Mountain Landscapes

Join us on an epic photographic tour of the beautiful Snowdonia National Park and learn how to shoot mountain scenes and lakeside landscapes

 When it comes to spectacular scenery, you just can’t beat getting up into the mountains. Wherever there are imposing peaks, you’ll find picturesque lakes, rivers and waterfalls too. And the views from the mountaintops are easily as awe-inspiring as the views of them. Yes, a day in the hills is a photographer’s dream.

So we set out on a day trip to Snowdonia National Park, in northwest Wales, to cram in a whole day’s landscape photography, shooting from sunrise to sunset in the truly stunning settings surrounding Wales’s tallest peak.

The forecast was reasonable, but mountains create their own climate – and rain, wind and clouds can appear from nowhere. Indeed, while we were blessed with patches of sunlight for our Welsh odyssey, it was blowing a hooley, with plentiful moody clouds.

Turn the page to see how we approached shooting the mountain and lake (llyn in Welsh) scenery…

Sunrise scenes

Tackling morning light in big mountain landscapes

Look for the light

The night before the shoot we stayed in Llanberis, at the foot of Mount Snowdon. It’s home to two large lakes spanning northwest (Llyn Padarn) and southeast (Llyn Peris) from the village, ideally angled for sunset and sunrise photos during spring and summer.

We got up before first light to get in position, and were hopeful for a colourful sunrise. We had our Nikon DSLR on a tripod and ready to go, but unfortunately the cloud cover spoiled our party. However, by zooming in with a 24-70mm lens we were still able to capture the first beams of sunlight filtering between the peaks.

Panoramic fun