David Ward

"Many see the subject as the most important element of a photograph, and the light falling on it as a secondary concern. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Learning how to match subject to lighting, and vice versa, is the most critical part of landscape photography. We all need to learn how to work the light."

Top five tips for working the light

1. Think about the colour of light – is it warm from early or late sun or cold shade light from a blue sky? Do you need to filter it or leave it as it is?

Landscape photographer of the year

Here are some of the winning and commended entries from the first Take a View competition

• Spectrum: Winners: Take a View Landscape Photographer of the Year 2009

• Leaders in the field

Leaders in the field

Landscape photography has suddenly become fashionable and we revisit the work of the genre's greatest exponents

2. Think about the size of the light source – is it a point source (the sun for instance) producing strong directional light? Or is the whole sky the light source (cloudy, or a clear sky when the subject is in shade) giving soft almost directionless light?

3. Think about the height of the light source – how does it affect the shadows on the subject?

4. Think about the direction of the light – is it lighting the best side of your subject?

5. Think about how all these things together will affect the way your subject looks!

Charlie Waite

"Light must be studied though its behaviour can never be predicted with total precision. For example, the beautiful warm evening light that bathes the landscape in a mantle of amber is usually thought of as characteristically Mediterranean; but the same light can be found in northern Europe. Despite many claims to the contrary, every region in the world will have its share of ravishing light."

Top five tips for working the light



1. Without a camera, look at the way in which light interacts with different surfaces. Perhaps set up a simple table-top still life where it is possible to move the light source from one position to another.



2. Become obsessive about light and take every opportunity to observe its behaviour in conjunction with every conceivable surface.



3. Set aside a special time for your photography and make images of a landscape setting in different lighting situations. Study and analyse your results. Define as best you can why the lighting does not seem to have been successful.



4. Make repeated visits to a favoured location and work tenaciously to produce an image that matches your previsualized ideal.



5. Tolerate as few compromises as possible and, when they are unavoidable, be aware of what they were, why they were allowed and where they have sullied the image.





Joe Cornish

"While landscape provides the subject matter, it is light we record and interpret. Light defines space, reveals texture, sculpts form, controls colour, and above all ignites an emotional response. The sky is our studio, our theatre, and we must learn to act upon its gifts of light."

Top five tips for working the light

1. Buy a spot meter and learn to use it properly.

2. Realise that the cycle of the seasons has an enormous effect on the position of sunrise and sunset, and learn to anticipate the effect of the sun’s path through the course of the seasons.

3. Try and respond emotionally to light. But be scientific enough to do your response justice by getting the exposure right!

4. Use a tripod. Most light interesting enough for a landscape photo can’t be hand-held anyway, and most photographers compose their pictures better with a tripod than without.

5. Get out more. But take fewer pictures.

Extracts from Working the Light - Landscape Masterclass with Charlie Waite, Joe Cornish, David Ward and Eddie Ephraums (Light and Land, £20) www.workingthelight.com

Click here to enter the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition and to see the full terms, conditions and details of entry fees.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010