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- John
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My 'thing' is wildlife/birds, but I got a call from a fellow wildlife tog on Boxing Day suggesting that we get up early to attempt something different - sunrise on a beach! The thought of getting up at silly o'clock to walk over a beach in the dark didn't appeal much, but neither did wasting a (short) public holiday in front of the telly wearing a dressing gown. So, alarm was set for 6am and by 7.30, I had parked-up and walked a mile with my gear across sand dunes on a dark beach. It was also very cold - one to two degrees, with a virtually clear sky.
I've never tried to take a serious / planned landscape shot and have always relied upon just clicking a button at a well known location such as the Queens View in Perthshire. The thought of actually heading out somewhere just to snap a view has been an alien concept, until yesterday! I extended my tripod, stuck the camera on top and adjusted the frame using live-view. I had positioned myself for the stone(s) in the foreground and this is what worries me about the cliché aspect. It works, but I've only learned to do this from looking at other peoples shots here. The next half hour was spent adjusting settings and guessing which would work best for an emerging sun in the centre of the frame on a dark beach. I'd normally use Manual mode for birds, but found that Apperture Priority allowed more flexibility for adjusting the exposure. Probably very lucky to catch a light pillar just as the sun was rising - a reflection of light from small ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. A passing ship, just off the bay, added a bit to the shot too. The one thing that bothered me (at the time of clicking the shutter) was a fairly central horizon which might go against the rules. It doesn't actually trouble me at all with the finished article, but let's see what others think. All in all, I hope it's a reasonable result for an amateur who would otherwise have still been in his bed on a public holiday.
EOS 1Dxii, 24mm, F8, 1/40s, -1ev, ISO400.
I've had a lot of positive (social media) comments about this shot in the past 24hrs, including some from unexpected sources. However, I'm not looking for smoke to be blown up my behind here - I'm asking for some hard critique from folks who will probably know a hell of a lot more about landscape than I do. Please feel free to nit-pick and constructive comments will be taken with gratitude.
I've never tried to take a serious / planned landscape shot and have always relied upon just clicking a button at a well known location such as the Queens View in Perthshire. The thought of actually heading out somewhere just to snap a view has been an alien concept, until yesterday! I extended my tripod, stuck the camera on top and adjusted the frame using live-view. I had positioned myself for the stone(s) in the foreground and this is what worries me about the cliché aspect. It works, but I've only learned to do this from looking at other peoples shots here. The next half hour was spent adjusting settings and guessing which would work best for an emerging sun in the centre of the frame on a dark beach. I'd normally use Manual mode for birds, but found that Apperture Priority allowed more flexibility for adjusting the exposure. Probably very lucky to catch a light pillar just as the sun was rising - a reflection of light from small ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. A passing ship, just off the bay, added a bit to the shot too. The one thing that bothered me (at the time of clicking the shutter) was a fairly central horizon which might go against the rules. It doesn't actually trouble me at all with the finished article, but let's see what others think. All in all, I hope it's a reasonable result for an amateur who would otherwise have still been in his bed on a public holiday.
EOS 1Dxii, 24mm, F8, 1/40s, -1ev, ISO400.
I've had a lot of positive (social media) comments about this shot in the past 24hrs, including some from unexpected sources. However, I'm not looking for smoke to be blown up my behind here - I'm asking for some hard critique from folks who will probably know a hell of a lot more about landscape than I do. Please feel free to nit-pick and constructive comments will be taken with gratitude.
