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- Andy
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Those who wander over to the sports forum will know me as more of a sports photographer. However, I've overdosed a bit on sports recently and desperately needed a break. One thing I really love is the excitement of finding a new location, exploring it, and getting some quality pictures. You'll also know I like to give a good write up of what I get up to, as I learned so much from others who did the same when I was starting out.
So I planned a trip to Kimmeridge in Dorset. I'd heard it was a good spot for some seascapes. I wanted to match sunset with a lowering tide so a quick sneak at the BBC website revealed the tide tables and sunset times so I could match them up. I also dived into Google Maps to check out the location, and looked up pics on Flickr to work out what it was like.
I do like my long exposures, so had my B&W ND110 filter plus a few Lee ND grads with me as well. Lenswise I took a bunch of them but ended up just using my 17-40, but I'd love to have something a bit wider sometimes.
One key thing I learned about Kimmeridge is that the rocks are extremely slippery. I ended up using my tripod as a 3rd leg to catch me as I slid about. I also ended up with soaking legs below the knee. I met a guy there called Fergus (anyone on here??) who had gaiters on which is a great idea. I did have goretex walking boots on though which kept my feet pretty dry. Also, stay a bit away from the cliffs. There was a rockfall while I was there - not a big one at first sight, but when I wandered a bit closer some of the rocks were as big as a 1 cubic foot. You'd really know it if one of those hit you on the head that's for sure. Mind you, some nice little fossils in the fresh stone.
I ended up with a hatful of really nice shots. Usually I might end up with one 5-star pic if I'm lucky, but I had 8 this time, plus another 15 or so 4 star shots (my ratings in Lightroom by the way), so I've got a bunch of post processing to do still.
The shot below is the first one I processed. Amazing it might seem, but this is almost straight out of the camera. As the sun went down, what had been a quite flat and dull day really completely changed. The cloud lightened and it was multi layered, so mist still over the sea gave way to higher clouds which the setting sun diffused through, making this fabulous orangey pink glow. Just beautiful. As the tide had just gone out (planning!), all the rocks were still wet so I could get the reflecting light off their glistening surface.
I'd found this ledge of rock which was looking better and better as the tide went out. Waves were still coming over and soaking me, but such is life. With the tripod up and its feet secure in little gaps in the rock, I set the up the composition so I'd not get any of the bluffs on either side of the bay in the shot. I focused somewhere about halfway into the scene and stuck it on f/18. Once focused & composed, I checked where my ND filters would need to be set to by holding them up to the lens by hand, then I screwed in the ND110 filter. You cant really focus though it so you're blind from that point on. Onto the ND110 went a Lee wide angle filter ring, then a Lee 0.9ND and 0.6ND (both soft) stacked and aligned to where I'd figured out they should be.
With the aperture set, I popped it into bulb mode and plugged in the remote cable release. A bit of earlier trial & error led me to try a shutter speed of 220 secs at ISO200. Pretty much spot on first time (happy days!), but I took another with a 240 sec exposure and it balanced out much more nicely. Oh, the camera is a Canon 1DIII by the way, but you could do this shot with any DSLR as long as you've got a tripod and the right filters - I really recommend Lee filters by the way.
Top stuff - job done for this shot. Post processing was obviously a crop, removing the dust spots (you never see them at f/2.8 shooting sport!), some levels, a tadge of saturation and a bit of a sharpen.
Might pop a few more up here as I process them.
I'll definitely be down to Kimmeridge again. Great place, and a winter day seems a good time to go with early sunsets and not many people about.
Cheers
Tobers
So I planned a trip to Kimmeridge in Dorset. I'd heard it was a good spot for some seascapes. I wanted to match sunset with a lowering tide so a quick sneak at the BBC website revealed the tide tables and sunset times so I could match them up. I also dived into Google Maps to check out the location, and looked up pics on Flickr to work out what it was like.
I do like my long exposures, so had my B&W ND110 filter plus a few Lee ND grads with me as well. Lenswise I took a bunch of them but ended up just using my 17-40, but I'd love to have something a bit wider sometimes.
One key thing I learned about Kimmeridge is that the rocks are extremely slippery. I ended up using my tripod as a 3rd leg to catch me as I slid about. I also ended up with soaking legs below the knee. I met a guy there called Fergus (anyone on here??) who had gaiters on which is a great idea. I did have goretex walking boots on though which kept my feet pretty dry. Also, stay a bit away from the cliffs. There was a rockfall while I was there - not a big one at first sight, but when I wandered a bit closer some of the rocks were as big as a 1 cubic foot. You'd really know it if one of those hit you on the head that's for sure. Mind you, some nice little fossils in the fresh stone.
I ended up with a hatful of really nice shots. Usually I might end up with one 5-star pic if I'm lucky, but I had 8 this time, plus another 15 or so 4 star shots (my ratings in Lightroom by the way), so I've got a bunch of post processing to do still.
The shot below is the first one I processed. Amazing it might seem, but this is almost straight out of the camera. As the sun went down, what had been a quite flat and dull day really completely changed. The cloud lightened and it was multi layered, so mist still over the sea gave way to higher clouds which the setting sun diffused through, making this fabulous orangey pink glow. Just beautiful. As the tide had just gone out (planning!), all the rocks were still wet so I could get the reflecting light off their glistening surface.
I'd found this ledge of rock which was looking better and better as the tide went out. Waves were still coming over and soaking me, but such is life. With the tripod up and its feet secure in little gaps in the rock, I set the up the composition so I'd not get any of the bluffs on either side of the bay in the shot. I focused somewhere about halfway into the scene and stuck it on f/18. Once focused & composed, I checked where my ND filters would need to be set to by holding them up to the lens by hand, then I screwed in the ND110 filter. You cant really focus though it so you're blind from that point on. Onto the ND110 went a Lee wide angle filter ring, then a Lee 0.9ND and 0.6ND (both soft) stacked and aligned to where I'd figured out they should be.
With the aperture set, I popped it into bulb mode and plugged in the remote cable release. A bit of earlier trial & error led me to try a shutter speed of 220 secs at ISO200. Pretty much spot on first time (happy days!), but I took another with a 240 sec exposure and it balanced out much more nicely. Oh, the camera is a Canon 1DIII by the way, but you could do this shot with any DSLR as long as you've got a tripod and the right filters - I really recommend Lee filters by the way.
Top stuff - job done for this shot. Post processing was obviously a crop, removing the dust spots (you never see them at f/2.8 shooting sport!), some levels, a tadge of saturation and a bit of a sharpen.
Might pop a few more up here as I process them.
I'll definitely be down to Kimmeridge again. Great place, and a winter day seems a good time to go with early sunsets and not many people about.
Cheers
Tobers
