Field of dreams

Landscape photographer Carla Regler reveals her top five tips for capturing stunning summer vistas

1 Understand your location

Get to know your location; visit at both sunrise and sunset. It’s essential to know where to stand and where the sunlight will light up the subject. There are smartphone apps available now to help with this, but visiting the location ahead of a shoot is still the best practice.

2 Time of day

Shoot early in the morning or late afternoon and early evening for the best light. The colours of the lavender will change depending on the time of day and the angle of sunlight. Shadows, shapes and soft light enhance the lavender colour at each end of the day.

3 Which lens?

While there is nothing wrong with shooting with a wide-angle lens, don’t be afraid to shoot with a telephoto lens, something like a 300-400mm. These lenses are ideal when you want to simplify a scene: you can pick out strong subjects, making them feel closer and giving more visual impact.

4 Creative blur

Use a tripod to play around with creative blur to add an element of motion to your image. A tripod will allow you to create an image that has a slower shutter speed, allowing the lavender to move in the wind. Here it creates a lovely soft look in the foreground while keeping the barn sharp. Also set the height of the tripod so the rows of lavender flow tighter together, like you see here.

5 Time of year

Lavender only has a short bloom. Arrive too early, and it will be sparse and green; too late, and the farmers will start to cut the fields. Asking local people, Google and social media is often a great way to check out timings, and to ensure the lavender is in great condition to photograph when you arrive.