Summer marches on as we move into the month of August. August was mostly spent hiking around the county of Hertfordshire in east England. What follows is a compilation of the best landscape photography during August around Hertfordshire.
Udimore, Sussex High Weald
Well here is the odd one out. The first weekend of August I actually made a return visit to east Sussex, to enquire about park homes in Winchelsea by the sea. The plan was a park home would be my base for the next few years and I would visit here at the weekends while still working in Hertfordshire during the week. But I did not like them. Good experience though, have to try these things.
On the way back stopped in the Kings Head pub in Udimore and then took a nearby walk over the Sussex High Weald with my compact camera.
Aldbury Nowers, Hertfordshire
In the back of my mind always wanted to return to Aldbury Nowers to try and capture some wild Marjoram. From my first visit to Aldbury Nowers I knew from the information boards that wild Marjoram grew here during summer in abundance.
Sure enough I found plenty of wild Marjoram growing on the chiltern hills escarpment of Aldbury Nowers. It was going to be a difficult shot though to include some background. There was a strong wind for one and the escarpment was steep. When now focusing on something like plants in the near foreground and wanting to include interest in the background like distant hills it has to be focus stacking. With the long stems of grass I had to manually blend the images in Photoshop. One image focused directly on the wild Marjoram, the other focused on infinity which brings the mid ground into focus too.
Stanton, Rip Valley
Bad morning at work, needed to get out in the fresh air and try and forget things. I chose Stanton in Hertfordshire, knowing this corner of the county is quite good for some landscape photography outside of the Chilterns.
The weather was blustery giving way to some dramatic spot lighting. This is the weather to be out with your camera not sheltering indoors watching TV. With the fast moving clouds should have experimented with some long exposures. Good walk as always.
Weston Hills, Baldock
On my journeys back from the east coast and north Hertfordshire I had to pass under the tunnel of the Weston Hills on the A505. I often wondered what the views were like from the top of the Weston Hills and would need to investigate any footpaths and public access first on OS maps online.
Looked good with parking at the Chalk Hills carpark. So on a blustery Saturday evening in August feeling restless I decided to explore the Weston Hills. Immediately I managed to catch a rainbow in the distance over the Hertfordshire countryside.
You can even see the moon rising there above the clouds. Early August and sunset was around 8:30PM so getting earlier now. It was windy and had my heavy tripod with me, but not setup, just handholding. Had fast enough shutter speeds using F/8 my lens sweet spot or where focus is at its sharpest.
I wanted to catch the sun setting in the west with plenty of time to setup tripod and filters. But got distracted with the moon rising to the east and colourful storm clouds passing over a corn field adding foreground interest. I was having an August landscape photography bonanza on the Weston Hills.
I rushed back west towards the car park to just catch the sun setting, exposing for the highlights, while handholding then raising the shadows post processing. Really should have setup on a tripod and done some bracketing, but time was of the essence. A great evening walk over the Weston hills in Hertfordshire, the light was good with the changing weather. Rather than worry about how late it was to eat, I had a lovely pub meal on the way home in Baldock, way to go.
Aubury, Patmore Heath
I had been meaning to do this walk through Aubury in north east Hertfordshire for sometime now. It had a good review in the AA walking guide with magnificent views, so had high expectations. I had gone on photo walks nearby in Hertfordshire and the area had provided some of the best landscape photography in this county.
Initially the walk was uninspiring, eventually views and a few compositions opened up. It was just nice to be out in the morning sun. Handholding I was selecting focus points without exposure locking. My handholding technique was getting better. I was using a polariser and with the bright sunlight needed to affix a lens hood too. They can be used together with some difficulty.
Made it to Patmore heath, concerning if this is all we have left of what is considered a wildness area. Fenced off everywhere and difficult to exclude from compositions, like this little area of ‘wildness’ is over protected.
Tring Park, Hertfordshire
I noticed the hilly Chiltern area of Tring Park when out walking over Aldbury Nowers and checked it out on OS Maps online. Parked up in the Tring town, not nearly early enough for sunrise and headed up Hastoe Hill.
It was a bright morning, dawn would have been a lot better with sunrise over the distant hills. In the mid ground was Tring church peeking above the tree line. On the horizon was the outline of Ivinghoe beacon. Viewpoints and compositions did not open up again until headed back into Tring Park.
The light was changing rapidly from clear to cloudy with possible rain. Patiently I waited for spotlight over the cows grazing below down in Tring Park. But should have focus stacked with the heather in the foreground adding a much needed splash of complimentary colour.
That’s it for August walking and landscape photography around Hertfordshire. If you like any of these images you can download them in full resolutions from my Hertfordshire landscape portfolio hosted on Shutterstock.