Nigel Forster
Our Apprentice explores beautiful Brecon Beacons with landscape pro Nigel Forster to shoot sweeping mountain vistas, castles and waterfalls…
Our Apprentice had a mountain to climb for our landscape shoot in the Brecon Beacons National Park under Nigel’s expert eye.
“Just checking that all is okay for tomorrow?” Nigel asked Ian the day before the shoot. “The forecast is looking okay but slightly uncertain, with the Met Office showing the conditions to be mainly dry with the chance of the odd shower and partly cloudy throughout; with the mountaintops likely to be clear of cloud. Besides,
I’m off to Italy the day after, so it’s now or never!”
The plan was a landscape shoot in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Being the height of summer, it would require shooting late into the evening and up again early next morning to capture dawn. Final arrangements made, the two met in the picturesque village of Talybont-on-usk, Nigel’s base in the heart of the national park.
But before heading up into the hills, it was time for a refresher on the fundamentals of exposure. “Your metering system, when set to Matrix on any automatic exposure mode, is looking to create an image that averages to 18% grey,” explained Nigel. “This means it will brighten dark scenes and darken bright ones. With manual exposure, you not only have control over the aperture and shutter speed, but also the brightness of the scene. Use the meter as a guide only, adjusting your settings manually to get the look that you want.”
Mountain Men
The plan was to shoot the spectacular mountain views of – and from – Pen-y-fan, south Wales’s highest peak. This meant a long uphill hike. With cameras, spare clothing and supplies in backpacks with tripods securely strapped, they began their ascent from the foot of the mountain.
Chatting on the way up, Nigel explained his philosophy. “With every shot you take, ask yourself, ‘Why am I taking this? What is it about the scene that I want to convey to the viewer?’ Landscape photography isn’t just about recording the scene in front of you, it’s about interpreting it in a form that makes it clear to the viewer what inspired you to capture the image. Think clearly about what you exclude as well as what you include in the frame. For example, if you have a distant hill as your main subject in the background and some interesting foliage in the foreground, there’s no point in having acres of dull, empty mid-ground that will separate the two. Adjust your shooting position so that only the elements that interest you are dominant in the frame. Similarly, if there’s some fantastic light in the middle ground, choose a shooting height that makes it the clear focus of the image. ‘Why am I taking this?’ is the basic question to remember.”
twin peaks
Arriving at a rocky ledge, Ian initially set up his shot with the rocks at his feet in the middle of scene. Then Nigel suggested he
instead shoot to the side of the rock using it as a stop point on the edge of the frame, resulting in the image in Super Shot #1.
He further explained the importance of foreground interest if you want to create depth in an image: “This is the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons and the main subject of the shot. Using foreground interest here creates context and draws the viewer into the scene. By positioning the ledge to point to the peak, our foreground interest directs the viewer’s gaze towards the subject, reinforcing the link between the two. However, distant views with no foreground can work equally well.”
The mono shot below shows how a telephoto lens can be used to compress perspective into a series of interlocking tones and works well you want to capture light in the distant mountains.
Hasta la vista
There was no doubt about it, it was steadily getting cloudier. “The forecast was to get cloudier later in the evening, but not till after sunset. This is coming in early!” stated a concerned Nigel.
But as the cloud started licking over the peaks of the mountains, the sun broke through. Turning their attention to the valley below, Nigel explained that even a wide-angle 16-35mm lens wouldn’t do the scene enough justice, and that this was the perfect opportunity for a panorama.
Ian began to set up his tripod, but Nigel stopped him: “You don’t have time for that! The light is here right now, and by the time you’ve set up the tripod, levelled it and are ready to take the sequence, it’ll have gone. All settings on your camera should be in manual, shoot in portrait orientation to allow space for cropping, keep the camera as level as you can, and shoot quickly (but not so quickly that you risk camera shake), making sure that you overlap each frame
from front to back. Shooting panoramics is all about using a consistent shooting approach. Photoshop will do the rest…”
kings of the castle
Minutes later the mountains were completely shrouded in clouds and visibility was down to a few metres. “We’ll not get any evening light up here,” sighed Nigel.“it’s time to move on to Plan B!”
After making their way back down the mountain, the rain was beginning to fall heavily. Nigel checked the Met Office forecast – which was still showing the area to be cloudy but dry. “That’s the trouble with mountains,” said Nigel, “the weather can be incredibly localized. It can be raining on one side and bone dry on the other.”
A short drive took them to Tretower Castle, a 13th-century ruin of a castle keep. After trying out a few compositions, Ian set up a vertical shot with the castle reflected in a small pond. By shooting from extremely low down, with a tripod leg extended
into the pond itself, it looked more like a vast lake. The light was failing rapidly, with the castle falling into silhouette against the purplish-blue of the night sky. “Don’t worry, we can make our own light!” chuckled Nigel, producing a pocket torch.
First, he shone it on the castle wall, so that Ian could achieve focus with the back-button focus method. Once focus was locked in, his camera wouldn’t attempt to refocus when pressing the shutter button again. Then Nigel began making slow, deliberate sweeps of the torch over the building. Over a long exposure, approaching a minute long, the small beam of torchlight combined to evenly light the entire ancient monument.
A few attempts and Ian’s rear screen revealed that the shot was in the bag. Time was pressing on, and with an early start the next morning, it was time to call it a night.
Morning Has Broken
The 4:30 alarm revealed that the weather hadn’t improved any and that a glorious dawn was unlikely to materialize through the steady drizzle. “Perfect weather for waterfalls!” reasoned Nigel. “With landscapes, you never know what’s going to happen. I ensure that I know all the areas that I run workshops in like the back of my hand. That way, there’ll always be something to shoot, no matter what the weather throws at you.”
Despite the rain, the waterfall wasn’t as swollen as Nigel had hoped, and Ian’s initial viewpoint wasn’t working. Deciding to head a little closer, Ian collapsed the tripod legs and put his camera over his shoulder. “Don’t do that!” exclaimed Nigel.
These rocks are slippery and the ground is uneven. If you fall your instinct is going to be to save the camera, and you could cause yourself a serious injury. I insist on packing everything away between vantage points, even if it is only a couple of minutes’ walk.”
In the final shot, Ian composed to have a double flight of waterfalls, zigzagging through the scene, with a polarizing filter, low ISO of 50 and forest canopy helping to lengthen the exposure to 4 secs, giving a wonderful creamy look to the falls. With that, the heavens really opened and the rain looked set for the rest of the day…
nigel’s verdict
The weather didn’t play ball, but Ian still managed to come away with a selection of shots to be proud of. He became much more adventurous with his compositions, rather
than simply taking record shots of the scene. He’s learnt that while a tripod is an essential tool when light is low or for long exposures, you don’t have to set it up for every shot. You’ll often get more creative angles of view from shooting handheld and can respond to changing light more quickly when the conditions allow. Well done Ian!
ian’s comment
I realize that enabling Auto ISO meant that I didn’t have total control over my exposures, and confess I didn’t really understand how the histogram worked, but Nigel has shown me the importance of checking it and adjusting my exposure as necessary. His philosophy of asking why we’re taking the image in the first place has forced me to think more creatively, too, and I’ve become a more confident photographer as a result.