Believe it or not, I haven’t photographed the woods, ever. Until I decided to travel to the Terrace Gardens at Rivington Pike in Bolton. In this blog I’m going to tell you what I learnt whilst photographing the woodlands and also the challenges I came across.

Berghaus Walking Boots — The very first photo I took on the day. Look how muddy it is. (Unedited).

Background/Setup

While driving up to Rivington I felt a whole mix of emotions. I felt stressed yet excited to take some photos in a woodland environment. Maybe I felt like this because I didn’t know what to expect and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be busy as it was the school holidays. I took a bit of pressure off myself by not recording in public for the YouTube video and I told myself “Just go and take photos” which helped and this allowed me to fully focus on the technical side of the photos.

So, I arrived at the car park (BL6 7SD) and got myself all setup. I was using my main body the Sony A7IV paired with the 35mm GM f1.4. I thought why not just use a prime for this type of photography? It’s light and the glass is amazing. My other lens was the 24-105mm f4 which I didn’t feel like using this day but I do love that lens - it’s such a workhorse for photo & video.

And so I set off to try and find the best place to start. Up the hill, I went. While taking a few snaps on the way because why not? lol.

I started to realise that the trees didn’t look like the autumny colour they were supposed to be. Do you see where I’m coming from with the photos above? I was expecting a little bit of green, but not that much ahaha. So, I started I think about what the woodland would look like. Orange? Green? Purple? But as I started to get into my head, I came across this amazing bridge scene. Granted I could have exposed properly for the sky but I didn’t use a tripod or filters. This was just another snap shot. (Edited versions of these photos will be at the end of the blog post).

Key Points/Steps

Just to the right of this bridge, there was a path that led into the woodland.

This is when I locked in and got my head in the game. I gripped onto my camera and followed the path into the woodland and the light instantly changed. The shadows were deep and the light was leaking through the leaves and branches. I kept my eyes peeled to try and find a subject within the large-scale scene. I would say this was the trickiest thing to figure out throughout the day, trying to spot a subject within the chaos.

The one tip for this is to, stop, slow down and take a deep breath. Woodland photography gets overwhelming when you’re not used to it. You’re looking at subjects and a whole lot of trees and leaves and you start to think “There is nothing within this mess” but all you have to do is that one tip/step. Stop, slow down and breathe. That’s what I told myself anyway ahaha.

After walking down the path, I suddenly saw this tree, and it stood out to me because of how the sunlight was beaming through the canopy. The shadows and the dappled light looked amazing to me, so I had to figure out the composition. I wanted the tree that I saw to be in the centre of the photo with the shadows leading into the frame. To me, the surrounding trees lead your eye to that central one and going back to the green leaves. I think they give the scene a ‘healthy’ vibe if you get where I’m coming from.

I like this scene; so this is what I tried to focus on throughout my time photographing the woodlands. I tried to find a subject and figured out the composition from there. I also knew once I got home, I could edit these photos to try and push that autumn colour I was looking for, especially on the herb layer (woodland floor).

Greens, Greens, Greens

As you can probably tell above, there were a lot of greens within the scenes I photographed. But on the woodland floor and paths, that’s where the autumn colours were. So, I started to try and get the floor and steps involved in the next set of photographs.

At this point I remembered that I was using my prime lens, so, I thought why not open up the aperture and try to get some detail shots to try and tell more of a story about the environment I was in?

It was around this point where I was looking foward to a coffee. If you don’t know, there is a little coffee shop halfway up the hill towards Rivington Pike. But, sadly.. Just my luck It was closed. So, I headed back into the woodland, trying to find new spots to photograph. I know that photography takes time, and you have to be somewhat patient while walking and looking for scenes.

I knew there was a little waterfall down one of the paths from the last time I came with my brother and sister. But the issue was… which path shall I choose to follow?! Luckily, I could hear the tiny stream in the distance. To be honest I was double-thinking myself as I thought it was the wind blowing through the leaves but I trusted my gut and I found it.

Too Messy

I was struggling to find a decent composition here at the little waterfall, as you can probably tell. This is where I got my tripod out because there was no path and I wasn’t worried about blocking any other walkers. Make sure you keep that in mind when you go shooting, you don’t want any pedestrians falling over your equipment.

Anyway, yeah, I was super lost at this location. I didn’t know what to focus on and I wasn’t entirely sure what the subject was either. Taking my advice from a few paragraphs above I stopped, took a step back and took a deep breath. I narrowed down what I found interesting within this scene and it was the bridge. That’s where I tried to look for a little bit of foreground to try and direct the eye to the bridge while still placed in the scene.

I love this photograph especially the edited version the colours just pop. I think with the photos above I was trying to focus on the dappled light which I tried to involve in this photo while still focusing on the bridge which I think helps by adding the tree in the foreground.

Anyway, I started to head back up the hill (this was the bottom) to head back to the car. Still looking for scenes and compositions.

Conclusion

So, the first thing I want to talk about is light. Woodland environments can be tricky when it comes to lighting. You’ve got dense trees, scattered light, and then these deep shadows that can change the mood of your shot. Another thing to keep in mind is shadows. They can be really helpful when it comes to your scene or they can make it hard.

The second thing I learned is about composition. When you’re in a woodland environment, there’s just so much going on (well I thought that) – trees everywhere, branches, leaves, paths. Make sure you don’t get hit in the face with a branch ahaha.. That nearly happened to me.. damn. but the trick is to simplify your shot and find a clear subject.

Lastly, I want to talk about colours. I personally think it’s okay to boost colours, contrast and even shadows when editing photos. I enjoy the whole process of going out taking photos and then coming home to make the image impactful. I totally understand that other photographs want to keep their photos natural. Which I personally respect! By adjusting the colour grading, you can take a photo that might look a bit flat and really bring it to life. It’s subtle but makes a huge difference in conveying the cosy, vibrant atmosphere of autumn.

So, those are some tips for capturing stunning autumn and woodland photography – understanding light, simplifying your composition, and enhancing those beautiful autumn colours with colour grading.

I hope this has been helpful to someone out there and I hope you enjoyed reading my process and the challenges I came across when photographing woodland photography. I do appreciate you taking time out of your day to read this, it means a lot!

The next set of photos will be my edited versions. Enjoy & thank you for reading.

Glynn.

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