As a prize for winning the Digital Camera Magazine's landscape photo competition, Nathan Gonzales and I - the joint winners - were awarded a day with Charlie Waite. We arrived at Charlie's home located on the river Stour near Gillingham and were shown around his studio. This was equipped with the latest photo editing computer workstations and a HP Design jet A0 roll printer. Charlie's basic process is to shoot on medium format film and have the negative drum scanned for digital output. This maintains the print resolution required for an A0 size print. A presentation of commissioned images was given including those provided for a new book "Working the Light" by Joe Cornish, Charlie Waite and David Ward.

The next session involved a trip out to a typical Dorset vista - rolling hills, crop fields, wooded copses and lines of trees. The day was perfect in that the blue sky was dotted with fast moving clouds that threw shadows across the landscape. Charlie proceeded to explain how he "reads" the landscape by isolating the most perfect section to fill the frame. Understanding what elements will make up a great photo is crucial and Charlie gave a number of key points to look for.

The next exercise was to create a panoramic image. Charlie explained the importance of setting the tripod level in both horizontal planes in order to avoid edge mismatch at the overlap. A series of photos were taken allowing an overlap of ½ to 2/3 of the previous frame.

Back at the studio the images were stitched together using the Adobe Photo merge program within Photoshop

After slight adjustments using levels and cropping to size Charlie had one printed for closer examination and critique. He then handed out a sheet of guidelines and ideas for improving one's landscape photography - some of which are reproduced below:

1. Be alert "Chance favours the prepared mind"
2. Fine tune your vision. Consider small detail and think simple
3. Look for graphics and the abstract. Look for shapes and patterns.
4. All atmosphere is turned off when top light is turned on. Try not to photograph expansive view in the middle of the day.
5. Delve deep! All components must be evaluated. Consider everything. Omit the redundant. You are the art director and producer.
6. Use a tripod. It helps composition and fine adjustments in addition to long exposure times for front to back sharpness.

In summary, this was an unforgettable day out for both of us with a master in the art of landscape photography.

Brian Miller