Get your rocks off

Alistair Campbell shoots low to create layers and foreground

Whenever I’m out with my camera, I try to think before I shoot. I treat my digital camera a little like a film camera and think, ‘Is this shot really worth snapping, then costing me time or money to process?’ OK, in comparison to film digital photography is free, but that doesn’t mean you should come home with 900 images from a day out. When I use my camera, I try not to shoot from head height all the time. By finding new angles, you’ll instantly be able to make your potential viewers stop for a second and actually look at your images.

I was lucky enough to be in Devon to wander around the Moors, specifically the Valley of the Rocks. The uneven footing presented ample opportunites to get down low and create an additional layer to the shot by placing my camera on the moss-laden rocks around the showstopper in the distance. Shooting on a 56mm lens also meant I had a reasonably shallow depth of field without the need to stop down into the ultra fast f-stops of f/1.2-f/2.8. I shot this at f/5.6 – I always find the main area of the image looks a little better when you don’t shoot wide open. Typically, this is also true towards the edges of the image.

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