Sticks and Stones

STICKS AND STONES

Shot at Llandulas beach, north Wales. It’s the “almost” uniform recession of the groynes as well as the detail in the foreground that makes this picture for me.

The setup

Foreground is so important when shooting landscapes. It gives a sense of scale as well as depth to a picture. It brings the sole shot together. Foreground interest gives the viewer a starting point for their journey through the image. Tripod is a must for this shot – a long exposure of 100 seconds requires complete stillness, which is difficult when you are freezing your assets off on a windy beach.

The shoot

The trusty wide-angle lens is out again. I get really low down to the ground, and in close to the rocks to exaggerate their size. I know the shot I want in my head. I want milky water, almost fog-like, frothing over the rocks and a calm tranquil sea for the groynes to descend into. For this I need a Neutral Density filter capable of stopping down the light for a good few seconds. It can only mean one thing… This is a job for the 10 -stop filter!

I arrange the kit, making sure the camera is focused on the right spot to ensure the whole image is sharp. Using the camera’s exposure meter I now calculate how long I would need to leave the shutter open for based on its current reading. Being careful not to move the setup, I now attach the 10-stop filter. With bulb mode applied, I now dial in the aperture (f/22) and press the shutter-release cable button and wait. This is the hard part – waiting for time to pass, concentrating on not disturbing any rocks underfoot otherwise the whole setup will have to be restarted. 100 seconds later – click. That’s it, done. I view the camera’s preview image and histogram to make sure the calculated exposure time was accurate. Got it.

Afterwards

Being next to the sea it is inevitable that the filter will catch some of the spray from the water, especially on a windy day, so a few minutes viewing the shot at 100% is necessary to make sure I clear up the dust-bunnies using Photoshop’s spot-healing brush. Some levels adjustments and sharpening and I’m happy.