Simonside Hills, Northumberland

A bit of a grey day for this walk from the car park. I didn’t make it to the top because the low clouds were obscuring the view. On a better day the views are amazing with plenty of opportunities for landscape photography. When the weather is a little less interesting, there are still many things to photograph.

The image below uses the classic composition technique of lead-in lines to bring the viewer’s eye into the scene. I darkened the image and added contrast to silhouette the couple walking along the path.

Couple Walking In Simonside Hills

A couple walking along a woodland track on the Simonside Hills path

I took my full frame Nikon D700 with the cheap and cheerful Nikon 28-80mm AF-D for this trip. This low cost camera and lens combination produces some really good images after a little tweaking in Darktable.

As the weather was a bit grey, I used my favourite technique of deliberate underexposure to get some depth and richness in the colours. In Darktable a little bit of exposure and black level correction with a contrast boost makes for a nice tonal range.

The automatic colour calibration in Darktable seems to have got confused with some of the images. Possibly the extra contrast has amplified the colour cast. I actually think this works well – making the images more evocative. Especially the tree below which reminds me of how cold and grey the day was.

Rock In Simonside Hills

Large rock on the Simonside Hills walk

Tree In Simonside Hills

A tree with hills behind on the Simonside Hills walk

Below is the same image but with the colour calibration reset in Darktable for the second one to make the colour more natural. I’m not sure which I prefer. Comment below!

For a few more photographs taken on this walk, visit the gallery below:

Location Gallery

Simonside Hills, England

View 11 photos taken in Simonside Hills, England