Turnberry Lighthouse

Seajay

Seajay

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Cathy
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Just reading through the site and enjoying all the advice from each section. While here I thought I wold ask for a little help in taking pictures of Turnberry Lighthouse.

I am just at the beginning of coming off Auto and do not have any filters as yet or a wide angle lens I have a canon 550d the kit Lens the nifty fifty and a Tamron 70-200 .

I took the snap below with my old camera a few weeks ago and as I walk here weekly thought I would look for pointers to take some better shots. For example time of
day that is best, should I use a tripod etc


The picture below was way off to the side still is a little but I had a go at rotating it after watching Jamie do it.

.
Rocks by cooriedoon, on Flickr
 
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A good time of day, the light is bright but not too harsh, but yes, use a tripod, or stand straight. :D
 
Yes I see it is squint think I was sitting on a rock trying to get down a little closer and also trying to keep dry not the best idea lol!
 
Much better thank you so much i will save it.

I do love Turnberry and also the hotel. i have seen some amazing photos taken by others. It would be nice to get one to hang one day and think maybe one taken at sunset would be nice after looking as so many sunsets stunners on here. Not sure I can master that with my equipment yet!
 
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You're welcome Catherine. It look an amazing place. The only way I may have tried it differently would be to set a longer exposure, to make the water look like silk, but in bright sunshine it would be hard to get a long enough exposure.
Where is Turnberry?
 
It is just outside a little village called Maidens in Ayrshire Scotland

A stunning area that is also the home of a famous golf course and amazing Hotel used by golfers world wide.
Then there is Culzean castle which I pass on the way there and all just 20 mns from where I stay.

There was some info on another thread from Mark Mullen on settings how to soften or freeze water so I will go back and take notes of his settings and give it a go .

Jamie as I want to learn can I ask did you straighten this in Lightroom?
 
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Seajay said:
It is just outside a little village called Maidens in Ayrshire Scotland

A stunning area that is also the home of a famous golf course and amazing Hotel used by golfers world wide.
Then there is Culzean castle which I pass on the way there and all just 20 mns from where I stay.

There was some info on another thread from Mark Mullen on settings how to soften or freeze water so I will go back and take notes of his settings and give it a go .

Jamie as I want to learn can I ask did you straighten this in Lightroom?
Click to expand...

It's a place I will have to visit, I love seascapes, but as I live near Stoke on Trent, it's a fair drive.
Lightroom? What's that? lol. No I used Nero Photosnap which was part of the Nero package when I bought it for burning mp3's. It's an excellent bit of kit considering it was free as an afterthought. It straightens (by single degrees), sharpens, does all sorts of different effects, but it's not like photoshop where you can mask and clone etc. I don't like altering photo's, except to straighten, occasionally crop or lighten or darken, that's all I do.
 
Thank you Simon I must go now and straighten the rest lol! :)

While taking all of these I was so annoyed that there was a car in the distance wasting my pictures and complained to my hubby who could not get it ! as he just thinks a photo is a photo
and then he told me that that annoying car was ours :)
 
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Ha ha, funny story about the car, just the sort of thing I would do.

On your original question I would say dont worry about wide angle yet you have plenty good enough lenses for now.

I would try arriving early pre sunrise, use a good solid tripod, use a remote trigger or a 2 second delay with mirror up so you get no shake, start taking shots real early from first light, at this time the dynamic range is small so the camera can cope easily without filters.
Set everything to Manual with your base ISO (100 or 200 I dont know the model) focus manually and make sure what is important is in focus. Try an aperture around f13 say, your shutter speed will be quite slow which will have a nice effect on the waves.
Use Live view and adjust shutter speed until it looks right then do a trial shot and check, adjust if necessary and shoot again.
If you have been lucky and had good light you will have a lovely mage, if not come back again and keep trying til you get the light.

Hope that makes sense
 
You might have something to learn about photographic techniques Catherine, but you obviously have a very good eye. Technique can be learned; picture sense, not so much. It's an excellent photo.
 
Thats a fantastic shot Catherine, I love the area and visit Saltcoats a couple of times a year :) Apart from straightening the horizon as Jamie has already done there's nothing wrong here at all that I can see :) I think smoothing the water is a personal preference and it can add to the overall effect but not always, that said I think this shot with the details in the rocks on the beach would have looked nice.
Regarding filters I bought a cheap set of ND-ND grads from fleabay and they make so much difference.

Mark
 
Mark, Summerstar and Steve many thanks for all your kind comments and advice and I will be trying another shoot of Turnberry soon and I will see how I get on.

I will be more careful now taking outdoor shots as I ad no idea about keeping the horizon straight :) but I do now and I am gaining knowledge each day from you all so thank you

Steve if you read this what is mirror up? I am sorry to ask but I have no idea and how would I set my canon 550d to do this?
 
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Sorry Catherine, I didn't want to get technical.
When using slow shutter speeds such as you will use after sunset for example the vibration caused by the mirror mechanism as it flips up can be enough to give some blur to the image.

Mirror lock up can be programmed in camera so that the first time you press the trigger it locks the mirror up and the second time it fires and thus reducing vibration. It is usually used in conjunction with a cable release so as not to ave to physically press the button and risking more camera shake. It can also be used if you set your camera to a 2 second delay, press the button and the mirror locks up, 2 seconds later the shutter is released.

There is a video about it how to do it in the 450d here I a told the 550d works the same only you select menu option 9 instead of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI9OccTmkcM
 
Steve thank you I will watch the video and also order in a cable release and give this a go . It is the only way to learn.
Have been to your web site WOW! Amazing work very well done! You have a wonderful talent and I am happy you shared your beautiful prints.
Cathy
 
Cathy

Thank you for the compliments.
You are obviously enjoying your photography, so you can only improve.
Your lighthouse shot is a good composition, it has a great leading line which takes your eye straight to the focal point, which is bang on the thirds.

We all get horizons wonky from time to time and occasionally I still forget to straighten them.

A good book if you want one I can suggest 'Understanding Exposure' by Brian Peterson. Does a great job of giving you the confidence to start working your camera manually and understanding the settings.

What could turn your above photo from a good shot to a great shot (in my opinion) is lighting, the kind you get at each end of the day if your lucky. Don't worry about buying new gear yet, try going for sunset and take some exposures, but don't pack your kit away once the sun goes down, keep shooting until its almost dark.

You say you have LR and Photoshop, so shoot in RAW or RAW+ if you want a jpeg as well and this gives you more flexibility with the highlights and shadows and white balance etc.

Don't be afraid to ask, if your not sure.
 
Steve thank you I appreciate the advice and i will get the book.
I will get myself down to Turnberry and give it a go. There are so many places to view the lighthouse from that gve you a completely different picture so I have lots to try out.
Cathy
 
I like the straightened version a lot. To avoid slanted horizons, buy a cheap bubble spirit level from ebay (about £3) and put it in the flash hotshoe and go from there. I find them very helpful and it saves cropping later on too so you dont lose anything.
 
New book 'Understanding Exposure' by Brian Peterson arrived today and I am only a few pages in and enjoying it so much.

I like your idea of a mini bubble to help and I will look into that. Mind you when taking all my Turnberry shots I did not have the knowledge to keep my horizon straight . Just something I knew nothing about until now.

I knew with each shot that I wanted a different view of the lighthouse each time . There are some great places that include the scene and give a completely different look, like on the golf course
and from the hotel,or on either side of the beach.

With all my new tips and guidance from here I am so looking forward to going to take them all again. Once Xmas day is past and I get a nice dry day I will try again. I love it there,
.
 
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You would not be disappointed as there are quite a few wonderful places you could capture there all within 30 mns of Turnberry

Well I had a disaster of a day yesterday trying out all my new knowledge . I decided to try and take the old Dunure Castle from the beach. Huh! Not one shot did I get and a lesson learned. I used a cheap tripod that blew about in the wind which was wild,all the pics I took had sea-spray on the lens. Guess you need to carry a little duster with you and a
Good tripod lol!

I only shot about 10 as it truly was way to windy and I was using my new wireless shutter release. My attention after set up was on protecting my camera from dropping onto the sand and water but when I viewed the shots taken they all had lovely water marks over them it was a good job the shots were not that great or i would have been as raging as the sea.

I will go back again on a calmer day!
 
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Yes, a good heavy tripod is essential, but it is always difficult on very windy days whatever the tripod. You can try hanging a weight underneath, many tripods have a little hook just for this purpose.

In such conditions I would use a lens cloth and some lens cleaning fluid, cheapest is spectacle cleaner from Boots. Carry several cloths.
 
Thank you Steve I will go to Boots and get some. I am having a look right now on e bay at Tripods so hope to find a better one soon.
Cathy
 
I noticed your location from the thread Cathy, lovely part of the world.

Ayr has a good wee camera club if I remember rightly, lots of helpful friendly people there to help out if you consider it.
 
Yes been in touch with a member of Ayr CLub and once Xmas is by I am going to go along for my two free weeks and then hopefully join.
Thank you for the advice though that was so kind of you. wHere in Scotland are you from?
Cathy
 
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Well I'm not at the moment, I haven't updated my location but occasionally I get back to Castle Douglas.
 
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