Stunning steelworks

1 Beauty spot?

A big part of making the scene beautiful is finding the best aspect of it. We chose a high vantage point to look down on Port Talbot’s steelworks. Pick out the key elements that you want to photograph in advance. We arrived three hours before sunset to find this spot.

2 Poetry in motion

The steam, the clouds, a plane passing by – these are all moving elements in the landscape. In order to capture the movement you’ll need to set a long exposure, and that means keeping your Nikon still atop a tripod. Make sure each leg is on a stable part of the ground.

3 Frame the extremes

This technique is about what you leave out of your frame. Isolate only the very worst or very best of the scene – don’t settle for average as your image will have no impact. A telephoto zoom in the region of 70-300mm will give you flexibility when it comes to varying the framing.

4 Balance

Make balanced shots with patterns or strong structures. If you have row after row piping, why not find a pattern and make a more visually pleasing image? Steps are also good as they usually lead somewhere, and you can use a vanishing point to make a photo with infinite depth.

5 Settings

In manual mode, set a shutter speed of 3 secs to blur the clouds. To do this during the day you’ll need an aperture of f/16 or above plus a five-to-10 stop ND filter, or f/2.8 without a filter at night. Use the self-timer at 2 secs to avoid nudging the camera. Keep the ISO at 100.

6 As night rolls in…

…Slow your shutter speed. As the sky darkens, the histogram will lean against the left side of the graph. This is normal – just check to see if the highlights are touching the right-side of the graph; if they are then they’re blown out and you should increase your shutter speed.