Springtime Landscapes and Bluebells in the Peak District

Peak District landscape photography course in spring. Photo © Chris James

Saturday May 11th – 10.00am to 6.00pm. Fully booked.

Saturday May 18th – 10.00am to 6.00pm. Places available.

There will be only four photographers on each of these intermediate level landscape photography courses, which have been timed to capture some of the Peak District‘s woodlands in springtime when they are looking their best. One of the features of this course is that all the locations which we may visit are very accessible – no more than a few hundred yards from where we can park our cars. The walking is also very easy (with one small exception which is optional anyway).

Please contact us to request a booking form, or if you need any further information about this course. 

Photographing a ruined mine building on a Peak District landscape photography course. Photo © Chris JamesWe will spend the first part of the day in woods not far from Matlock photographing bluebells and other spring wild flowers, as well as the impressive ruined steam engine house of a former lead mine.

Here’s what our client Stuart said after a previous year’s course: “many thanks for a brilliant and enjoyable workshop last Saturday near Birchover. Your knowledge of the environment in Derbyshire is mind blowing and I know the rest of the group also thought so.
I’m very happy with most of the photo’s I’ve taken thanks to your advice and the pub food was excellent.”

We are able to park right by the edge of the woods, so very little walking is required, and it is also quite flat. There is only one steep slope (which often has some of the best bluebells – see the photo at the top of this page), but it is optional whether or not you decide to climb it, as there will be plenty of other bluebells to choose from!

We’ll go for lunch in a nearby pub (or you can bring a packed lunch), after which we will go to one or more Stone cutting shed in a former Peak District quarry © Chris Jamesother locations nearby. These include a former large sandstone quarry which has been recolonised by nature, but still has plenty of interesting features from its industrial past. Apart from the sheer quarry faces, there are abandoned millstones, a well-preserved blacksmith’s forge and a large stone cutting shed – all of which make for some great subject matter. These features are all best photographed at this time of year, before the undergrowth gets too high. Again, this location is only a short walk from our cars, and very easy walking.

Peak District stone circle. Photo © Chris JamesOther nearby locations for photography could include a lovely little stone circle and Bronze Age burial chamber, tucked away in woodlands, that most people don’t know exist – so we will hopefully have it to ourselves! The best time of day to photograph it is in the afternoon, when it is backlit by shafts of light coming through the trees. There are also other various features on and around Stanton Moor, including the famous Cork Stone. This natural sandstone outcrop is a fine subject in its own right, but also a great subject for long exposure skycapes if cloud conditions are right.

Stanton Moor, where Peak Digital Training is running a landscape photography course. Photo © Chris JamesThese landscape courses are suitable for any type of digital stills camera that allows you to control the settings – particularly shutter speeds and apertures. The most suitable are digital slr or mirrorless cameras that have interchangeable lenses, but some compact and bridge cameras may also be suitable (though they may have certain limitations due to their small sensor sizes, and whether or not filters can be attached to them). Please contact us for advice if you are unsure whether your camera is suitable or not. A tripod will also be needed (but we have some that you can borrow if you don’t already have one of your own), and we also have sets of various filters that you can borrow as well.

As these are intermediate – rather than beginners’ level – courses, it is important that you are already familiar with the basics of photography and how to use your camera in other than the “all-automatic” mode. If you are not confident about how to use shutter speeds, lens apertures and ISO to control exposure, and how to focus your camera, please come on one of our beginners’ level digital photography courses first, where we teach those skills.

Subjects covered on this landscape course is may include:

  • composition for picture impact
  • creative use of lens apertures, shutter speeds and different types of lenses
  • how and when to use different types of filters on your lenses
  • how to get the colours looking the way you want them in your photos
  • tips for shooting in RAW format for maximum quality
  • shooting in fully manual (M) mode
  • correct use of tripods

Please contact us to request a booking form, or if you need any further information about these courses. 

We also run landscape and beginners’ level courses in other local areas. See here for details of all our other digital photography courses near Sheffield and in the Peak District.