Tuesday 4 February 2014

False Dawn (Bournemouth & Old Harry), Dorset

Via Flickr:
Quick shot from the weekend, and one I'm definitely going to be re-shooting in a couple of weeks. The wind was just too strong for a sharp image, and too strong to get as near the edge as I wanted in terms of composition.

Still - I'm happy enough with this test shot to post it and record for self-reference what I'm going to try to fix when I shoot again! I fired a number of much longer (300 second+) exposures following this high ISO 30 second exposure. What I found, however, was that I preferred this version for the semblance of cloud shape that it kept.

It's a little too dark across the cliffs perhaps, and the gloom is just a little cool in terms of colour temperature. Unfortunately with the outrageously strong wind, I couldn't get the cliffs quite as sharp as I wanted - with them sharp I could have messed around in Photoshop to sort that all out. With them in this slightly "smudged" format, there's not the resolution to tolerate too much digital manipulation.

Imsh'allah, when I'm next down there, I'll have my newly ordered TS-E 24mm ii. I've sold a couple of lenses I wasn't using to part fund it. Placing the focal plane along the cliffs at a diagonal, and getting their early enough to focus manually, is the plan.

All the peachy glow on the horizon is light pollution, so fingers cross for this perfect mix of cloud and clear sky to catch it without overwhelming.

Hope everyone is having a great week!