After spending four days last week in a federal court (oh what fun)… I decided that I needed a bit of well earned “R&R”. So I packed my swag, camera and laptop into the car and headed down to the South Coast for a few days of photography. I had researched a few specific locations that I wanted to shoot, and I had a very specific style in mind for the shoot. I wanted to really play with some long-exposure black and white “fine art style” seascapes.
I used my B&W 10 stop neutral density filter and shot both of these images at least one hour before sunset. I really enjoyed this style of photography as it slowed me right down and made me think a lot about composition and the natural lighting on the rocks from the overcast sky.
I will do a tutorial on how I post processed these images because I actually used a whole stack of special techniques to gently manipulate the tones and do the dodge/burning.
Ended up dropping my 24-70 f2.8 lens during the shoot, so that was a real bummer…. looks like another insurance claim!
The funny thing about the two locations shown here, I’ve seen a lot of sunrise shoots in this location, but not too many sunset shoots. I didn’t need to use any Grad NDs for either of these shots…. single frames could handle the contrast range easily at Dusk, whereas I would have no hope at Dawn.
Great stuff Brent, I think you have just inspired me to take my 10 stop out for another outing.
Hey Pete
Well that is wonderful if I have motivated you to give your 10stop filter another run.
Good luck and have fun with it.
Brent
B&W wins again. Great images and it was fun shooting with you. I will be posting my images tomorrow on Flickr. It is interesting that I have selected two images only and they are from similar viewpoints.
Look forward to seeing your shots and particularly how you interpret them in the post processing.
It was a fun trip.
BP
Have been trying,unsuccessfully,to buy a Lee Big Stopper,none to be had[not even for ready money]so have settled on a Hoya 400x ND,hope the 9 stops will go some way towards acheiving similar results.Looking forward to the processing post as these are ,as usual,a delight to see.
The weather in NZ this Summer has been awful, overcast and wet a lot and is ideal for this kind of treatment so I have also been experimenting with ND & ND Grade filter. I was originally inspired by Michael Kenna. He has some wonderful examples on his website especially his England 1974 to 2007 series. I really like the Cathedral Rock shot I like the simplicity & serenity of this type of image.
Great work Brent…as usual mate…will have a look at the tuts soon.
Hi Brent,
Great post as always.
Quick Q – who do you insure your gear through? Any recommendations / advice with insurance?
Thanks mate
I have my camera gear insured through my home contents insurance. Check with your home insurance provider, usually for a small increase in premium you can just list out your key items (bodies and lenses) and then you are covered. I use AAMI for my insurance and have been very happy with them.