Stonehenge

[MadFrankie]

I'm thinking of taking a little drive with the dog to walk around Stonehenge. I know you can't take dogs actually into the stones but the rest of the area, including Kings Barrow and Cursus are open access...

Question is, is it really only sunrise / sunset that gets the best out of the stones and do I really need to go in to the enclosure, (ie not take the dog), to get good stone shots...

Or, where would you / have you taken your shots from???

 

[johnb]

I was there yesterday. There is a 6 feet fence around the area so if you are not very tall it may be a problem if you try to shoot from outside the enclosure & you cannot get views from all angles whilst outside. I had a 70-300 lens on my camera & was having problems getting all of the stones in from the pathway inside the fence. It was difficult to isolate specific shots of interest but was thoughly enjoyable non the less. Oh and it closes at 6pm at the moment. It is free to NT & English heritage members otherwide admission is around £6. For this you get a good audio guide which unfortunately you have to give back at the end.

Go & enjoy

John

 

[a lex]

I went last year and paid to get into the enclosure part like most did. Saying that there was a fair few people taking pictures from over the fence. Like John said theres a 6ft fence around it which you can't shoot through but some people had some nice high tripods set next to the fence with a remote cable dangling down!

 

[jollyjack]

depending what you want, some go photos can be taken from outside. There is a track that runs along the west edge, the fence is not six foot there but its some distance so you will need your 70-300 etc. You can also pay to get in before its open to public, they let in around 20 and costs £16ish booked through english heritage website

 

[johnb]

There were not too many people in there the other afternoon & it wasn't too difficult to get a shot without bodies in the way.

John

 

[stevedunster]

It is free to NT & English heritage members otherwide admission is around £6.

John

I didn't know that. I'm NT but not EH - I assumed it was EH members only because it is a EH site.

When to get the best shots? Any landscape is going to be better within an hour or two of sunrise/sunset - for the colour and angle of light.

I believe EH have special photography sessions you can book into early in the mornings. From memory I think they are good value and you get to go in without the public there and whilst the light is good - not sure what happens if it's a dissapointing sunrise - I guess you just take pot luck

Steve

 

[allanm]

When to get the best shots? Any landscape is going to be better within an hour or two of sunrise/sunset - for the colour and angle of light.

Steve

Ah, your assuming its going to be a sunny / clear sky day!

You can get some great shots on a cloudy day too. We went a few weeks ago, I took my D300 and 16-85 lens. If you pay to get in or are a member (EH) you can get close enough for some good shots.

There are some that I took on my Flickr page. These were just for fun, I didnt do anything arty or serious, but you can get an idea of what you can see.

Allan

 

[johnb]

I didn't know that. I'm NT but not EH - I assumed it was EH members only because it is a EH site.

When to get the best shots? Any landscape is going to be better within an hour or two of sunrise/sunset - for the colour and angle of light.

I believe EH have special photography sessions you can book into early in the mornings. From memory I think they are good value and you get to go in without the public there and whilst the light is good - not sure what happens if it's a dissapointing sunrise - I guess you just take pot luck

Steve

I would go along with others here. You get close enough to the stones for good shots during the day & can easily pick your momrnt without anyone in the way.

I think it is free to NT members because the National Trust owns all of the surrounding land or something like that

John

 

[Drpepper99uk]

Hi,

I couldn't be bothered waiting in the queue for lots of Japanese and German tourists to make their way to the site so I ended up just taking a shot through the fence on the main road:

It's amazing just how busy that place gets at any time of the year, luckily I managed to fine a place to park a little further down the road which was free and easy to get out from.

Mike.

 

[G2EWS]

The problem with Stonehenge which is just down the road from where I live is it has been photographed to death. However, you will see from the above coments that it also has a problem with too many people or not opening early or late enough to get the best shots.

For what it is worth I would visit Avebury which is not that far away, is free, you can walk around the stones and probably has more to offer.

Sunrise

Night time

Part of the path that runs around the site, taken in the evening.

Best regards

Chris

 

[desantnik]

You can also pay to get in before its open to public, they let in around 20 and costs £16ish booked through english heritage website

That is really good! I did that a while back - fantastic!

 

[AndWhyNot]

Sod it, just jump the fence in the middle of the night and be done

Only kidding, was an arranged night shoot.

Text aside, that image is straight out of camera. It's one of four of my photos I'm using as postcards to promote my current exhibition (see sig). If it looks soft it's a screenshot from a PDF, orig is fine.