Lake District Landscape Photography Workshop - DAY 4 - Ullswater

On Day 4 of my April 5-day Residential Landscape Photography Workshop we traveled to Ullswater for sunrise at the incredibly famous Duke of Portland Boathouse

This boathouse area has a history going back to the 18th Century, but this particular incarnation dates from around 1919 and was built for boat storage by the 6th Earl. Today, you can rent it for a stay with amazing views (especially sunrises), but you need VERY deep pockets to do so!

This iconic Boathouse is on everyone’s Lakes’ “Bucket List” of must-do locations, and its always worth including in any multi-day Workshop as it presents a range of challenges; not least, accessibility for different angles

Much of the time, with a high water level, you have to either shoot from the road or have BIG wellies to drop down into the lake itself when the water reaches the roadside wall; for our trip, water levels were lower than I’d seen them before, and hence we could roam around quite freely (and dry!) to try a few different angles

Currently, its become even more accessible as someone appears to have crashed into the wall and knocked a large section of wall into the lake, but its landed in such a way that its created ‘steps’, so its much easier than the usual 4ft drop :D

I set my attendees the challenge again of shooting both wide-open and at f11 as a means of creating more separation or depth, and also to shoot from both as high as they could and as low too. Both high & low work well here as the mid-level has the line of the boathouse jetty aligning with the water level of the background, and it works much better if its has clear space between it and the water-level, either way as above or below it

Landscape Photography at 50mm f1.8

I’m a great fan of looking for ways to be more creative in one’s Landscape Photography, and also ways to increase the ‘ease’ of getting into shooting Landscapes by reducing the cost as much as possible

My own view is that the easiest & cheapest entry is the ‘Nifty-fifty’ - a common, if weird, reference to a 50mm focal length prime lens

So once my attendees were set off on today’s challenge I broke out my own Nifty-Fifty and set about shooting ALL day on ONLY this focal length and also ONLY at f1.8

What may shock some of you is that on the wider shots the far background is surprisingly sharp!

Obviously, its not as pin-sharp as you’d expect from such as an f11 aperture, especially when used with a wide-angle lens, but its defo sharper than you may expect

This is primarily as the very shallow Depth of Field (DoF) look that we associate with shooting wide-open only really shows itself when the subject is fairly close, or there is some foreground close to the camera where the subject is still far away

You can see in my photos how I used the shallow DoF to help isolate the Boathouse a bit, but more clearly how I used that shallow DoF to throw the foreground well out of focus (OoF), which creates more impression of depth in an image and (for me) makes it more interesting too

Anyway, time for some photos…

Once all traces of a potential sunrise had gone, and we’d explored all the angles and focal length/aperture combinations, in short, we did my… STFOOI - it was time to move on to park up at Pooley Bridge, and go for breakie :)

Then we worked our way along the opposite bank to the Duke of Portland Boathouse, using the light’s angle to create the form in the boats, jetties and trees as we moved along

For consistency, I continued to shoot only with my 50mm and at f1.8

I hope this set of images and explanations thereof has inspired you to challenge yourself a bit more, to choose either a prime lens, or just stick to one focal length on a zoom, and to shoot wide-open for a change

Landscape Photography is NOT all about making everything sharply in focus, though of course there are plenty of times when that’s the best option too

It can be about using a shallow DoF to direct the viewer’s eye into your shot by showing them ONLY one part that’s truly sharp, making it obvious what the subject is

And yet shooting in a way that still shows the subject within its wider environment

Try it :)

Would you like a…

Lake District Landscape Photography Workshop

Or even

Bespoke Landscape Photography 1-2-1 Training ???

If so, drop me an email here dave@scapesphotography.co.uk

Give me a call on 07830 085 112

Or use my Contact Form to tell me about where you think you are now and what you’re like to be better at, and we’ll get you Booked In

Landscape Photography in its main three forms of Land - Sea - City is about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on, with a camera at least

The better you become in your Landscape Photography the more you will…

ENJOY YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY