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| Robin Hoods Bay ISO100 f/11 194sec |
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| Spurn Point ISO100 f/11 60sec |
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| Bamburgh Castle ISO100 f/11 301sec |
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| Spurn Point ISO100 f/11 244sec |
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| Runswick Bay 1hour before sunrise ISO100 f/11 275sec |
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Pre Dawn Delight
One area of photography that I'm beginning to love more and more is the art of low light pre-dawn imagery. Capturing light colour that is bearly visible to the human eye can create some dream-like images and produce some very interesting and sometimes strange results. But this genre of photography requires patience and attention to detail in your workflow.
Low light photography requires long exposures often in excess of five minutes so a sturdy well set tripod is a must, set it as low as you can for your composition and bed it in to any soft surface, you could also use a bungee cord attached to your camera bag to give extra stability. The camera needs to be set on mirror lock up as even the tiny vibrations from the mirror flipping up can last for several seconds creating a soft image and ruining your masterpiece that you waited five minutes for. A cable release is also essential to avoid any need to touch the camera during the exposure.
Metering is a little difficult in low light, most cameras only meter up to a 30 second exposure, beyond that your on your own using the 'Bulb' mode. You could use a handheld light meter if you have one or another technique is to use the camera ISO to give you a reading. A technique I learned from read the book 'Nocturn' by a master of low light photography Bruce Percy. In aperture priority mode set your required aperture then increase the ISO until the meter reading is within 30 secs. You now need to reduce the ISO back to the original setting i.e 100 ISO taking note of how many f/stops you change it by i.e if your camera said it needed 30 seconds at ISO 800, you have reduced the light sensitivity by 3 stops (800 to 400 to 200 to 100). So now you need to add 3 stops to the exposure time of 30 secs i.e 30s to 60s to 120s to 240s. Once you have this base guide take a test shot and use the camera histogram to fine tune your exposure. Remember to use graduated filters as required to balance the exposure.
Focus and composition is sometimes difficult in low light situations, often it can be hard to see anything through the viewfinder so careful consideration of the scene is needed and sometimes a trial and error approach is needed. If there is an object in the near foreground you specifically wand sharp you could use a bright torch to illuminate it to allow for manual focusing but I generally find that the infinity setting on the lens yields reliable results and 'live-view' is fairly useless in low light
Getting out there and shooting well before dawn and testing a few different techniques can often give some very pleasing results just remember the flask and warm coat while waiting for those seconds to tick by.
Monday 4 April 2011
Spurn Point Location Guide
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| Pre Dawn at Spurn Point (c) Rob Ferrol |
Spurn Point is a unique narrow spit of land jutting out into the North Sea creating a natural breakwater forming the Northern edge of the Humber estuary. An aerial view shows just how unique this land mass is, it stretches for just over three miles but is as narrow as 46 meters in places.
The Spurn is reached by heading east from Hull
The site is currently owned by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is designated a Natural Nature Reserve, Heritage Coast
The Spurn is made up of sand and shingle and is formed from material washed down the coast and settling in the sheltered waters of the Humber estuary. This cycle is continually happening and it is estimated that the spun is moving westwards at a rate of 2 meters per year. On the seaward side of the Spurn there are many rows of groynes in various stated of decay that was placed there in Victorian times in the hope of reducing the erosion. This in theory worked well but the land north of the Spurn was unprotected and has eroded some 100+ meters since the defences were put in place leaving the Spurn more exposed.
Photographically the Spurn Point is a wonderful place offering easy access, close car parking and at the risk of annoying some, you can even get some shots from the car park, lol. The dunes can be a little steep in places but nothing too taxing. It has two old lighthouses, one on the Spurn and the other on the landward side just off the shoreline. The dunes and old groynes make great foreground interest and an endless supply of compositional opportunities, the groynes can make some quite attractive abstract images too. For me, the best time to visit is at sunrise with a falling tide, the shallow sloping sand shelf can help create some interesting patterns with the water and the receding high tide will have erased most footprints from the previous day’s visitors. It is worth pointing out that the Humber estuary is a busy shipping lane, some large ship pass quite close to shore, and there is often quite a lot of flotsam/jetsam on the shoreline. I have never as yet visited at sunset but I can see it has great potential for this time of day also, especially on the landward side.
I have found accurate weather forecasts for the Spurn difficult to find. Most forecasts are for the major towns nearby but on the exposed Spurn things can be very different. And change at a moments notice, so plan for this in advance.
For tidal information I use the following link for tide times at the port of Immingham
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| Crashing waves at Spurn Point (c) Rob Ferrol |
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| The old 'Light Tower' Spurn Point (c) Rob Ferrol |
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| Abstract composition using the old groynes, Spurn Point (c) Rob Ferrol |
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| Sunrise at Spurn Point (c) Rob Ferrol |
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| Unforecast Mist at Spurn Point (c) Rob Ferrol |
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