Landscape location ideas in the north of England?

[stroberaver]

Just wondering if I could fish for ideas and pick people's brains on here for any good landscape photo opportunities in the north east of England, including the west coast / Lake District and North Yorkshire.

I'd love to find some les well-known / less-photographed spots, even if they're a bit off the beaten track. All the more well known scenes throughout the North East and lake district have already been seen at some stage at the camera club I go to, and I'd like to produce something new and more original. Whilst I explore the map on Flickr quite a bit, it takes forever to find places, and that's assuming things have been correctly geotagged.

Anyone got any good ideas I could check out? (And even better if there's some good driving roads involved in getting there!)

P.S. I don't do sunrises, I like my bed too much.

[markmullen]

If you have a look at my Flickr, www.flickr.com/markmullen a lot of my work is around Yorkshire, and all my photos are geotagged so if you see anything you like its exact position is there.

[stroberaver]

Cheers, some lovely work you've got there. A fair bit of long exposure stuff too - what ND filter do you use?

Great lighting on all of them!

Thanks for accurate geotagging too

[markmullen]

Thanks!

I use a a combination of a 3 stop, Lee Big Stopper and a camera whose base ISO is 25 which of course makes everything a long exposure!

[2slo]

markmullen said:

...a camera whose base ISO is 25

I read something recently which said that the lowest primary ISO was 100 and that 50 (all my poor camera can go down to!) was a digital in camera adjustment based on 100. The implication being that if you don't want your camera to process your images, stick to 100. I can see the benefits of having settings of 25 and 50 to increase exposure times but wonder if it means the camera is additionally processing the image to achieve the result.

[markmullen]

That may be the case for a 35mm based system but this is a medium format digital back, it's native ISO is a proper one, not a software modified one.

The downside is that sometimes you want a shorter exposure, and high ISO is not its forte, plus maximum exposure time is 32 seconds so I run a 5D3 alongside for any time I want longer exposures, shorter exposures or high ISO. That said when conditions are in it's favour the files that come out of the back are simply lovely, no AA filter and native 14 bit files with a broad dynamic range.

[2slo]

markmullen said:

...plus maximum exposure time is 32 seconds...

I didn't know that. Is that a feature of medium format in general or just what you use? Surprised that there's no bulb mode or similar?

[markmullen]

There are a few backs which will do long exposures, the P45+ and IQ260 being the best at it.

The issue is thermal noise, a sensor with that much more area (mine is 48x36mm compared to 36x24mm for "full frame") creates a lot of heat and hence noise. They're CCD sensors rather than CMOS so the technologies are different.

Phase One has just introduced the IQ250 which is CMOS so future backs may be much better at high ISO. It too has downsides, smaller sensor so crop factor and not good on technical cameras.

[2slo]

Interesting, thanks. Sadly I daren't look at any more cameras at present. SWMBO currently has me on her radar for 'wasting too much money on toys'

[chrissull]

You can get some brilliant shots over the Gare in Redcar. Was there last week with a friend.

• His photo, not mine.

[littleredrooster]

The Durham Dales has some superb locations for landscape shots.

The road from Rookhope - Allenheads has some excellent views of the Wear valley looking East. Back in the day, I used to photograph my cars there.

[rsv696]

Anywhere on the Northumberland Coastal Route from Druridge Bay northwards, especially around Bamburgh / Budle Bay. Some beautiful scenery north & west of Hexham & Rothbury too. Base your routes around the A1068 / B1340 / A697 / A686.