winter in the yorkshire dales photography workshop

When it comes to photography workshop locations, the Yorkshire Dales really does take some beating, and winter is without doubt my favourite time of the year. The one thing that sets the Dales apart from many other locations, is the diversity of the landscape to be found within a relatively small area. Throughout the course of the day, we are likely to photograph a selection of different locations, each one chosen to present a new compositional challenge to the last. These could include the rolling Dales valleys, Limestone pavements, scars and Crags, the Three Peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, and possibly the odd waterfall depending upon exact conditions. We'll be looking to use various ground level elements in the foreground to complement the wide sweeping views of the hills, as well as using longer lenses to isolate more distant areas of interest and pattern.

I have now been running landscape photography workshops in the Yorkshire Dales since early 2012, but have been photographing the area since as far back as 2001/2002, so you can rest assured that I know the area very well. Ideally, We will be looking to photograph one or two lesser visited areas, as well as a couple of the more classic Dales views. Obviously at this time of year, or in fact at any time of year for that matter, the weather can play a big part in exact location choice, and we'll be hoping for some wintery conditions, but as mentioned previously, the variety and relatively short distance between so many great locations makes it easy to formulate a number of plans to suit.

The Winter in the Yorkshire Dales Photography Workshop will begin with us meeting at around 06:30 am - 07:00 am. This is quite early for this time of year, but will mean we can easily be in place and on location to shoot the impending sunrise. There are numerous cafes/pubs/restaurants serving food in the area, so at some point throughout the day, we will be able to make a pitstop for either breakfast or lunch, and this also serves as the perfect time to review the mornings images on the laptop, and also go through a short Photoshop/Lightroom demo. Alternaively you are free to bring along a packed lunch and snacks if this is preferable. The workshop will conclude at around 16:00 - 16:30 pm, which will give us ample time to also capture the sunset, which is a major advantage of the shorter days at this time of year.

As with all workshops, tuition is tailored to exact requirement. On booking you will receive a simple questionnaire to fill out which helps me to get a better idea of camera equipment, ability level and any ambitions you may have for the day. The questionnaire also allows you to add any areas of your photography that you may have struggled with, and would possibly like to focus particular attention towards on the day of the workshop. Depending on experience and ability level, a typical day can include tuition on the following subjects; Best practice camera set-up, shooting manual and Raw Format and the reasons why, creative uses of both shutter speed and apertures, explanations of exposure, metering, bracketing e.t.c, manual focusing for maximum depth of field (Also known as Hyperfocal focusing) The use of filters, both exposure balancing (Neutral Density Graduated) and creative effects (Polarisers, Straight Neutral Density) This leaves the best part of the day free to discuss the broader and more subjective topic of composition. What makes a good image? Elements to look for when composing images, The rules of composition, possible examples of when to follow them and when to break them, use of depth, scale, distance and perspective and also shoot and location planning around seasonal and differing lighting conditions. All aimed towards giving you the proficiency to go away and successfully plan the best times of year to photograph your own set of locations.

If time permits, we can also go through a typical Photoshop workflow, demonstrating the adjustments used from Raw file through to outputting images for web or print. This also covers some alternatives to using Neutral Density Graduated Filters, in the form of Exposure Blending incorporating alpha channels / luminosity selections and layer masks. I can also tailor tuition to your particular, specific requirements where necessary. Past clients have asked for help on many different subjects and techniques; These have included shooting and processing panoramic images, using tilt & shift lenses, shooting and processing images for focus stacking and exposure blending.