever other reason it is that’s stopped us from being as successful as wanted. This is because, in our heads, we have built everything up so much, that we think we are coming home with a card full of bangers and then we don’t have a single one. It’s gruelling right? If this has never happened to you, please let me know what your secret is and well go into business together!

So what makes a good photo?

I refer you back to my to the opening of this blog: You won’t take any good photos today… If you know the definitive solution to this statement, let me know and we will go into business together and can retire at the start of next month.

This is one of the beautiful things about photography in that, it is so subjective that no one can give you the answer.

You could ask 100 photographers this question and I reckon that all of them would say something different, and they would all say “that’s a really tough question”.

Some people will mention sharpness, some will mention blur, some will mention expsosure and others will mention colour. Most of them will mention story in some form or other. A sharp photo isn’t always a good photo, a blurry photo isn’t always a bad photo, some photos will be way underexposed or over exposed and will still be good photos.

The answer to this isn’t a definitive one. That’s because (in my opinion) there are good photos and there are technically good photos.

By technically good, I mean that they are sharp where they need to be, they are well exposed and they have a balanced composition. Good photos don’t have to be technically good; if you think about intentional camera movement (ICM) then there isn’t much in this style of photography that is sharp: that’s the whole point of it!

If I’m taking pack shots, then there isn’t a story, they’re photos of objects which are intended to be honest. They need to be technically good so that they show the object/item off at it’s best and in a way which shows it for what it is; the client isn’t after creativity, they want the brief fulfilling and they want clear shots. These shots are technically good, but at the same time, they’re not going to win any awards. Such is the need for technical accuracy, that AI is starting to get involved with this in a big way.

So what makes a good image? For me, it’s one that makes you think, makes you stop and makes you ask questions. Not everyone will like all of your image, art is subjective and it’s divisive. One of the most expensive photos ever sold at auction (Andreas Gursky’s Rhein II) is one such photograph. It’s one of a series of photographs of the River Rhein, which flows through the centre of the frame with grass one either bank, an overcast sky and a path in the foreground. Everything runs horizontally. I think what I like about it is that you can view it top to bottom (like layers in cake), or from front to back link you are standing and looking at the scene. To some people, this will be a boring photo, but for me it’s not just a good photo, it’s a great photo… someone thought it was great to the tune of around $2.7million, but there are some people who won’t think it’s worth more than a tenner!

Your Camera

Better camera’s don’t take better photos. Read that again… Better camera’s don’t take better photos.

They might make higher resolution images in a way that makes the process easier, may be more intuitive and will make your life easier in post processing. If you’re a wildlife photographer, the better autofocus systems might give you more in focus shots. But they won’t help you to take ‘good’ images and they won’t make you a better photographer.

Think about some of the great photographers of the last 100 years. Ansell Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ernst Haas, Elliot Erwitt - the list could (and probably should) go on and one. But none of them used digital cameras. They didn’t have the autofocus systems that we have today, they probably didn’t have light meters in their cameras, they didn’t have the technology in their lenses that we have in the modern world but they still took great photographs.

When I got my first DSLR and took it out for the firs time, at night, in London I was set to come back with 100’s of photos that were going to blow people’s minds.

I did not.

I even thought that there was something wrong with the camera. There wasn’t, but there was a problem behind the camera, in someone who thought that the camera was going to do all of the heavy lifting. I had to spend time learning the theory and the technqiues and had to invest in a tripod. I even had to the read the camera manual… assisted by some demonstrations on YouTube.

But, telling myself that I might not take any good images made it even sweeter the first time came back and downloaded my card to find some images that I was pleased with and wanted to share with people.

Photography companies are great at making new cameras and they are just as good at marketing and making you think that you need the latest pieces of kit. You should only upgrade your kit when you’re need to, not just because the manufacturers told you that you should.

A few years ago, teaching photography I had a student with a Canon 5D Mark IV and a student with an entry level Canon, it was something like a 4000D. Guess who was taking the better photos… I’ll give you a clue; it wasn’t the person with the expensive camera.

Remember, the most important thing in photgraphy isn’t what taking the photos, it’s who’s taking the photos and the bit of electrified meat between their ears that is telling them how to take it.

So Why Aren’t You Going to Take Any Good Photos?

I mean, this a bit of a harsh question, you are going to take good photos, but if you can adjust your mindset and think that you’re not going to, you avoid the disappointment of having nothing you’re proud of, but you also have the joy of coming back to the edit and seeing that you have got more than you expected.

If you go out all the time thinking that you’re going to have endless good, usable photos on your memory card only to find that you don’t, you’re going to begin to fall out of love of with photography pretty quickly.

Even people who do landscape photography full time will go out and not come back with an image that they are happy with. They might have some technically excellent images, but nothing that they feel is ‘good’.

Remember

Photography is art, and as I have said, art is subjective.

Not everyone is going to like your photos, and that’s ok. Not all of your shots are going to be good, and that’s ok too. You won’t get banger after banger every time you go out to shoot, sometimes you will come back with a whole card of photos that you don’t like or you don’t think are any good, and guess what? That’s ok!

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this useful/insightful! If you’d like to be the first hear about new blogs and reviews and to keep up to date with what I am doing and see my latest work, please consider signing up to my newsletter.

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

What Are The Best Camera Settings for Landscape Photography?

This is a question I get asked a lot, and I mean A LOT. Not just about landscape photography, but about all sorts of different photography - what are the best settings for portraits/ICM/product/wildlife… the list goes on.

The bad news for some people is that there is no ‘best’ settings for any of these types of photography. The best settings for the photo that you are taking are the ones that you need to be able to take the photo you want to take.

Let me unpack this a little…

For some situations, there are preferred settings. In a landscape shot, I am going to want use the sharpest part of my lens, and for the lenses that I have, that’s usually somewhere around the f/8 mark.

This is going, to some extent, dictate the rest of my settings as I am making the aperture smaller; other things are going to need to change in order to compensate. If you’re new to photography, then reading my blog about the exposure triangle, is going to help you to really understand what I am talking about in this entry.

Once I have set my aperture, I have a number of things I want to consider… do I want to freeze motion or do I want motion blur? Do I need to inject a ton of ISO into the image to get my desired exposure length? Does the ISO value I choose mean that I am going to be adding a load of noise/grain into my image that is going to ruin it?

Even though I want to use the f/8 aperture, this might not be possible and I may need to make some compromises.

It may even mean that to get my desired level of sharpness across the whole image, I need to consider focus stacking.

There’s a lot going on in just this one scenario.

Thinking again about the original question, “what are the best settings for landscape photography?”, we then need to remember that as landscape photographers, everything we do is at the mercy of that staple of British conversation, the weather. As a landscape photographer in The Lake District, I know only too well the perils of the changeable Lake District weather and understand that at certain times in the year, it isn’t uncommon to experience all four seasons in one day! However, the most common thing you are going to come across is changing light, no matter where you are.

Sometimes the light will be bright, you’ve got your camera settings dialled in and made your image. You want to take another couple of images at the same location, or of the same subject, but the light has changed, the clouds have positioned themselves firmly in front of the sun and everything that you have just done correctly to nail the first exposure, now needs to change. This is normal and for me, it’s one of the challenges that makes this pursuit so much fun!

But I’m Not a Landscape Photographer!

To be quite frank, this doesn’t matter. What I have just said can apply to all manner of photography genres, particularly those where you have little-to-no control over what the light is doing, because you are shooting outside and are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

To give another example…

I used to live in London and was used to shooting in low light - night photography was a real staple for me, as were shots of “bus trails” and light trails. For a time, I was obsessed with taking cityscape images, with long exposure times to get either light trails or capture the motion blur of a bus that was driving through my scene.

After much experimentation, I figured out that for me, on my camera with my lenses, the optimum exposure time for a perfectly (in my opinion!) blurry bus was around 0.3 seconds. Notice that I said “around” in the last sentence? This is because it wasn’t always 0.3 seconds, there are a lot variables at play, not least the speed of the bus that was driving through your scene. If it was going too fast for my settings I wouldn’t get what I wanted. If it was going to slowly for my settings, it wouldn’t make it out of my scene and I would end up with something that I didn’t want.

What about portraits?

Surely for portraits, what you need is a fast lens and then just to shoot everything at f/1.8 also that you get good bokeh? Not in my experience.

Bokeh is great, we all love the way it looks, be that light orbs in the background of our images, or a blurry background that makes your subject ‘pop’ and creates some separation from background.

The issue is the focus plane. I try to imagine the focus plane of my image as an invisible entity that stretches from the front to the back of my scene. The higher my f number, the deeper the depth of field and the more of the image will be in focus.

But when it comes to shooting portraits, you want to be sure that all of your subject is in focus. I have found in my experience, the shallower the depth of field, the less of my subject is in focus and by the time I have looked beyond the focus of someone’s nose, I am starting to see a fall off in sharpness and by the time I have moved along that invisible plain to their ears, I am really not seeing as much sharpness as I should.

In the portrait scenario, your settings are not only going to be dictated to you by the amount of light that you have available, but also by your distance from your subject, and further more, your subject’s distance from the background. You might need to adjust your settings, your positioning and your subject’s positioning to make sure you are getting the level of focus you want and the correct exposure that you need.

If you’re doing headshots in a controlled lighting environment, against a backdrop and you can have your subjects stood on a mark, then this is going to be a little bit easier to figure out and to maintain your settings.

But if, for example, you are trying to tell a story in your images, then you are going to want completely different settings. Let’s say for example you are taking a series of portraits of people that tell us about the job they do and you are taking a portrait of a fisherman who works on a boat. You’re shooting on location at a harbour and his boat is moored up.

In this setting, you could set your aperture to f/1.2 and have a really buttery-smooth, bokeh’d background. Or… you could stop down your aperture ring to give you more of the background in focus so that you can see the harbour and the boat behind the fishermen. All of a sudden you have gone from a photograph of man who looks and dresses a bit like a fisherman, to a man who is a fisherman, with his workplace and working environment behind him to really sell the concept and to help to tell the story. Context, sometimes, is everything.

How About In The Studio?

Again, it’s a similar story here, but you do have much more control. This is because in a studio, you have full control over the lights - if you have a decent set of lights/strobes/flashes etc then you can control the brightness/intensity of the light, how soft or hard the light is (with the use of modifiers), how long it lasts for, where it is coming from and its distance from your subject, the way the light is diffused, the colour of the light… the list could go on.

What this means is that you could set your camera up and change the lighting settings or you could adjust your camera to the lighting scenario depending on what it is you are going for, but generally, if you’re changing one setting, you are going to need change something else.

In the studio, there is not a single set of perfect settings, the settings you need are going to be dependent on the look you are going for, what you are shooting (shape, size, etc) and how you need to present the final images to the client.

We are however, always looking for an image that is sharp, so our aperture is likely to be the overriding factor in our decision making here.

There are preferred settings…

… but there are no best settings!

Your preferred settings are the ones that you prefer. It doesn’t mean that they are the best ones - they might not be someone else’s. Think of it like this: If there were a set of best settings for every scenario, someone would have written the book, we’d all have a copy and we’d all be shooting the same images in the same way.

We’d also all be reading the book and thinking to ourselves “well they’re not the best settings for that situation, because what about that photo of x that I took at y”.

There’d be umpteen YouTube videos on the topic of “why I disagree with the best settings manual and what I do instead”. You see my point? These are personal, artistic choices/decisions based on an infinite number of possible scenarios with an infinite number of desired outcomes.

As you have probably gathered by now, there isn’t one single set of best settings for each of the situations you are looking to shoot. The best settings are dictated by where you are, the time of the day, the weather, the kit that you are shooting with and what your final intentions are.

Some of this is also going to be dictated by personal taste, especially when it comes to the creative aspects of your own work (if you’re doing client work then a big part of the creativity is going to be dictated to you, but remember that you’ve been hired for the way that you shoot, so your creativity still plays a role).

The best way to ensure that you can get the correct settings for your intended outcome is to practice, learn your camera and what it can do, what it is capable of and how to make it do what you want it to and how to programme the settings effectively. Spend some time learning about lighting, experiment and always have a project on the go so that you’re actively creating.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this useful/insightful! If you’d like to be the first hear about new blogs and reviews and to keep up to date with what I am doing and see my latest work, please consider spending a few moments signing up to my newsletter.

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

Affordable Landscape Photography Accessories

Landscape photography can be an expensive way to spend your time, but is there a way you can do it cheaply without being “cheap”. But what items are there out there that will give you the best experience whilst ensuring you can still get great results and being confident that your kit is going to survive?

In this blog I am going to look at some of the items that are staples of many landscape photography setup and find you some back-pocket-friendly kit that won’t break the bank, or your camera.

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links. If you mae a purchase after clicking one of these links, I may receive a small commission at not cost to you. This is a great way to support the blog and allows me to continue writing posts like this, I really appreciate every purchase you make.

Getting into photography can be expensive, and that expense can be magnified if it’s something you don’t end up pursuing as much as you thought you would. No one wants hundreds, if not thousands of pounds worth of gear just sitting in cupboard, unused and gathering dust.

When you’re starting out in Landscape Photography, the amount of stuff you ‘need’ to buy can be overwhelming and some of the prices are absolutely eye watering. There are tripods that run into thousands of pounds, filters that cost hundreds and other accessories that you don’t even know if you need or not. I am going to try and demystify some of that, starting now!

Tripod

Do you need it? Yes.

This is probably one of two things on this list that I would say is an absolute must, the other being the camera bag. Most of the other stuff you can get by without, but I can’t think of many applications, other than perhaps street photography, where owning a decent tripod is worth its weight in gold. Maybe not so much if you’re run and gun street photography.

Like I said before, these can run into thousands, but that’s not what this blog about.

I’m going with K&F concept for this choice. Until I went down the road of the more expensive Benro Mach 3, this is what I used for everything. They’re strong and steady enough for most applications, are lightweight and this one comes with a ball head, so you’re not going to have the expense of shelling out for that too!

K&F Concept Tripod

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L-Bracket

Do You Need It? If you have a tripod, you will wish you had one of these!

This is one of the best photography purchases I ever made. An L-bracket is a piece of machined metal which attached to the bottom of your camera and fits ‘inside’ the ball head of your tripod and allows the two things to attached to each. Because of its shape, it allows you to switch between portrait and landscape orientations quickly without having to rely on the your ball head. It seems a bit of an odd thing to have/want given that one of the major functions of the ball head is to switch your camera’s position, but trust me when I say that having an L-bracket makes this process much more straightforward and when you need to switch quickly, you'll be really grateful you have one. You can pick one up for less than a tenner, but they do run into three figures. I paid £9 for mine 4 or 5 years ago and it’s still going strong.

Some options are designed for specific cameras and because they are made in much smaller numbers, the price is much higher, the universal ones tend to be much cheaper. Just make sure that you get something hat is compatible with your own camera. I’ve linked a really affordable universal one below for your so you can start exploring some options.

L Bracket

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Filters

Do you need them? Not necessarily, but they’re really useful!

This is going to depend on the types of shots you are aiming for, when you shoot and what kind of look you want to achieve in your photos. If you want to do long exposures when there is a lot of light, then you’re probably going to need some ND filters. If you’re shooting buildings with lots of glass, cars or bodies of water, then you’re probably going to want a polariser. Then there’s UV filters, colour filters, star filters and mist filters, as well as a bunch of others that I can’t/haven’t remembered.

Filters can also be crazy expensive and you get what you pay for, but as a starting point take a look at the range that K&F Concept offer.

K&F Concept Filters

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K&F Concept do a wide range of filters, but the ones in orange boxes are an affordable entry point, usually around £20, but this is going to depend on the size of your filter thread - look on the barrel of your lens or check your camera’s manual.

Strap/Cuff

Do you need it? Probably!

Your camera probably came supplied with one, and if you’re happy with it, stick with it. Some people like to change because they want something more comfortable around their neck. Some people prefer a cuff/hand grip instead of a neck strap because it suits their style of photography better and some people just want something a little less ‘obvious’ - it’s not always a great idea to have the make and model of your camera hanging round your next.

There are tons of options available, but some of them are borderline prohibitively expensive. The one I am suggesting for you is from PGY Tech and looks seriously like the Peak Design Slide Light and has a similar quick release system. Camera straps are a really personal choice, you might prefer a woven one, a leather or one that’s more rope like. Get something comfortable and something you trust!

PGY Tech Camera Strap

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Camera Bag

Do you need it? Yes.

You’re gear is the only gear you have, and you want to be able to move it around be that in the landscape, off to a location shoot, or just in the car to an event. You have spent good, hard earned money on investing in your new kit and you need to make sure it is safe and looked after.

Camera bags are essential, but also a minefield. If you search Amazon you will find page upon page of results, if you visit the major photography retailers you will find at least ten different brands, none of them especially cheap. The last time I visited a major camera retailer, I piked up a bag that caught my eye to have a look at and as soon as I saw the £400 price tag, it went straight on the shelf.

Depending on your kit (how much of it you have and how big it is), you might want to consider bags from well known manufacturers like LowePro,Think Tank and Peak Design, but expect to pay big(ger) money for these.

Like straps, these are a really personal choice, and unfortunately if you decide to stick with photography then this won’t be the last one you buy - none of them ever are. I have been doing this for years now and I still switch between a couple of bags depending on what I am doing. That said, when I first started, I was using the Lowepro Tahoe 150 for everything, and at £60 this is a really good option for the beginner photographer, it holds plenty, is comfortable, unobtrusive and isn’t a massive bag.

I’m also recommending the one I have linked on the card below, the Tarion 15L Waterproof backpack. I like the back opening on this one as well as the side access, which is great for when you need camera quicker than you thought you would! Oh, and it’s only £38!

Tarion 15L Waterproof Camera Bag

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RGB Light

Do you need it? It depends.

This is something that I have in my bag 90% of the time. When I was living in London and mostly shooting in low light, it was there 100% of the time and I’d have two of them. Landscape photography in the Lake District tends to call for their use a lot less, but I like to have options to light any macro opportunities a little more creatively if the light is a bit flat, or simply if there isn’t enough of it!

There are hundreds of these available on Amazon and they are not all made equal! I have a couple of Smallrig P96L (catchy, I know) RGB lights. They are small and light with decent colour accuracy, and best of all can be picked up for less than £40

Smallrig P96L RGB Light

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Remote Shutter Release

Do You Need It? Yes… If you’re shooting on a tripod.

This is something that I think is essential if you’re shooting on a tripod. The whole point of stabilising your camera is to limit or negate the amount of movement that you are introducing into your camera and lens. If you press the shutter button by hand, no matter how careful you are, you’re going to introduce movement, and if you’re shooting at longer focal lengths then you’re really going to notice it. Yes, there is an argument for using your camera’s self timer function, but there are some situations where you don’t want to rely on something happening in 2 or 10 seconds time. Sometimes you want full control over the moment of capture, and that’s where your remote shutter release comes in.

Be careful when you’re buying this - they’re more often than not brand specific, and in some cases even model specific so be sure to find one that works with your model and brand and camera.

Believe it or not (there’s a theme emerging here), there is a wide range of these on the market, some are really simple and some are more complicated and have extra features like interval timers and bracketing.

I’ve gone for something wireless, which pushes the price up a bit, but it’s always nice to have something without a cable that has the potential to move your camera. And again, don’t forget to check that you’re ordering something which is compatible with your camera!

Aodelan Remote Shutter Release

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In Conclusion…

Landscape photography is often associated with expensive cameras and specialist equipment, but the reality is that many of the tools that make the biggest difference are surprisingly affordable. Simple accessories such as a sturdy tripod, a polarising filter, or a remote shutter release can dramatically improve image quality and open up new creative possibilities.

What matters most is not having the most expensive gear, but having the right accessories that help you work more effectively in the landscape. A tripod allows you to shoot long exposures and keep your images sharp. Filters help control light and enhance colours. Small items such as spare batteries, memory cards, and a headlamp can make the difference between capturing a great shot and missing it entirely.

Many photographers gradually build their kit over time, adding accessories as they discover what they need most. Starting with a few well-chosen, budget-friendly items allows you to improve your photography without making a huge investment.

If you’re just getting started with landscape photography, these affordable accessories are some of the most useful additions you can make to your camera bag. They will help you shoot in more conditions, experiment with different techniques, and ultimately get more enjoyment from being out in the landscape with your camera.

Landscape photography is about patience, light, and being in the right place at the right time. The accessories listed in this guide simply help make that process easier, so you can focus on what really matters: capturing the beauty of the landscape.

If you found this guide helpful and you enjoy learning more about landscape photography, consider joining my mailing list. I occasionally send out emails with photography tips, new blog posts, gear recommendations, and updates from my latest shoots in the Lake District. It’s a simple way to stay connected and make sure you don’t miss future guides designed to help you improve your photography.

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Exposure Bracketing: Why, When and How to Do It and How to Combine and Edit Your Images.

Exposure bracketing. It’s a really useful tool for us as photographers. I think landscape photographers probably use this more than any photographers who shoot in other styles/genres as we are often taking photos of things are moving incredibly slowly or not moving at all. Sometimes the wind comes along and makes it slightly more difficult, but we’ll talk about that later. It’s a technique I use a lot when doing landscape photography in The Lake District so I thought I’d share some tips to help you to nail those exposures.

So what is exposure bracketing? In a nutshell, exposure bracketing is a way of handling the light in a scene which has high dynamic range. High dynamic range you say? Yes. This is a scene where you have very bright areas and very dark areas in the same image - a sunrise is a great example of a typical high dynamic range scebe; the sun is bright and lighting up pats of your scene, but there are also parts of the same scene which are in shadow as the sun hasn’t hit them yet.

So how do you take an image that balances the bright parts (the highlights) with the dark parts (the shadows)? You use an exposure bracket!

Exposure bracketing is is a technique which uses (usually) 3 or more exposures which can be combined in post processing (it’s really easy to do in Lightroom and can be done more creatively in Photoshop) to create one image which has all of the detail preserved in the highlights and the shadows. The best bit about the whole process, from shooting to editing it relatively easy and most cameras have an auto exposure bracketing (AEB) function built into them and will do most of the heavy lifting for you. .

Now that you’ve found your composition and you have identified that you have a scene in front of you that would be best captured using exposure bracketing, how do you do it?

First of all, you probably want to mount your camera to a tripod. Exposure brackets work best when your camera doesn’t move. If you’re shooting at a really fast shutter speed you might get away with it, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. The reason for this is that when you are in your editing suite, you want the software to be able to able to align the different exposures for you, and making sure your camera doesn’t move or only moves a tiny amount will make this process easier and you will have greater success rates.

You now have two options, you can manually adjust the exposures or you can let the camera do it for you.

Let’s talk through the manual options first:

First of all, take an image which is ‘properly’ exposed. Make sure the light meter is indicating in the centre of the meter and take the image. That’s the first done. Nice and easy. The next two stops are just as easy, trust me.

The second stage, is to take an image which exposes for the highlights. This is likely going to mean that the image is going to be underexposed. This is often better down using the LCD on you camera. Adjust your exposure so that you can see all of the details in the brightest part of the image and when you’re happy, take the photo.

The third stage is to repeat the process at stage two, but this time, expose for the shadows - we’re going to take an image that looks over exposed. Adjust your shutter speed so that the exposure allows you to see the details in the shadows/darkest parts of the image and take the photo.

And that’s it - you have complete your first exposure bracket!

Pro-tip: When I have completed the final shot of a bracket, I will often place my hand in front of the lens and take a photo. This serves as a good little placeholder and helps you to see where one bracket ends and the next one starts. This works for panoramic shots too, you just need to shoot one set of three brackets per section of your panorama.

This technique works with more than three photos, but 3 is a good place to start. I wouldn’t recommend doing more than five shots in one exposure though, it starts to make the process more complicated.

We’ll look at the post processing aspect of this later as it’s the same for both processes.

The second technique does just the same thing, but the process is handled by the camera.

In order to do this, you will need to read your camera’s manual as it varies by brand, but I am going to talk the process that I use on a Canon camera.

Once I have selected my frame, I would place the camera on the tripod and when this is done, I can dial in a correct, balanced exposure. Then in the quick menu, I can see the AEB ‘menu’. I select this by tapping the touchscreen. Once this is selected, I can use the shutter speed dial on the front of the camera to select how many stops ‘over exposed’ I want the image to be and then how many stops ‘under exposed’ I want to go as well. As I move the shutter wheel, I can see the needle on the lightmeter splits into three; one stays at my oringally selected exposure, one moves to the left for the highlight exposure and one to the right for the shadow exposure. How many stops over/under you want to bracket is going to be down to personal preference and the dynamic range of the scene in front of you.

Once you have got everything set up as you want it, you can click the shutter and take your first exposure. Once this is complete, you will need to press the shutter again for the two remaining exposures. OR… my little pro tip for this is to set your camera to a two second self timer delay, and the camera will automatically take the three exposures for you without you having to press the shutter three times. This means that you are having to interact with your camera less and when we don’t want the camera to move, this can only be a good thing. (disclaimer; I know that this works on Canon cameras but I can’t vouch for other brands!).

You will probably find that once you have done one set of exposures, you will need to re-meter your image to get the exposure right again, even if you haven’t moved the camera. Light in landscape photgeraphy is constantly changing so no two shots are ever going to be quite the same!

Editing and combining the images:

(There’s a video at the bottom of this explanation which takes you through the process in real time so that you can follow along - I have tried to slow down a bit so that first timers have a chance at keeping up!)

I am going to talk about Lightroom in this blog, this is the easiest way for beginners to start working with HDR images and to stack your exposures, I’ll post another blog about doing this in photoshop later on in the year and will link it here whenever it’s done.

Now that you have your exposures, you need to import them into Lightroom in what ever fashion you normally do this. If you’ve not done this before, you will now realise and appreciate the fact that you have taken a photo of your hand to show the end of each bracket! As you do this more often, you will learn how to see the bracketed shots and will be used to the pattern of exposures and will be able to see where each group is.

You will need to sort through your shots as normal and make your selects and then you can think about combining the exposure brackets that you have taken. My process is to not edit the images in any way before I combine them to make my exposure stack.

The firs thing you will need to do is to select all three of your bracketed images. You can do this by holding the command key (alt on Windows) and selecting each individual image, or you can hold down shift and click the first image and then with shift held down, clicking the final image in your group.

You now need to right click one of the selected images, and click on “photo merge:” and then “HDR”, which stands for High Dynamic Range. You will also see options for HDR Panorama and Panorama (this work in the same way, but for either “standard” panoramic shots, or bracketed panoramas; if you use the method I have described above to take your image, then your HDR panorama will have nine images) which we’re going to leave alone for the rest of this blog, now I have explained what they are.

Once you have clicked on this, a dialogue box will appear. Make sure that you have clicked “Auto align layers”. The software will automatically align the images for you when you have this selected. I leave “auto settings” unchecked, as I don’t want Lightroom to tell me what it thinks I should do with my image. When you’re new to this, you could tick this box and you will have an idea of what a final image will look like if your just allow Lightroom to make basic adjustments.

Underneath this, I set the deghost level to high and turn off the deghist overlay. The final option is “group into stack” and I always leave this checked so that Lightroom groups the original images, plus the merged image, into one “pile” of images. This just helps me to stay organised!

On the left hand side of the dialogue box, you will see a preview of what your finished, combined image will look like.

Once you are happy with the settings, you can click “merge” and the software will take care of the alignment and the blending, which will take a few seconds, and then you will see your blended image appear in the film strip at the bottom of your screen and the dialogue box will have disappeared.

Note: when you have done this, you will see that Lightroom has cleared any selection filters you had set and that all of the images from your upload now appear again so you will need to reapply your filters. It can be a bit of a pain if you have a lot of this to do. It’s just one of light rooms little quirks, that I wish I could either figure out or that Adobe would just fix!

Now that you have this, assuming you left the auto-settings box unticked, you should have an image that is stored as a tiff file and that you can make all of your usual adjustments to. I like to quickly click the “Auto” button in the basic adjustments panel, so I can see what is in the image and this gives me a decent enough exposure to check things like focus and to make no sure that there is no ghosting or any artefacts in the image. Once I have done this, I can quickly reset the image and then spend some time editing it exactly how I want it to look.

Short Tutorial Video Explaining How to Blend Exposure Brackets

This video talks you through how to do a basic exposure blend/merge in Lightroom.

And that’s it! Exposure bracketing is really powerful tool to have in your arsenal, it’s not as complicated as it sounds as process and it can help you produce some great edits. Remember though, when you’re editing these types of shots, they can have a tendency to look really artificial, especially if you over edit them. Adding some Orton glow in photoshop can really help them to lose that artificial edge. I’be doing a tutorial blog on this in the future, so will pop a link here when it’s done.

Let me know when you’ve had a go at this and get in touch if you have any questions.

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

Checking in on My 2026 Photography Goals.

If you have been here a while, you will have seen that I set myself some goals for landscape photography throughout 2026. I am using this blog as a means of checking in on them and will be updating it around once a month and posting 6 months through the year, I’ll do another check-in at the end of the year.

Just as a reminder, here’s the goals I set at the beginning of the year.

• Go out and shoot every month.

• Build the community aspect of website.

• Sell at least one workshop.

• Get my print store up and running and sell enough prints to buy a new set of inks.

• Try something new in photography (probably ICM).

• Shoot at least one new location every month.

• Develop my woodland photography skills.

• Explore macro photography to develop my landscape skills.

• Shoot more personal work in the studio and develop my lighting skills

• Carry on enjoying doing what I love!

So here’s the update for January:

Disappointingly, I haven’t been out to shoot this month. Work has been hectic and there’s been a lot of other stuff going on around my photography that has meant this has been really difficult. This already feels like an excuse, but sometimes life happens and you need to get on and deal with things. I have to remind myself that I have a full time job, which takes up way more time than I even realise sometimes. I am going to allow myself a pass on this one and give myself the chance to make it up with at least two shoots in February. This also means that shooting in one new location each month gets the same treatment. I have shot in zero locations so far and this is really at odds with shooting in new locations! It also means I haven’t tried anything new with photography yet… I am not off to a strong start in respect of the actual taking photos part of being a photographer this year!

Building the community aspect of the website however, is taking a step in the right direction, I have written a blog about what I want to do and this will go live in a couple of weeks. I need to make sure that I am really prepped for this and have some ideas ready to go. There’s a lot going on in the background here, so watch this space. If you want be notified about this then sign up to my mailing list to get the updates and be notified when the blog goes live. It’ll be coming out around 5th April!

I haven’t sold any workshops yet, and to some extent this is one of the aims that I don’t have much control over than carrying on to market them and hope that someone wants to come along and learn about landscape photography in the Lake District. If this is something that you think you would like to do then click here and get some more information. (See, I even managed to do some marketing right there!)

Getting my print store back up and running is coming along nicely, but it’s a lot of work and I am doing this in my spare time. I am hoping to get the print store live in the next couple of months. I have enough blogs saved up for the next six months, so that should give me some time work on other things!

I have done some experiments and some test shoots in the studio and have a couple of other things lined up ready to go, I just need to plan and deliver on these. I have been reading about, watching videos about and experimenting with lighting in the studio and I am starting to have a much better understanding than I did before. I feel like I am making good progress here and I’m really looking forward to updating my portfolio with some of the shots when I am happy with them.

Macro photgraphy is something I have been working on in the studio, so that when I go out into the field I have a good grasp of the lens and the process before I go out and start doing this outside. I’m excited to go out and explore with it.

Finally, developing my woodland photography skills. I have been out and explored a couple of places near to home and have a couple of compositions I would like to shoot, but I just haven’t had the conditions that I wanted.

All in all, apart from actually making any landscape images (!) I think that this is going to be positive year for me in terms of photography. I just need to be a little more organised!

February

Ok. I am bad at this. Really bad. I think I have even surprised myself with this, but I haven’t been out of the house, with the camera since Christmas 2025. For someone who spends a lot of time telling people that they should go out whatever the weather, I have spent a lot of time, looking out of the window, saying to myself that the weather isn’t quite right. For those of you outside of the UK, you might not have heard that it rained it everyday in the UK for the whole of January and for most of February. That's not to say that it rained every day in the Lake District, but we didn’t get much respite. Couple that with work and the days still being quite short, it didn’t fill me with much inspiration. This means that my one new location every month has also fallen by the wayside - I need to pick it back up!

The community stuff is still rumbling along in the background, I have blogs scheduled about this and I need to create some social media. The blog post is coming up in just under month. Click here to join the mailing list and be notified.

My print store should be back online soon, I am just working on some mockups and then I need to spend some time setting it all back up in Squarespace.

The studio work on the other hand has really picked up and I have spent lots of time in here working on new stuff for my portfolio. You can take a look at this new work by clicking here. I have learned a lot doing this, especially about lighting and just how important attention to detail is… especially when it comes to cleaning up a set so that you don’t have to spend ages removing dust in Photoshop!

The workshops haven’t made much progress, but part of that is down to me spending my time shooting in the studio and not really working on the marketing side of this part of what I do. I have made some SEO changes and these are starting to have a bit of an effect. If landscape photograpghy workshops in the Lake District are something you would enjoy or benefit from, click here to check out what we can do together!

Woodland photography - not much progress here other than some scouting, but again, I am going to blame the weather!

See you in a month for another update!

Landscape Photography for Complete Beginners

I suspect that those of you who are reading this, are, probably going to fall into one of three categories: People who have got a new camera and are taking their first steps in landscape photography, people who have some experience in photography and are looking to to move their skills on to their next level and more advanced photographers who are looking to develop their skills in a new genre/style of photography.

This isn’t intended to be a fully comprehensive guide to landscape photgraphy, but more of a boarder overview into some techniques and practices that will hope you to develop a basic set of skills that will get you out in the field and making some images that you bring home to evaluate, edit and share.

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If you’re completely new here or you’re brand new to photography, I’d recommend you go and read my beginner’s guide to the exposure triangle and make sure that you’re familiar with this before you head read further into this blog and before you head out into the field to start using your new toy.

Another one of my blog that would be worth some time of yours, at some point is my blog about must have apps for landscape photographers. These are going to be a great help to your during your shoot planning and will help you to check the weather, calculate exposure times and, perhaps most importantly figure out where to shoot and how to get there.

I am going to say this at the start: STAY SAFE! I’m not responsible if you go out and hurt yourself! The mountains and the scenery will be there tomorrow, make you are too. If you’re going alone, let someone know where you are going and when you expect to be returning. If you’re heading into the fells, take a map, the batteries won’t run out in and it’s always going to have signal. Oh and if it might get dark or start to get dark whilst you are out, take your head torch. Finally, (albeit not exhaustively), make sure you are wearing terrain appropriate footwear and weather appropriate clothing.

There are going to be some assumptions made throughout this blog: I am going to assume that you have your camera and that you have a kit lens to go with it (this is going to have a focal range of around 18-55mm and a variable aperture of around f/3.5-5.6), a tripod to mount it on (and a way to attach your camera to your tripod) and that you’ve got a bag to carry it all around in. If not, then if you have a read of my blog “What gear do you really need as a beginner landscape photographer?”. This should give you some ideas about where to start, and not too epxensively.

So now that we have looked at some basics and managed to minimise any gear talk, what should you be thinking about as a beginner photographer?

RAW vs JPEG

These are the two types of file that your camera is able to write to your card when you press the shutter button. You’ll need to tell the camera what type of file you want. Both have their advantages, but if you want flexibility when you are editing in Lightroom, you want RAW files. If you want faster results and photos that you don’t need to much colour correcting and exposure adjustment on, you want jpegs.

So what’s the difference? RAW files contain a lot of data about the colour and light in the photo that you have taken.

The advantage of them is that when you import them into your editing suite (lightroom/affinity/other), you can get more creative with the image and this gives you more scope to be creative with your edits. These files in their original state will not be suitable for sharing/printing. They will often look dark and flat - pretty unappealing. Once you have spent time editing them, you will have something to be proud of, but be prepared to put the work in to edit them images. These are big files and take up quite a bit space on your card and your hard drive so storing them can get expensive if you’re shooting a lot.

JPEGS on the other are much smaller in terms of file size, and this is because they are compressed files. When you take the image on your camera, it applies a colour profile to the image and makes it look “ready”. It's essentially a little a bit like taking a photo on your phone. Because of the way the file is compressed, it means that they’re not great for editing. If you try and adjust colours in a jpeg, or you try to increase exposure or contrast (for examople), you’ll find that they quite quickly start to look a bit strange and they don’t look natural. There is a limit to what you can do with them before they’re unusable.

Most camera will allow you to shoot just a RAW file, just a JPEG and RAW + JPEG. The last option is great as it gives you the best of both worlds.

Ultimately, if you plan on editing your photos, shoot in RAW. If you don’t want to do that and you want to take photos that are “ready to use” then shoot JPEG. You’ll need to consult your camera’s manual to see how to alter this setting for your individual camera.

Shooting Modes.

Some people will tell you that to be a “proper” photographer, you should be shooting in manual mode. This isn’t the case. Lot’s of pro’s shoot in aperture priority or shutter priority (called aperture mode/value and time mode/value on some brands of camera) and there is nothing wrong with this. When you’re learning, there’s nothing wrong with shooting in auto, but if you want more complete control of the final image you capture, you’ll want to learn to shoot in one of the other modes I have mentioned.

What mode you choose is largely going to come down to what you are shooting, but because landscape photography tends to be much slower, it often makes sense to shoot in full manual mode. Street photographers often prefer to shoot in aperture priority as it makes things a bit quicker for them.

But what’s the difference? In manual mode, your are in full control of all three aspect of the exposure triangle (aperture, ISO and shutter speed). In aperture priority, you choose the aperture and the camera will select your ISO and shutter speed, if you shoot in shutter priority you choose the shutter speed and the camera adjusts the other settings to help you to get the desired exposure.

If you are letting the camera choose some of the settings for you, you might want to investigate your manual and find out how to set the maximum aperture, maximum ISO and maximum shutter speeds you want it to use. ISO in particular, if set to auto could add things to your image that you don’t want like (like ISO noise) which can be hard to deal with and can affect the look of a photo.

I like to shoot in manual mode for the most part. It’s not because I think it makes a better photographer, but because I know that it gives me the most control and forces me to make deliberate decisions about what I am doing with my camera and therefore the resulting image. I don’t shoot exclusively in manual mode, but it is the one that I use more than any other.

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Focus Modes

On the surface this is a bit more straightforward as you’ve only got two modes to shoot in; manual focus and autofocus. If you choose autofocus then it gets a bit more complicated as there will be lots of different autofocus modes on your camera. Talking about all of these is a complicated issue as they vary from brand to brand and camera to camera. You should read the user manual and search YouTube videos to discover more about the specific autofocus modes on your camera.

If I am shooting landscapes then I am using manual focus. I’m usually shooting on a tripod so that I have a steady based to work from and I am choosing where in the image I want to focus myself. You adjust the focus by twisting the focus ring on your lens and look in your viewfinder or on your LCD screen to see when you have got the image sharp. Once you’re happy, you can click the shutter and review what you’ve got.

It’s always worth checking the focus after you have taken the image, and using the zoom buttons on your camera to zoom into the focus areas to check that it is ‘properly sharp’.

This an area where you can get really creative, especially with depth of field (controller by your aperture and the distance between your lens and the subject) and this can create depth and layers in your image. The key is to experiment and discover what you find pleasing.

There are of course, some caveats to focusing and these are largely down to the limitations of your chosen lens. All lenses, no matter how expensive, have limitations and we can’t always get everything that we want to get in focus, in focus; we can’t break the laws of physics! As you get better and your confidence builds, you may want to explore focus stacking, but this is a much more advanced technique that we can explore at a later date.

Composition

This is a never ending topic, but composition is important. Like really important. Alongside lighting, it is one of the trump cards in photography.

There are rules in composition, but remember that rules can be broken. The common ones you will hear about are the rules of thirds, leading lines and framing.

The rule of thirds: The frame is divided into a 3×3 grid. Placing key subjects (a tree, a person, a horizon) along these lines—or at their intersections—creates a more dynamic composition than centring everything.Put the horizon on the top or bottom third, not the middle. Place the main subject on a left or right third line.

Leading Lines: Leading lines are natural or man-made lines that guide the viewer’s eye into the image—from roads and rivers to fences, shadows or architectural lines. Lines draw attention and create depth, helping the viewer understand where to look first.

Position yourself so a path or shoreline leads toward your subject or use curves to add elegance and movement to the composition.

Framing

"Framing" means using elements in the scene—like archways, branches, windows or rocks—to surround or partially enclose the subject. It adds depth, focuses attention and creates context within the wider environment. Shoot through a doorway or gap in trees or use overhanging branches or rocks to frame a landscape.

Examples showing different compositional techniques or ‘rules’

Planning

Fail to prepare = prepare to fail. Know where you want to be, when you want to be there, how you’re going to get there, and equally as importantly, how you’re going to get back. Have a look at some locations you want to visit and check them out online and see what books you can find to help you to get the most from them. There are some great photography guide books out there, such as this one which talks about photography in Scotland - there’s a whole bunch of them in this series, but don’t be too influenced by what you read and what you see online. You’ll just end up taking the same photo as everyone else.

You also need to think about the weather - what clothing do you need and what impact the weather is going to have on where you can go.

When I was photographing London, this wasn't as much of an issue as it’s the weather doesn’t make it any more dangerous, but in the Lake District (or anywhere else where you can end up isolated or at the top of a mountain) it can make the landscape deadly. As always, the moutains will be there tomorrow, make sure you are too!

Kit… what are you are taking with you? If you are a beginner, then you’re probably going to be taking your camera and your kit lens, hopefully in some kind of camera bag and you will have tripod. You don’t need to spend a fortune on a tripod, but the more you spend, generally, the better and lighter they become. That’s all you need to get started!

I think my biggest advice for your first shoot would be to go somewhere that you know and somewhere that you love. It’s even better if you have multiple different shots that you aim to grab whilst you’re out and about. Unfortunately these places are likely to be busy which means that if you don’t want people in your images (and sometimes you won’t), it’s going to make this harder. It also means that are likely to be other photographers and if it’s your first time out doing landscape photography, that can be a bit daunting. Don’t let it put you off. For the most part, we’re a friendly bunch and we love to chat about photography and some of us love to help!

Don’t Worry What Other People Think

You are probably going to feel really self conscious the first time you go out. You might be carrying a tripod, you might be using your camera on your tripod, and that makes you stand out. No one cares. People might be interested, which is great.. talk to them and be kind! People are used to seeing landscape photographers in places that are nice to look at. They’re used to seeing street photographers in towns and cities. We’re everywhere!

I remember the first time I went out to shoot when I lived in London. I felt like everyone was looking at me, especially when I was set up on a tripod. Truth is that there were far weirder things than a bloke taking photos in the city… life just passes by in London and everyone seems to have somewhere that they want to be and they wanted to be there yesterday.

Now I know that it’s very different up in the hills, there are fewer people and the people that are there are spread out but generally walking on the same paths, looking at the same locations. People will notice you but as long as you’re not being selfish or behaving like a k**b then no one minds that you’re there and no one cares that you are. Do you thing and move on when you’ve got what you need and have taken some time to enjoy the view.

You won’t always have the place to yourself. I remember going to Elterwater very early on a winter’s morning, like really early and being amazed that were at least 10 other photographers at the location with me. It’s just one of those things… beautiful places attract landscape photographers. That’s a fact that you need to deal with.

Talk to People.

For the most part, landscape photographers are a friendly bunch who like to talk and who like to help. There is a real community in photography and you should embrace it. Talking to people is one of the best ways to learn - listen to what people have to say, take not and then do your research to see how it will work for you (or if it will work at all) and then try to use it.

I have made some wonderful friends whilst out doing photography. I am part of a WhatsApp group of photographers that I know and have met from my time in London (it’s not some weird social media engagement group), but it’s a great place to learn, share images and get feedback on them, ask questions and to get support and advice.

Community in photgraphy is really important. Be a part of it. I’m going to explore the idea of community in photography in another blog post later in the year (it’s saved in the drafts at the moment whilst I figure it out), look out for it… if you want to get notified about it then sign up to my newsletter via the contact page.

Social Media

You probably want to share your images with people, and when you start out, social media is a great way to share them. Don’t expect to amass a huge following overnight. The way that social media works these days means that this is much, much harder than it used to be. Some people get lucky and have such good content that they can still do this, but those instances are much fewer and farther between.

Do it for the love of what you do and to put you images out there.

If you’re serious about it, have a strategy stick to it and adapt it. There’s a ton of stuff on social media that will help you with this, but choose wisely and don’t spend money on social media advice!

Use your social media platforms to network with other photographers. Don’t worry about the likes, don’t worry about the engagement (at least not when you’re starting out), just do it because you can and because you enjoy doing it, and don’t ever feel like you are under pressure to post.

This isn’t Everything…

I could go on for hours about all of the stuff I think you should know and you’d spend more time reading this that you do shooting, and that would be counterproductive. Different photographers are going to give you different advice, and that’s good, just choose the advice you take carefully.

Get out There and Enjoy It!

No matter where you are and where you live, the best thing you can do to get better at photography is to get out there and practice. Take the images. Make the mistakes, learn why the mistake happened, learn to correct it and have another go. You’re not going to get better sat on your behind not taking photos.

Thanks for reading - I hope you have found it useful. If you want more stuff like this as well all of the updates, please head to the contact page and sign up to my newsletter and get updates direct to your inbox!

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

Landscape Photography Workshops in The Lake District

There is something different about learning landscape photography in the place that inspires it the most. For me, that’s the Lake District and I’m lucky enough to live in amongst the stunning surroundings that it offers.

But the Lake District isn’t just a beautiful backdrop and a gorgeous place to live, but it’s living, shifting environment. Light moves quickly and it is often fleeting - it’s gone just as soon as it has arrived. The cloud and contrast change by the minute and knowing how to respond is what separates a snapshot from a portfolio image.

That’s exactly what a well-run landscape photography workshop will help you to develop.

Why Choose a Landscape Photography Workshop?

You can learn settings from YouTube and you can read about composition in a book, but actually being in the landscape with someone guiding you and talking about the decisions available to you in real time… that’s something very different.

A workshop allows you to:

• Understand light direction and timing in real conditions

• Refine composition beyond the obvious viewpoint

• Learn how to work with weather rather than fight it

• Improve confidence using filters, tripods, and exposure techniques

• Develop a more consistent editing workflow

Most importantly, you learn how to see — not just how to shoot.

This variety makes it an exceptional classroom. You can practise:

• Long exposure techniques on moving water

• Foreground interest and depth

• Working in high-contrast mountain light

• Minimalist compositions in mist

• Seasonal colour control in autumn and winter

Every session is different because the landscape is never the same twice.

Click for Landscape Photography Workshops

What You Should Expect From a Professional Workshop

A good landscape photography workshop is not a “follow me and copy this shot” experience.

It should include:

Location Planning

Understanding why a location works at a particular time of day. Learning how to plan using light direction, season, and weather forecasts.

In-Field Technical Coaching

• Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO in context

• Histogram use

• Exposure bracketing

• Focus stacking

• Filter selection (ND and polariser)

Composition Development

Going beyond central framing and obvious angles. You’ll explore layering, leading lines, negative space, and visual balance.

Post-Processing Guidance

Capturing strong files is only part of the process. Editing is where you refine mood, contrast, and colour.

Whether you use Lightroom, Photoshop, or both, understanding why you edit — not just which sliders to move — is crucial.

Who Are Landscape Photography Workshops For?

They’re often assumed to be for beginners, but that’s not really the case.

Workshops can benefit:

• Complete beginners who want structure and clarity

• Enthusiasts stuck in a creative plateau

• Photographers transitioning to manual mode

• Professionals looking to refine their landscape portfolio

• Travellers wanting meaningful photography experiences

The key isn’t your level — it’s your willingness to learn and experiment.

Small Group vs One-to-One Workshops

Both formats have strengths.

Small Group Workshops

• Shared learning

• Broader discussion

• Social experience

• Cost-effective

One-to-One Workshops

• Tailored tuition

• Flexible locations

• Personalised feedback

• Faster technical progression

Choosing the right format depends on how you learn best.

What You’ll Really Take Away

Beyond sharper images and better compositions, most photographers leave with:

• Greater confidence in difficult lighting

• A clearer creative direction

• Improved understanding of workflow

• The ability to plan shoots independently

You move from reacting to conditions to anticipating them.

And that changes everything.

Why I Run Landscape Photography Workshops

I moved to Cumbria because landscape photography became more than just a hobby. It became how I see the world.

Spending hours exploring fells before sunrise or waiting for light to break through cloud teaches patience, observation, and decision-making.

Workshops allow me to share not just camera settings, but process:

• How I plan shoots

• How I adapt when conditions change

• How I build a consistent editing style

• How I approach landscape photography commercially

If you’re serious about improving your photography in the Lake District, a structured workshop accelerates your growth far more effectively than trial and error alone.

Final Thoughts

Landscape photography isn’t about chasing iconic viewpoints.

It’s about understanding light, timing, and intention.

A workshop won’t just give you better images from a single day — it will give you the skills to create stronger photographs long after the session ends.

If you’d like to explore the Lake District with guidance, structure, and practical field experience then get in touch. You can learn more about my Lake District Landscape Photography workshops here.

Thanks for reading - this has been a quick one today, but I hope you have found it useful. If you want more stuff like this as well all of the updates then sign up to my newsletter by clicking here.

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

Focus Stacking: How to Get Sharp Images in Landscape Photography

Sharpness. It’s a hot topic in photography and it’s never going to of away. We all pixel peep whether we admit to it or not, and not just for our own photos.

However, there are limitations to our equipment, even the very best, most expensive lenses can only achieve so much sharpness - you can’t beat physics, you just have to adapt to it. You can come close. Coming close is expensive, and expensive will only get you most of the way. Sometimes we just have to work with what we’ve got and that usually involves using our computer and some editing software.

For this one, we’re going to be using Photoshop, as it’s the easiest and quickest way for us to get the results we want.

What is Focus Stacking?

A good starting point for this would be to look at my blog on exposure blending if you’re not sure about it and then come back and finish this off. If you’re already au-fait with exposure blending/stacking then read on!

Focus stacking helps us to ‘remove’ some of the limitations of our lenses. Even at their sharpest f/stop, there are parts of the image (often the corners), that aren’t as sharp as we would like them to be. With focus stacking, we can take several different exposures of the same subject, with different focus points, usually working from the front of the image to the back and then we can blend them together in Photoshop which creates one image which is sharp across its whole area.

How Do You Focus Stack?

The first thing you need to do is to take your images. I am going to use an example which I have taken in the studio, for the simple reason that this is the place that I have the most control over as much of the process as possible. I’m going to be shooting tethered using capture one, but the process you will go through will be exactly the same, be it in the studio or out in the field. The major difference is that when you/I are working out in the field, instead of being in the warmth of the studio and working on a nice big monitor, we’re often out in poor conditions and working on the ‘tiny’ screen on the back of the camera.

Essentially, what we’re going to do is take at least 3 different exposures. In the first image, we are going to make sure that our foreground, or the front of our object is in focus, in the second image, we are going to focus on the mid ground and then finally, we are going to focus on the back of the image; this will either be the back of your object in the studio, or on infinity if you are out in the field. I have tried to visualise this for you in the image below.

This image shows where your (minimum) 3 focus points will be when you are shooting images for an exposure stack.

How many shots you need is going to be influenced by what you are shooting and what you are shooting on, what f/stop you’re at and if there is any movement in your scene. Three exposures is a good rule of thumb for this type of photography, if you take too many images, this can start to complicate things in post processing and your image can end up looking strange, have weird artefacts in it when your exposures are blended or simply, it just won’t work!

The other thing to remember is that you need to keep your settings locked in. If you start to change the settings on your camera between each exposure, this can cause issues and slow down the process.

Finally, you need to (99.9%) of the time, do this on a tripod. You want your exposures to line up exactly between shots, if they don’t, guess what… more complications!

So you’re set up, you’ve got your shot framed and you’re ready to start shooting. The next phase of this is going to be dependent on the camera you have. A lot of newer Canon camera’s have a focus stacking setting built into them. You will need to consult your camera’s manual for instructions on how to do this, but you can tell it how many images you want in the stack and how much you want the focus to shift between each image. The other way of doing it, and the way I am going to describe in this blog (because my camera doesn’t have the focus stack function!) is manually, using either manual or autofocus.

This is fairly straightforward.

1) Frame up your shot and select your settings.

2) Focus on the foreground by either twisting your focus ring, or tapping the screen to select a focus area and half pressing the shutter button. Check the focus is sharp and capture your image.

3) Repeat step 2 for the midground.

4) Repeat step 2 for infinity/background.

I always find it useful to grab an exposure which has my hand in front of the lens after I have completed each ‘stack’.

You can take as many stacks as you like whilst you’re out and about, but keeping them organised whilst you are working and before you get into post will make your life a lot easier in the edit.

How to Create a Focus Stack in Lightroom and Photoshop.

I have shared a video below which explains this process in full, but the first thing you are going to want to do is import your images into Lightroom.

Once they are in Lightroom, edit your first image and get it looking the way you want it. Once you have done this, you want to copy the settings from you first image to the other two in you stack, so that they all have the same adjustments applied to them. I usually just make some global adjustments at this stage and do anything local on the image I get out of Photoshop. You can see this process in the video below. You can make your adjustments in Camera Raw in Photoshop, but I find the process of copy and pasting the adjustments in Lightroom much easier.

Once you’ve done this, you need to select your three images and then right click and ‘open as layers in Photoshop’. When you’ve done this, you can move on to the next stage.

Now your images are in Photoshop, the process is pretty straightforward; you’re going to shift click to select all three images, the in the edit menu, we’re going to select “auto align layers”. This will make sure that our images are neatly stacked on top of each other. Leave the ‘Auto’ option checked and click OK.

Once this has completed, make sure that the three layers are still selected, go back into the ‘edit’ menu and select “auto blend layers”. Make sure that “stack” is selected and then I always keep “seamless tones and colours” and “Content aware fill transparent areas” are checked. The latter will fill any transparent areas (usually around the edges) that have been created when your images were aligned.

Now that Photoshop has done it’s thing you will see that it has created masks on each of your layers, and if it’s worked well, you should see that the masks are broadly letting the focussed areas of each shot show through. If you need to fine tune these masks, you can do this using either a white or black brush and painting on the respective mask.

The final step is to check that you are happy with what you have, that it’s sharp where you want it to be, and that’s the process done!

All you need to do now is hit save, and if everything is working well, you should see it appear back in Lightroom as a .tiff file that you can now make some local edits on and get it looking exactly how you want it!

I have made a video of this whole process below, so you can see each step and hear some commentary that I hope you’re able to follow along with!

Step By Step Focus Stacking Video Tutorial

Check out my YouTube video on focus stacking - please head over to the channel and subscribe!

Original Images:

I set this up on the studio against a yellow backdrop and one light source (just a video light for this for the sake of speed), this is just three props I found amongst some old props in the studio - a lego mini-figure, a pocket watch and a Funko figure. I set these up in a line extending away from the camera. These images were shot at f/4, just to force the depth of field to clearly illustrate what I am trying to demonstrate. You should be able to see the three focus points by looking at which part of the image in focus, you should be able to see each subject in sharp focus as the focus point moves towards the back of the image.

Whilst I have done this in the studio to illustrate it, the process in the field is exactly the same. The only thing you might find is that when you’re not in a controlled environment, you’re much more likely to have changes in light and the position of your camera to deal with.

After following the process outlined above, all three images are combined to produce the final, stacked and fully focussed image you see below:

I hope that you have found this useful, I am trying to put some more of this type of content together and will eventually get them uploaded to my Chris Kendrick Photography YouTube Channel so you can digest them at your leisure.

If you have found this useful, I’d be grateful if you would like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

Check out some more of my latest blog posts below…

5 Landscape Photography Techniques You Should Know to Improve Your Images.

Just a quick one this week. I wanted to share five techniques that I use on most shoots which help me to be a better photographer. Some of these are things that I have spoken about before, but I wanted to put all these in one place to create a more cohesive resource with everything in one place. If I have spoken about something before then I will include a link to the more in-depth blog about that topic so that if you want to dive a bit deeper then you can do that at your leisure!

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links, if you make a qualifying purchase after you have clicked one of these links then I may receive a small kickback; these really help me to keep running this blog and I really appreciate every click!

Focus Stacking

Focus stacking is a valuable technique in landscape photography for achieving front-to-back sharpness when a single exposure can’t hold everything in focus. By taking several images at different focus distances—usually starting from the foreground and working towards the horizon—and blending them in post-production, you create a final image where every element appears crisp and detailed.

This approach is especially useful when working with wide-angle lenses at close range, where even small foreground subjects can fall outside the depth of field. Focus stacking ensures the entire scene remains sharp without resorting to diffraction-inducing apertures. Although it takes a little more time in the field and requires software to merge the frames, the resulting clarity makes it a powerful technique for producing high-resolution, publication-ready landscape images with exceptional depth.

Exposure Stacking

Exposure stacking is a versatile technique in landscape photography used to manage extreme dynamic range by blending multiple exposures of the same scene. Instead of relying on a single frame to capture both bright highlights and deep shadows, exposure stacking involves taking several images at different exposure levels and merging them in post-processing to retain detail across the entire tonal range.

This creates a final image that looks natural while preserving information in both the sky and the foreground, avoiding blown highlights or noisy shadows. It’s especially effective at sunrise or sunset when contrast is highest. Although it requires a tripod and careful alignment, exposure stacking offers far greater flexibility than a single exposure and produces cleaner, more balanced landscape images with rich detail throughout.

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Shutter Release Delay

Probably the easiest one on the whole list, but also one of the most important if you want to make sure that your images are sharp and free from any camera movement. It’s really as simple as setting the self timer on your camera before you release the shutter. This is something you would normally do if your camera is on a tripod.

But why is this so important? What we want to do by doing this is to reduce the amount of movement we introduce into the camera. No matter how steady handed or ‘gentle’ you are with your shutter press, the camera is always going to offer up some resistance meaning you’ll need to use some pressure to press the shutter. This is going to cause your camera to move and result in an image that has motion in it, and often in landscape photography, this is something that we are really keen to avoid.

Why does it work? Having the two second timer gives the camera time to settle once you’ve pressed the button, so by the time the shutter releases, the camera is still and you aren’t getting the motion blur in you final image. This is especially important at longer focal lengths as any movement you may is going to be amplified at the business end of the lens, but it’s a good habit to get into at any focal length to ensure that you’re giving yourself the best chance of getting that super sharp image.

You could use the ten second timer function as well, but I have tried this and haven’t noticed that it makes any huge difference not the quality of the image that I’m getting.

You could go one stage further and use a trigger or a shutter release cable alongside your two second timer and this will help to guarantee that you’re giving yourself the best chance at keeping the camera still. These aren’t super expensive pieces of kit and they are always useful to have in your bag. They are usually camera specific so do your research before you buy one, but I like this Aodelan Intervalometer which you can pick up on Amazon, and I have written a review of it which you can read here.

Expose to The Right (ETTR)

One of the most effective ways to improve image quality in landscape photography is to use ETTR—Expose to the Right. This technique involves setting your exposure so the histogram sits as far to the right as possible without clipping important highlights. Because digital sensors record the most tonal information in the brighter areas of an image, capturing more light gives you cleaner data, smoother tonal transitions and more accurate colours.

The result is a file with far less noise in the shadows, which means you can darken the image during editing while retaining detail and texture throughout the scene. ETTR is particularly helpful when working with high-contrast landscapes, dramatic skies or deep foreground shadows, where maximising dynamic range becomes essential. Although it requires care to avoid blown highlights, especially with reflective surfaces or intense sunlight, ETTR offers landscape photographers a simple but powerful way to achieve sharper, cleaner and more flexible RAW files for post-processing.

Using ND Filters to Increase Exposure Times

ND filters are a great bit of kit to have in your bag. They can give you a lot of flexibility, especially with your exposure times and can help you to get really creative to create a sense of movement and drama in your landscape photographs.

ND filters are easiest described as being like a pair of sunglasses for your lens, they reduce the amount of light that is coming into camera which makes your exposure darker. This means that you will need to use a longer exposure time to get your image properly exposed and can get some movement in the sky, smooth out water in your scene or capture the movement in the waves if you’re shooting at the coast.

You can get fixed ND filters and variable ones. I prefer the variable ones as I can get more variance in one piece of kit and this means that there is less for me to carry. At the moment, I am using the ones from K&F concept as they do a good job and they’re at sensible price point. You will need to by the right size for you lens (another reason why the variable ones are great!), and it always handy to have a filter pouch to keep them in. The pouch I have linked here is a hardshell one which holds ten filters. It’s quite bulky but it keeps them safe when I’m out in the field.

Thanks for reading - this has been a quick one today, but I hope you have found it useful. If you want more stuff like this as well all of the updates, please head to the contact page and sign up to my newsletter.

If you’d like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

5 Beginner Lake District Landscape Photography Locations You Can Reach Without a Long Hike

Welcome back! I am going to keep this one as short as possible, but at the same time try to give you enough information in a short space of time so that you can get out and shoot.

What follows is a list of 5 places you can take incredible landscape photos in The Lake District, without having a massive hike to get there. These will be great if you’re short on time, or if you’re short on energy but still want to get out. Nothing in here has more than a 20 minute to reach a great spot and get some great photos in the bag.

Gummer’s How

This one is the one with longest and most demanding walk, which is saying something as this one is an easy trek, which should take no longer than 20 minutes from the car, has a bit of climbing but is rewarded with incredible views across Windermere and many of the Lake District fells.

There’s a free car park just off Fell Foot Brow, which is run by Forestry England. You can find it at ///rated.soup.looms on What Three Words.

From here, cross the road and follow the signs which will lead you along a short trail with a slight incline, and then you’ll be met by a short, but much steeper climb up to the top of the hill.

Walk towards Windermere (you will be able to see it) and you will be rewarded with some breath taking views. This is a great place for sunset and you’ll get some incredible shots if the weather is in your favour. I prefer a long lens here as it lets you pick some of the detail in the scene.

Don’t forget your head torch for the way back if you’re planning on staying late.

If you’re planning for sunset, then check out my sunrise and sunset photography in the Lake District blog.

Queen Adelaide’s Hill

This is another one which is a short walk from the car and rewards you with great views across Windermere, without the walk up Gummer’s How. There’s even a bench at the top if you’re feeling a little out of breath. This is another good one for sunset. You can park at at Rayrigg Meadow Car Park (What Three Words: ///magpie.permanent.agent).

The path to Queen Adelaides Hill is largely paved, but there is a small section which is through a bit of woodland that can be uneven underfoot and isn’t paved so make sure you have the right footwear on.

Arrive in plenty time if you’re going for sunset, as this car park allows motorhomes overnight and it fills up quickly. It’s also not cheap and is run by the council so there’s no discount/free parking with your National Trust Card.

Head towards ///waiters.risky.loudness and you will be in position for some great views.

Surprise View

We’re heading out of the Southern Lake District and up to Borrowdale for this one. You’ll find Surpise View at What3Words ///copying.shadowed.bounding , with parking really close by. I would estimate the walk from the car to the viewpoint to be around 30 seconds… This is the shortest ‘walk’ on the list! You have incredible views of Derwent Water and down into Keswick from up here, and it’s great for sunset shoots, and also looks great at Blue Hour.

Whilst you are here, you can also bag a Lake District classic and bag yourself a shot of the packhorse bridge at Ashnesss, What3Words ///pills.index.remarried. This is a great place to go and do some long exposure work! Check out my long exposure blog by clicking here.

Wastwater

Moving out into the Western Lake District now, and we’re headed to Wast Water. I am not going to include a what3words location for this one, because there are so many great places to shoot from here. You’ll end up on the north eastern shore of the lake (the opposite shore is inaccessible unless you fancy a swim across England’s deepest lake) when you arrived and there is lots of parking at the side of the road (stay out of the passing places and park respectfully, please!). Once you’re parked, you can walk along the side of the lake and scope out some of the compositions that are spread out in front of you. Explore and have fun. This is another one that is great at sunset.

Blea Tarn

This one takes a little more central and comes with a weather warning. If the weather is poor, don’t go - check before your travel. In the winter, the roads leading up here become treacherous and are impassable in bad weather. You have been warned!

That said, in the summer, whilst you need to be careful on the roads, many of which are single track, your patience (and careful driving) will be rewarded with an easy walk up shot at Blea Tarn.

You can park at the National Trust Car Park (free for members!) which you will find at What3Words ///destroyer.marked.groomed . Leave the car park via the entrance you got in through, cross the road and follow the path. From here, the tarn is on your right and you can walk down to it. Make sure you watch where you put your feet and take good shoes - it can be very boggy. There are great shots across towards the Langdale Pikes and you will see some interesting wildlife here if that’s your bag as well.

This one is a good sunrise spot, get here early to secure the best spots.

Bonus Hidden Gem

This one is often overlooked and is little known. It is called Kelly Hall Tarn, which is in a village called Torver on the way into Consiston. There is parking at What3Words ///backdrop.shelters.quitter. Once parked, take a walk towards the back of the car park and follow the path which will lead you to the Tarn. It’s about a five minute walk, which can be boggy after rain and also boggy when it hasn’t rained for days. Be prepared. This is a great sunset spot, and is super dark at night for you astro fans!

And that concludes the blog! If you try any of these locations, let me know how you get on. I’m always interested to hear where people head first, and what conditions they find when they get there. Keep an eye on the blog for more beginner-friendly Lake District photography guides.

These guides are all written from time spent out in the Lakes with a camera in hand. If you’ve found it useful, buying me a coffee is a great way to support the site. You can also join my newsletter for future guides, photography tips, and new content as it’s published.

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What’s in my Camera Bag 2026

This one always feels like a bit of cop out, everyone does “what’s in my bag” blogs/vlogs etc, but this time, I think my bag has changed enough to warrant one, but yes, I am still shooting with the 80D, that much hasn’t changed. So without further ado, let’s take a look at what’s in my bag this year and why each item has earned its place!

What’s out?

I don’t take my 18-55mm kit lens out with me anymore. I am keeping it, because when I come to sell the 80D, it’ll add a little extra resale value to the camera. I’ve also ditched the GoPro Hero 7 and the 50mm is spending less and less time in the bag these days, as I just don’t seem to have a use case for it at the moment. I won’t get rid of it, because I love it and if I were to not have it, I would be looking for excuses to buy another one.

My 85mm only comes out when I know I am going to be taking portraits or if I am going to indulge in a bit of 85mm street photography; I will NEVER get rid of this lens, it is so incredibly sharp and the bokeh is incredible. It’s one of those lenses that for me, is just irreplaceable!

The bag itself changes frequently. I am forever flip-flopping between the LowePro Fastback 250 AWIII (read my review here), and my LowePro Pro Tactic 450AW. It’s not that I can’t make my mind up, but that they are just both best suited to different things… the 450AW is better if I want to take more camera gear and really load up. If I am taking less gear and travelling a little lighter and perhaps with some sustenance for the day then I am taking to FastPack. Oddly, the 450 is more suited to walking as it’s got great hip straps which help to move the weight around but I tend to take it when I need more kit on a shorter walk or if I am travelling to specific outdoor location. If I am on a set then the 450 is the bag that is coming with me.

I’ve also ditched the Canon camera strap that came supplied with it in favour of a different solution. Read on to see what’s taken its place!

What’s In?

Lets start with the lenses… I’m carrying the Canon EF 70-200 f/4L, the Canon 16-35mm f/4L, the Canon 24-105 f/4L (Yes, I know I have these focal lengths covered in the first two lenses) and the Sigma 105 DG EX Macro f/2.8, I’ve also usually got my Pocket Dispo lens in there as well, for when I want to grab something that feels a little more nostalgic and where corner to corner sharpness doesn’t matter.

Canon 16-35mm f/4L

This is my favourite lens of the 4 focal lengths I regularly have in the bag. It’s small enough to carry, and being the f/4 version, it is much lighter (and cheaper!) than the faster, f/2.8 version. It’s got great sharpness across the focal range and it’s great for video as well. I’ve done a review of this lens, it’s only a recent addition to my bag; you can read it here.

Canon 24-105 f/4L

So I know there is a bit of cross-over here between the 16-35 and this, but that longer focal length gives me some extra flexibility. It’s sharp and the autofocus is great!

Canon EF 70-200 f/4L

This is a close second to the 16-35 and I often go out with just this lens as it forces me to look for different compositions, and paired with my teleconverter and crop sensor, it gives just about enough reach to dabble in a little bit of wildlife photography if the mood and/or circumstances present themselves.

Sigma 105 DG EX Macro f/2.8

This is a recent addition to my bag. A 1:1 magnification macro lens is something I have been looking at for a while and this one came along at the right time. It’s a prime lens and produces some really sharp images. I carry this as it allows me to take better detail shots when I am out in the field and I’m enjoying the challenge of finding smaller, more interesting things to shoot. I’ve done a review of the Sigma 105 DG EX Macro f/2.8 recently, take a look!

Canon EF 2X Teleconverter

I am still carrying this as I am still a little bit unsure about it. What it does, it does really well.

It magnifies everything in your image, including any noise, which is a bit of a bind as it reduces your lens to an f/8 so ISO often has to be high. That being said, I still don’t feel like I have got enough time with it to really understand how it works with my camera and how to get the very best out of it. It’s staying for now, bur I have no doubt that when the time (and money) comes, it will be replaced by a dedicated telephoto zoom with a really long focal length.

Pocket Dispo

Something for a bit of fun. This isn’t hugely sharp, it shoots at one focal length, it used to live in a disposable camera and I love it. It’s a really fun piece of kit, weighs next to nothing and the images it takes are full of nostalgia. I’ve done a review of this lens previously on this blog, and you can read it here.

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Video

For video I usually have two action cameras with me, the DJI Action 2 and the DJI OSMO Action 4. Both of these do similar things, but the OSMO Action 4 does them much better and in a way that I find easier. Having the two bits of kit means that I can mount one of them on top of the camera and the other one can be set up for to grab those cheeky time lapses.

Strap

I am a recent convert to the Peak Design Slide Lite and Peak Design Cuff. Both of these are easy to get on and off of the camera with the clip system, it feels good, looks great and holds the camera really securely.

Tech Pouch

The LowePro Gearup Creator Pouch is the pouch of choice for storing a fair bit of the stuff that ends up rattling in the bag getting lost. It fits neatly inside both of my bags, hold both of action cameras, all of the cables that I am ever likely to need whilst I am out an about. It’s also handy for storing notebooks, a pen and a pencil, the obligatory £20 note and both of the battery packs that I carry with me when I am out and about. Oh and my lens cloths!

MacBook Pro M4 16” 2025

Ok. so this isn’t always in the bag, I’m unlikely to drag up a fell or into a cold wet wood, but this thing is a beast.

If I am going away and need some serious editing power, then this thing really cuts it. It’s quick, it’s sturdy, it’s easy to use, it multitasks without skipping a beat and the render times for video are better than good. The downside is that because it’s quite big, it’s also quite heavy but given that I’m not often carrying it far, usually from the car to where I am staying, this really isn’t a huge concern for me. Oh and I did I mention the screen? The screen is out of this world; it’s bright enough that you can use it in bright light, the colours are great and it really is a joy to edit on - the 16” screen gives plenty of real estate to really give you a good idea of how your edits look.

Canon 80D

This has been my daily driver for a number of years and I love it. I know that the tech in it is pretty outdated now, but it works and it’s the best camera that I have. I know it really well and I don’t feel like there is anything I can’t do with it. I will need to upgrade it at some point as whilst I know it so well, I feel like I am really at the limits of what I can do with it. It has enough resolution for what I do in the studio in terms of cropping, the APSC sensor bags me a bit of extra reach and it’s built really well so it’s suited to the work I do and the manhandling it gets.

Headtorch

Not all photographers are going to need one of these, but landscape photography calls for one (and a good one at that) to be in your bag. If you’re out in low light at the start or end of the day, you need to see where you are putting your feet! This is the one I like, it’s super bright, rechargeable and lightweight.

Editing Software

I am still pretty reliant on Adobe and I know that there is a lot of movement away from it at the moment, with people starting to favour other options because of the pricing model that they use, but I know it, it works and Photoshop is still an industry standard. Lightroom is where most of my landscape edits happen with any little retouches happening in Photoshop, but I do find myself using Photoshop less often as the editing tools in Lightroom are getting so good that it’s just not needed. .

In the studio I am using Capture One, another industry standard. The tethering is better and more stable than it is in Lightroom and the software as a whole interprets raw files much more accurately/effectively.

Audio editing is done in either Audition or in Logic Pro, depending on what I am doing. I am learning DaVinci, but still don’t know it well enough to leave Premier behind.

ND Filters/Polarisers

These are a vital piece of kit for landscape photographers and I have them for all of my lenses, with the exception of the macro lens as I haven’t yet come across a situation where I want less light in it! I like the Nano X filters from K&F concept which are a little pricier, but they are great at what they do and they cause minimal colour cast, which is easily corrected in post. I keep them in this pouch, which is a hardshell but worth the its size because it’s keeping my filters safe!

SD Cards

Not much to say about these, they’re an essential part of what we do. I use high speed 128gb Sandisk ExtremePro cards in my camera and I use Lexar V30 micro SD cards in my video kit as they can handle the write speeds needed to write 4K video.

Video Gear

This is nothing fancy I’m afraid. If you’re wanting me to have a ton of cinema stuff, you’re going to be disappointed. What I do have is a DJI OSMO Action 4 and a DJI Action 2. Both of these are actions cams. They’re small and rugged enough to handle a bit of a beating being dumped on the ground in my bag or left on a tripod somewhere to shoot timelapses whilst I run around with the camera. I’ve got a review of the Osmo Action 4 here - take a look!

The Bag

I flit between 2 bags; the Lowepro Pro Tactic 450AW and the Lowepro Fastpack 250 AW III. Both are great bags with plenty of space, but what I am taking my kit in depends on what I am taking and where I am going. If I going to do a full location shoot or if I am taking a lot of kit a long way, I’m taking the protactic as the hip straps really help with the weight. If I am travelling lighter then I’m taking the flat pack. It’s not as comfortable but it has two separate compartments which helps to keep everything apart and the second compartment is a great space for some food!

Drone

I don’t use my drone much and the one I have is old, getting on for 5 or 6 years. I have DJI Mavic Air 2. It gets the job done, but not always very well. The small sensor isn’t great in low light and the photos it takes aren’t great. I do like some of the video that comes out of it is decent quality and makes for some good b-roll. This stays out of the bag more than it stays in. I can’t lie you to on this one, they’re hard to find, as are the spares.

So that’s me for this year. I am sure there will be some additions as I move through year, but I think that the majority of it, the core if you will, is going to remain the same. I’ll update you if anything changes.

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