Photographing the Best Locations in the Hebrides I purchased my first fotoVUE title (Photographing the Lake District) in 2017 and ever since then I’ve been regulary adding these location guides to my bookshelf. Some of them I use on a regular basis, some every now and again, and there are some I have yet to utilise (though I will get those places one day!). When I found out that fotoVUE were publishing two new titles, Explore & Discover The Inner Hebrides and Explore & Discover The Outer Hebrides, I was very excited as it couldn’t have come at a better time. The publishing of these boo ..read more

From Grey Skies to Colourful Skies Winter on Dartmoor is often my favourite time of year for photography. Sunrise isn’t too early, and you can shoot sunset and still be home in time for dinner. The colour of the Dartmoor landscape is also particularly photogenic. This winter has been tough though. Lots of overcast damp days. I can work around most weather conditions, but there are some conditions that make photographing Dartmoor really challenging. It’s not that I haven’t had some good days on Dartmoor this winter, but they have been few and far between. Sometimes you need to take a different ..read more

While I’m Away… It’s rare that I get to completely immerse myself in my landscape photography. Even more rare that I’ll be doing this for two weeks! Heaven! Well, at least I hope it will be heaven, and given that I’m photographing the Outer Hebrides I’m sure it will be. But while I’m away I thought I’d take some time to publish some photographs that have never seen the light of day. It’s not that these are poor photographs, it’s just that I never got around to publishing them anywhere. Sometimes I just go out and take photographs with no intention of writing a blog post or producing an associa ..read more

Making the Most of Your Raw Files in Post Processing I admit that back in 2022 when I first tried DxO PureRAW 2, I was sceptical of the claims it was making in its advertising. However, I downloaded the free trial so I could evaluate it for myself. Needless to say, I was really impressed, and I bought the software. The following year I paid for the upgrade to PureRAW 3, and now in 2024, PureRAW 4 is with us and I’m excited to see some genuinely useful new features. Who’d have thought it would be possible to get excited about a raw processing engine! I’ve only just got my hands on PureRAW 4 and ..read more

What’s the Point of 8K Video? One of the first things I did when I got my Nikon Z8 was to get a CFexpress Type B card. Not only did I want to be able to capture 8K video, but I wanted to use both card slots in the Nikon Z8 (see why here). The latter is a crucial point, because using a CFexpress type B card isn’t just for those wanting to shoot 8K video. As part of a series of videos I produced on the Nikon Z8, I created a video on my initial choice of CFexpress card. I think most of you will agree that one video on CFexpress cards is enough. So, when Pergear reached out to me to see if I creat ..read more

A Pro Lens for a Budget Price Is it possible to get a pro spec lens for a budget price? It’s an interesting question and it’s also a question fraught with problems. Both the “pro” and “budget” terms are highly subjective. Ask two different photographers what features they expect in a professional lens, and you’ll get two different answers. The term “budget” has even more scope for varying definitions! However, in this case, I believe using those terms is justified. Ignoring the fact that the lens does have the word “pro” in the product name, it does have many (but not all) the professional gra ..read more

The Faroe Islands - A Portrait of Life I first learnt about the book Atlantic Cowboy when it was featured in Outdoor Photography magazine. At first, I thought it was a book of photographs from the Faroe Islands, but I soon found out it was so much more than that. I’ve always wanted to travel to and photograph the Faroe Islands, but I’ll be honest, I knew very little about the culture and people. This book offered me the opportunity to not only appreciate a style of photography that I might not normally look at, but it was also a chance to learn more about some of the people that live and work ..read more

What Are the Best Settings for Landscape Photography? I’ve been using Nikon cameras since 2006 and over the years I’ve learnt the language behind the Nikon menu options and which settings I always apply to a new camera. So, when I received my Nikon Z8 I already knew most of the settings I would apply straight away. There were of course some new settings with the Z8 that my previous cameras didn’t have, but I quickly learnt which settings applied to me and my workflow. As I went through the menu system of the Nikon Z8 configuring the settings for how I take landscape photographs I thought it wo ..read more

Just for Fun Photography can be such a serious business sometimes. Lots of talk about expensive and complicated gear, far flung locations, quality of light and social media followings! Sometimes you must need to sit back and enjoy the simple things in photography, like a back-to-basics camera. While I think the camera in this video can be enjoyed by any photographer, you do need to still have childlike imagination and a sense of fun. What is it? Well, I’m not going to spoil it for you. You’ll just have to watch the video!  Where To Buy the Camera ? You can buy it from Amazon - https://amz ..read more

The Challenge of Photographing Great Links Tor on Dartmoor Capturing photographs of one of Dartmoor’s greatest tors, Great Links Tor, is challenging. Depending on your route up it can take around 45 minutes of walking (all up hill). And then, because of its elevation, it is often in cloud. But when the conditions are right it can be a spectacular location to photograph such as the time I photographed it at sunset. Inspired by my sunset picture I was determined to also photograph it at sunrise. This was going to be more difficult than I hoped it would be. The first four attempts where non-start ..read more