Young farmer shares top tips for taking fantastic farm photos

With Farmers Weekly’s annual photography competition now open for entries, we asked a farmworker and super-snapper from Nottinghamshire to share his top tips for taking a cracking farm photo.

Will Jones is 23 years old and graduated from Harper Adams University last year with an agriculture degree. He’s currently working at Flawborough Farms in Nottinghamshire.

He’s never short of a stunning snap or two so be sure to follow Will on Instagram and Twitter for inspiring farm photography.

See also: 9 tips to combat farm theft during darker nights

Here are his nine nuggets of advice for taking a fantastic farming photo for this year’s competition.

1. Go for it 

Don’t be afraid to take your camera out with you. Modern smartphones have amazing cameras now, but if you do have a good-quality camera try taking it out with you for a better shot.

© Will Jones

2. Perspective

Try to get something in the foreground and something in the background of the photo along with your subject; it makes it a little more interesting to look at.

© Will Jones

3. Offset your subject

You don’t always have to point your camera right at what your subject might be, try offsetting it to one side of the image.

© Will Jones

4. Angles

Try something a little different, maybe crouch down or have the camera on the floor. Alternatively if there’s somewhere safe that you can stand that’s higher up, then try that.

© Will Jones

5. Experiment

It’s very easy, specifically with a DSLR  or even a compact camera to plonk it in the automatic function and snap away, but there’s nothing wrong with having a play around with your settings such as exposure and aperture.

You can capture some pretty amazing night skies by playing with these. If you’re unsure there are lots on online tutorials.

© Will Jones

6. Old school

Sometimes you can get lost within the colours of a photo, so try shooting in black and white or using a black and white filter. It really does exaggerate the shapes and shadows of a photo.

© Will Jones

7. The golden hour

Some of my favourite photos I’ve taken have either been at sunrise or sunset. The light and colours are really amazing and you can create some great silhouettes.

© Will Jones

8. You can never take too many

My phone is often clogged up with photos because I love taking them. I never get a photo I like first time around so keep snapping away and have fun as you do it.

© Will Jones

9. Variation

I’m completely guilty of taking far too many tractor pictures, so try landscapes, livestock or even people at work. It makes a nice change and gives you something different to try and test yourself on.

© Will Jones