Upland Peatlands - Photography challenges of moorland

Black Mount hills from Rannoch moor

Rannoch Moor is probably the most photographed upland peatland in the UK, its photographic appeal lies with the changeable weather and hill ranges that form a photogenic backdrop to an extensive tract of blanket bog broken up by bodies of water. Extensive suites of glacial landforms are mantled by blanket bog and the depth of underlying peat and degree of water logging has created a mosaic of vegetation, which has earmarked Rannoch moor for designation as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Conveniently it has a major A road that cuts across it for ease of access, it's a great pity that it's an 8 hour drive for me to get there. Nonetheless there are other moorlands and upland peatlands.

Typical moorland scenery of a featureless upland plateau 

Most of the factors that make Rannoch Moor so photogenic are sadly absent from many moorland plateaus. On plateaus the 'high' ground takes the form of long whale backs or shallow domes that provide negligible backdrop. Substantial water bodies are usually man made and glacial erratics are usually absent, leaving vegetation dominating the foreground, middle distance and beyond. The exposed nature makes any wind problematic with subject motion blur. The plateau 'flatness' requires low angled light to provide emphasis and definition to a landscape photograph and preferably some weather too. Taking into account the quality of lighting required to enliven rectangles of moorland and sky, I came to the conclusion some while ago that it's more rewarding to concentrate my photographic endeavours away from the flat moorland plateaus to moorlands that provide more topographic relief.

Rolling moorland

Rolling moorland has some welcome topographic relief to provide depth and a backdrop helps eliminate the land/sky rectangle.

Where foreground interest is confined to vegetation then the vegetation ideally needs to be in bloom or in autumnal colour.  Grasslands hugely benefit from snowfall.

It shouldn't come as a great surprise that panoramic moorlands lend themselves to a panoramic aspect ratios.

Water courses provide an alternative narrative and a welcome addition to moorland scenery.

In a future post I'll cover the challenges of photographing upland peatlands that fall outside the moorland category.