Rather than just tack on a photo at the end of a technical post, I though I'd break it out into a separate post, and provide a bit of background on the photo a-la
Mountain Light. I aim to do a new photo each week, so I'll back-date this entry to Monday.
I'll start with a good one. This is Bathurst Lighthouse on Rottnest Island, WA shot looking east from the western side of Pinky Beach at sunrise. The shot was taken at 5.54am local time on 28 Dec 2004, just as the sun had started to break through the clouds. The fact there where any clouds at all is a bit of a surprise for a WA summer morning, but there had been a large storm the night before. By about 9am, the clouds had totally gone.
Bathurst Lighthouse at dawn is pretty much Rottnest's signature shot, but I am happy that aligning the Lighthouse with the light burst and including an interesting foreground raised it above a touristy snap-shot. Bathurst Lighthouse is visible from Thompsons Bay (where I had stayed the night before and where the ferry comes in from Perth), so it is the obvious shot for a dawn location. I didn't scout the shot out the night before, but did get up at 4am to make sure I was setup when the light hit. I initially setup on the rock outcrop visible near the base of the Lighthouse, but the shot felt way to cramped. Moving across the Beach gave a better sense of place, and also worked well when the sun burst through. The sensor held the full range of light, which surprise me given the dullness of the foreground rocks and the brightness of the weakly filter sunlight. Thankfully, the cloud cover was a sufficient filter, and the only Photoshop editing is a USM and level adjustment over the entire image
This is one of the few shots I've done where I am totally happy with the composition. Given the chance, I wouldn't move any of the elements about.
Technical data embedded in JPEG for those interested.
Posted
Feb 23 2005, 02:54 AM
by
nick