Peak District Landscape Workshop

I decided it was time to start developing my landscape photography skills, so I headed up to the Peak District for a one day workshop. I took the Sony a7R II with me and the Sony 24-70mm F4 Zeiss lens.

The workshop was with landscape photographer Craig Roberts who runs the YouTube Channel e6 Vlogs. If you are in the UK and would like to take a workshop with him, you can find further details on his website here.

**Please Note: Unless otherwise mentioned no post processing has been applied to the image samples in this guide except for cropping. Full resolution SOOC JPEG images are available to download. RAW files are also available but password protected to help keep my hosting costs sensible. However, I do provide the username/password to all members of our community forum. All images are copyright protected and may be used for personal use only.

Without further ado, here are some of the shots from the day:

38mm | 1/8 sec | f/16 | ISO 100 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

70mm | 1/200 sec | f/4.0 | ISO 100 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

24mm | 1/60 sec | f/16 | ISO 400 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

50mm | 1/320 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

51mm | 1/250 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

68mm | 1/250 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

64mm | 1/800 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

24mm | 1/25 sec | f/16 | ISO 100 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

60mm | 1/40 sec | f/16 | ISO 100 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

32mm | 1/6 sec | f/16 | ISO 100 | **Full Resolution Download: JPEG | RAW

I learned quite a lot from Craig, and also had the opportunity to use my Lee Filters for the first time. Here are some of the tips that he taught me, well at least the ones that I can remember!

• Think carefully about the composition before setting up the tripod
• Focus 1/3 into the frame or on your subject
• If a filter is needed then a general rule is: 3 stops with the sun in front, 2 stops with the sun to the side, and 1 stop with the sun behind you. However, like all rules this may need breaking
• You can see when the filter is in the correct position by watching the histogram on your camera as you insert it. The histogram should move away from the far right side as the highlights are brought under control
• Sometimes you need more height to help with separation between elements in the frame
• Look for leading lines that take the viewer further into the photo, as well as distant lines and shapes
• Try singling out objects like trees and rocks
• Experiment with depth of field

I’m looking forward to putting to use everything that I learned this day, and also hopefully getting back to the Peak District as it’s truly a beautiful location for landscape photography.

If you also love shooting landscapes with your Sony Alpha camera, then I’ve setup the Sony Alpha Landscape Shooters on Facebook where you can share your photos with fellow landscape shooters.