Capturing the best in Yorkshire landscape photography

With the help of Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr, amazing photography is all around us. For those of us lucky enough to be heading to the North Yorkshire Moors for a holiday in the coming months, the locale is the perfect place for some great landscape photography.

Whether you are hoping to preserve your memories of staying in Scarborough, capture the moment when the sky went electric over the sea off Robin Hoods Bay, or remember that great look-out spot you discovered on the Moors, a bit of photography knowledge may help turn your quick snap into a work of art.

Here are some tips to making memories that will last when you stay at our Whitby hotel – the perfect place to enjoy this part of Yorkshire:

LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Use a Tripod

Likely the first place to start in getting a great picture is to use a tripod. Whether it be a camera or phone, there are plenty of products to help you steady your shot. By using a tripod, you will be able to use longer shutter speeds to create interesting compositions. Even if you are shooting with a fast shutter speed, tripods can help to eliminate camera shake and blurriness.

Consider the Sky

When capturing a great photo landscape, look to the skies for some dynamic material. Many landscapes focus on the ground level surroundings – such as trees, a stream, or maybe ice-covered rocks. Especially during sunrise and sunset, the sky can be a vibrant and powerful part of your photo. You can use a variety of software programs to enhance the skies in your photos with colour, shadow and contrast. But remember, a boring sky can ruin a great foreground so make sure it’s a special one.

Look for a Focal Point

A great picture needs a focal point. When composing a landscape photo, think about where you want the viewers’ eyes to be drawn. Without one, the shot is likely to be forgotten and the viewer move on. Focal points can be many things. It could be a solitary building, a unique tree, a person, or a rock formation in the stream. Think about your focal point before your snap.

Capture Movement

The ability to make a still photo look like it is moving creates something special. Clouds or fog, moving water, the wind in the trees, or the waves on a beach. With a longer shutter speed you can create an intense feeling of movement and mood in your landscape. There are a number ways to capture movement in your pictures. Here is a helpful guide if you are looking for more tips.

Change your Point of View

Whilst on holiday, we encounter places where hundreds, possibly thousands, of pictures have been taken before. To create an amazing, one-of-a-kind photograph, think about ways you can change the point of view. See if there are other angles of the same location you can snap. In some cases, as long as it is accessible to the public, look for the path least travelled for that unique image.

Phone Photographers

Many of us use our phones to take pictures nowadays. With improved lenses and digital quality, people are creating great pictures with their phones. There are tripod attachments available to hold your phone, specialised photography apps for Android and iOS, as well as a number of built-in phone settings to help you take better pictures. If using an iPhone, the High Dynamic Range (HDR) setting allows you to combine multiple different exposures in the same photo. It is perfect for landscape photography.

For Android users, a great tool to help improve your photos is Photo Director Photo Editor App from Cyberlink. The app allows to transform your landscapes into works of art using their photoshop capabilities along with frames, filters and enhancements. It is available for free at the Google Play store.

PHOTOGRAPHY HOLIDAYS

If looking for a bit of photography fun whilst visiting North Yorkshire, there are a number of local photographers who host workshops to better understand and shoot the local landscape.

Four years ago, Tom Marsh started a local company dedicated to offering visitors a chance to walk Yorkshire and learn some great photography techniques. Yorkshire Photo Walks caters to beginners and professional photographers alike. In August, Marsh hosts a day-long walk through the Yorkshire Moors. For more information, visit the website.

David Speight hosts landscape photography all over northern England. You can find him helping beginner photographers on trips to the North York Moors, the coastline, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District and the Peak District as well.

There are also a number of other local photographers who offer tips on shooting the local landscape. Lizzie Shepherd offers a number of workshops to demonstrate how to compose and take better landscape pictures. Another local photographer, Dennis Bromage, also offers workshops in photographing the Yorkshire landscape.

Image Credit: Michael D Beckwith, chantrybee, YorkshirePhotoWalks, Thomas Tolkien,

(flickr.com)