Dale Head - The Return
I don't believe you get the best of a location from the first time you visit. It takes multiple trips to get a feel for a place and learn about the nuances of a particular landscape. This is why you see landscape photographers returning time and time again to really maximise the potential of capturing the perfect image. There are many different variables which can make a huge difference to your image that we simply can't gauge on a first visit. Last week I made a couple of return visits to Dale Head in the Northern Lake District. I'd been the year before but frankly I was disappointed with the outcome, despite the potential of the location and the rather splendid view point. In this blog I'm going to show my original image and why I don't think it worked and how I set about planning the return visit and finding my eventual composition.
The Original Image:
The first time I visited was at sunrise and we were in the month of March. In hindsight, this really wasn't the best time to visit and I'll explain for why. Critically the major issue here is the direction on the sun. The view is dominated by the ridge line of High Spy and Maiden Moor and the river that meanders beautifully through the valley. In my shot, these key features are a little lost due to the shadow in the valley caused by the direction of the sun. Second to this the composition isn't particularly strong and it really doesn't add anything to the image, in fact it leads the eye away to the left. I really needed more time to find a stronger composition. Overall the image is unbalanced in composition and the distribution of the light. It's not a terrible image but it has way too many issues for me, its just a bit flat and one dimensional. The key take away from the shoot was I needed light from the left to really get the best of this location. I had seen some lovely images at sunrise which prompted this visit but for me this is a sunset location. I also needed more time to explore the fell for a better composition, which I simply didn't achieve on the first visit.
Planning the Return:
After establishing that sunset would be a better suited to this location, I set about doing some research into whether it would be a good to visit in the summer months. So I jumped on Google Earth and took a look at were the light was going to fall at this time of year. This showed that I would not only get light on my foreground but also partially in the valley, on the fells to the right and on the distance fells...perfect. Next I had a search on social media and the internet to see what over images had been taken from up there. I do this so I don't take the same shot as others, this is really important to me and I always try to take my own perspective on a location were possible. I'm now good to go, just need to check timings and allow enough time to have a good search around before golden hour, an hour and a half usually does the trick.
Checking out how the light would fall for my next visit on Google Earth
I arrived on Dale Head a good few hours before golden hour and set about trying to find a composition which would compliment the stunning view. There isn't an abundance of foreground but there was definitely enough to go at. Eventually I stumbled across this scene, with some really interesting rocks, which had real potential. So I took out the camera and started to move around the scene to see if I could make sense of it all. The first rock I used as an anchor for the image, the base, the starting point which everything else is built upon. I played around with various angles trying to piece together the jigsaw. The main aim was for the various rocks to act as a lead in towards Skiddaw, the fells and the river in the valley. It was important to not disrupt the flow and balance, moving too much either side of the frame caused the parts to not align as well. Happy with the composition I waited for the light....which sadly didn't come.
The Composition - Take 1:
My new composition incorporating this wonderful collection on rocks which lead up beautifully to the fells beyond
The Composition - Take 2:
During my second visit and while hopefully waiting for the light, I decided to tweak my composition. I moved my tripod forward a little to get closer to my foreground, giving them a little more prominence. I also panned the camera over towards the right to allow more of that wonderful curve of the ridge and also incorporate more of the rocks which pointed up towards the background. The slight move also minimised the amount of dead space to the left and cut out the rocks in the bottom left hand corner, which are a little distracting. I do think the smallest of tweaks really made a big difference to the final composition and certainly for the better. So I was now all set and really pleased with my composition and just had to wait for the light again. On this occasion, the luck was definitely on my side.
The Tinkerman - tweaking my first composition to incorporate more complimentary elements
The Final Image:
The perfect combination of a stunning location, epic light and a strong composition that really compliments the view. I hope you'll agree that this is far more pleasing to the eye and a well conceived and crafted image than my first attempt. I truly believe I've made the most of the natural features and how they balance with the additional foreground and angles I've added to it. As you can see, going back a few times has given me a greater understanding of the area and how the light works with the landscape. It has also afforded me the time to experiment with the scene I found. I could play around with the angles and how to place the rocks to make the scene balanced and work together as one. Is this the perfect image? Well there is always room for improvement and If I'm being really picky then a touch more light would have been nice but in general I'm really pleased with how the image has turned out and is one of my favourite compositions to date.
Dale Head Summer Drama - third time lucky
Tim