On the drive back from Old Harry on the Purbeck Isle, I wanted to stop at Corfe Castle and scout out the views of the castle ruins from the east hill approach on the Purbeck Ridge.

OS Maps Corfe Castle

From studying the OS Maps online on my mobile phone, there should have been a car park just out of Corfe Castle beside the east hill of the Purbeck Ridge.

I found the carpark and parking was free. It’s a small carpark tucked away but there were a few available spaces.

Along the Purbeck Ridge to East Hill

It was late afternoon and a beautiful day with sunshine and blue sky.  I walked east up the hill of the ridge along the Purbeck way before turning around and walking west towards east hill and views of the ruins of Corfe Castle.

From east Hill, there were great views all around with Poole Harbour to the south.  The low light of the setting winter sun was catching the branches of the lonely stunted windswept trees on top of the ridge.

The Purbeck ridges stretches east all the way back to Swanage where I cut my walk short this morning.  Across from Corfe castle was the west hill where the Purbeck Ridge then continued to Povington Hill and down to the coast of Worbarrow bay.  I could explore and scout the west hill another day.

Corfe Castle Sunset

The days are at their shortest end of December so not have to wait long for the sun to set.  I was seeking out a good angle maybe the sun peeking through one of the castle windows.

From the east hill the angle of the setting sun on the castle ruins was not quite right. Pointing your camera directly at the sun can cause sun flare on the lens. Reverse Graduated filters could have helped in this situation as well as stopping down to F/22 to get more of a starburst effect.

These improvement become clear when post processing your landscape photographs in Lightroom. As I was scouting out Corfe Castle viewpoints I was using my compact and just handholding my DLSR.

The other options is just to wait until the sun has disappeared behind the horizon as the golden hour extends into the blue hour.

Another problem with the angle was the West Hill background against the castle.  For the best image you want the outline of the castle against the sky silhouetting its shape and form and the low light of the setting sun highlighting the texture of the stonework for greatest impact.

Another feature to include if you get your timing right is the passing steam train, only at weekends during the winter.  Again angles were difficult to do.  There were many other landscape photographers on the east hill with some of the best spots already taken.

Cliche Photographs

Photographing Corfe Castle is what is known as a cliche photograph.  The castle ruins have been photographed so many times.  Just like Durdle Door another iconic landscape also in Dorset.  Still it does make a great subject and the surrounding landscape is dramatic.

Corfe castle is a good place to practice your landscape photography on any time of the day.  It can be covered 360% so there were plenty more viewpoints for me to explore over the coming weeks.

Timing and Patience

It’s not usual for me to cover two places in one day.  The Purbeck Isle is a landscape photography hotspot with lots of subjects not far from each other.  Often beginning a walk first thing in the morning, you are finished by mid afternoon, cold, tired and hungry with still a few hours until sunset.  Im not usually patient enough to just sit around and wait for the best light. Timing and planning is essential to come home with the best images.  Planning requires some scouting of the place and some repeat visits to minimise relying on just luck.