The topograph at Coaley Peak, Gloucestershire

I've been watching training videos about Lightroom recently and found a good tutor who showed some of his techniques for landscape photography.  I made a few notes and felt encouraged to watch more of them.  I seem to learn better when someone explains their intentions and then shows you how to put them into practice.

This morning I finished a two hour tutorial I'd started last night and then watched another shorter one.  By mid-morning I'd had enough and luckily got diverted when Eileen, Helena's close friend from university days, arrived with her daughter Kirsty for a visit and to have lunch here.  I really enjoyed their visit and a chat about house plants.  Helena cooked a lovely vegetable and apple soup for lunch and Eileen brought a variety of tasty cheese.  Mmmm.

The sun then shone after the mists and low clouds had lifted and there was no wind , so i decided to head out after lunch to look for a landscape to photograph.  I fear the loss of good light as autumn sets in so I hoped to catch it before the forecast clouds returned.  I drove up to the hilltop above Selsley through thick beech woodlands and on to Coaley Peak.

There is a famous viewpoint there maintained by the National Trust close to some iron age barrows.  Sited at the top of the Cotswold escarpment and crossed by the long distance footpath called the Cotswold Way, you can see into the far distance.  The low lying land is the Severn Vale, formed by the river Severn's estuary which you can see in the distance close to where it meets the sea with the rays of light shining on it.

There is this topograph sited at the end of the promontory with further promontories due south where several Iron Age hill forts are strategically sited.  I love the views from here but with the sun shining from the south it was difficult to get the richness of colour that the eye can see towards the east and west.

Across the valley is the Forest of Dean which is also in Gloucestershire, and beyond that are the Black Mountains of south Wales.  We are so lucky to have such a varied and beautiful landscape here.  I hope you like it too.  I think I've managed to use some of the principles and tools that were shown in the video tutorials, but there is a long way to go.