Sunset Images Wirral Beaches

After the Scotland holiday I have been shooting Meols and New Brighton sunsets with dslr and drone, here are a few images...…..

First we have a stunning cloud formation over the docks looking from New Brighton

                                                                     5dsr  17-40L

                           Now for a Phantom 4 pro drone image taken a couple of minutes earlier.

                              Flying back behind the lighthouse to get the entire view in frame .

A multi frame Vertorama , sand patterns are very interesting on this side of the breakwater at low tide, always different.

                     Meols beach for this next series,   the boats make good subjects at low tide.

                   Topdown over the sands near to sunset, the low sun showing all the textures nicely.

                                                                   Fabulous cloud formation .

                                                               9 frame panorama merge

    Perch Rock lighthouse at New Brighton     one of the most dramatic sunsets of the year so far.
                                                                   multi frame merge.

                               Meols beach flying the drone at about  6 - 8 ft to get these  images

              Perch Rock for another cracking sunset , just 2 frames merged for this drone image.

      5dsr with 17-40 L  6 stop nd  and 0.9 soft nd grad for these 2 images from the same evening.

     Two final images from Perch Rock , high tide and superb clouds moving fast in strong wind.

                                    5dsr  17 - 40L   f14   90 seconds 6 stop nd and 0.6 soft nd grad

                              5dsr 17-40L    f14  60 seconds with 6 stop nd and 0.6 soft nd grad

Dorset Holiday pt2 Bat Head Portland Bill

I have actually got up early for once to catch a sunrise ,  Yes  i have !      shock horror......................
On Durdle Door beach the clear sky is not good , but behind me the beautiful soft colours are fabulous .




                                                            Bat Head sunrise  1 second

                                        Lovely glow on the water in this image .  0.8 seconds

           Later in the day we have travelled to Portland bill , to the lighthouse and Pulpit Rock.

 

                                  Jan and the Terrible Twosome are watching me shooting .

 

                              Pulpit Rock while waiting for sunset .    long exposure 99 seconds

                 Sunset time , starnge sky tonight , but got colour on the low rock in the foreground .

                                            5 frames merged   5 seconds up to 25 seconds

                                      

                                                                        After Sundown
                                                                           25 seconds 

                                                                           25 seconds

 
                                                       and lastly Portland Bill lighthouse

                                                                          8 seconds

Perch Rock Sunset Aug 16 th 2016

Having a hunch that there was going to be good sunset coinciding with an almost high tide at Perch Rock i drove down for an evening shoot.  What i suspected  was correct, a good looking sky already turning colour!  

The water was already up to the base of the rocks to the right of the breakwater so i headed straight to the rocks .   the tide is coming in fast which is usual here so i need to be quick setting up.

 Its very calm , not a breath of wind tonight!     with a long exposure to smooth out the water even more it looks like this ...........


                                    15 seconds with Lee little stopper     a 6 stop nd filter

         Wonderful afterglow tonight now the sun has set ,   this is 30 seconds at the peak colour.  

                                   A comparison image without the long exposure   1/8 th second

                                   Another 30 second exposure as the colour starts to fade .
   and then i and a couple of other photogs had to wade back to shore as the tide cut us off on the rocks   Ooops

Stormy seas and skies at Perch Rock february 2016

With yet another storm blowing in , its time to head down to Perch Rock lighthouse  , its due to hit tomorrow but this evening there might be a good sunset possibly.

The tide has just come over the breakwater and there is some nice fast moving cloud starting to colour up:)
                                                   50 seconds at f14 with lee little stopper

The next morning its blowing a gale , so back to New Brighton for some big stormy wave shots :)

I chose to shoot with 100-400 mm lens on a tripod for these.


                                                             1 second exposure

                                        0.8 second exposure , the sky is getting dark now.

               1/200 th second, sun lighting up the lighthouse with dark brooding clouds behind :)

                   a rather enjoyable morning , no long exposures as it is just too windy.

First Landscape Test 5dsr 28 Dec 2015

Time to try my new 5Dsr on some landscapes today , we are on our way to Snowdonia for the day.  it will give me a chance to have a few practise images with big & little stoppers and the various settings on the camera.
First we will take the Terrible Twosome up to Cym Idwal before heading to Penmon Point lighthouse for the high tide just after mid day.

 Firstly the standard "Devils Kitchen" view over Llyn Idwal   The light is dull and lifeless unfortunately.  Its blowing a gale up here , my new small Gitzo 0 series Mountaineer tripod is getting a good trial today in these conditions!           
I am using live view today, i never used it on my old 5d mk2 but its very easy to use on this new body , and it shows a "predicted exposure" when using long exposures  which is very helpful :)


                                25 seconds  f14 with Lee Little Stopper   ( 6 stop nd filter)

                                        Chester being windblown   haha    iso 800  f10   

A Shot with little stopper , the mirror is locked up in live view so i don't need to use that function but i am using 2 sec delay on my RC-6 remote.   looking at these first images i think i can definitely go for smaller appertures than i have been shooting at today.  reports i had read mostly said Dont shoot below f10 for sharpest image quality.  

                                                              20 seconds f13  iso 100

                                 Must get going now, don't want to miss the tide at Penmon!

Arriving at Penmon in time but find it is really windy, not what i need to shoot long exposures with the Lee Big and Little stoppers , But this is going to really test the new tripod for stability!
    Now , as i walk down to the point near the rocks, i notice 2 other photographers Sitting on the pebbles quite away from the rocks , i say hello as i pass and they ignore me , just speaking welsh to each other!!!       Normally photogs are always friendly!
I walk past them and set up on the edge of the Rocks , Then as i am looking through the viewfinder , they Both walk infront of me and block my view!!!!!!!!!   Ignorant, selfish  Twats!!!!!!!!!!!!
I Have no idea what is up with these 2 , they were not photographing anything when i got here and now they prevent me from shooting on this composition!!!!!!!!!       I move over to the left and shoot with them just out of view , i have hung my camera bag from the tripod hook to help stability as its really blowing.       

                                 just 2.5 seconds f7.1   gives nice wave movement

                                                           Crop from above image.
                                   No problem with stability on this Gitzo tripod then :)

The other 2 have now walked out onto the rocks in the above image so i am forced to move around to the right to keep them out of view! WTF!!!!!!
  I wont say anything as i would more likely to tell them to F-off!   lol  
      Live view is working well , the detail in the rocks is superb!   I am very surprised considering the wind,  and loads of on line reports that its hard to get sharp images with this camera!

 At last They have gone!!!!!    I can get out onto the rocks now to get the composition i had in mind.  this is a 3 frame hdr processed in lightroom 6.   5 seconds at F10       The depth of field is same as my old camera being full frame but i have read that images get softer after about f10 . i will have to do some tests on that one , but presume in normal shooting it wont be an issue.

Conclusions so far - both viewfinder and live view are very good , image quality is without question.  But i have only shot about 180 frames so far today and i have just noticed my battery is down to 16 %
What the hell is that all about!   new battery on only 2 charge cycles , live view draining power?  
will have to keep an eye on that with more re charge cycles on it.
 We are off towards Newborough beach for sunset.

                                    Its now £4 to park at Newborough warren car park!!!!!!  
Walking across the dunes towards the beach in anticipation for the sunset , my hopes are dashed as i crest the dunes, a thick band of cloud has appeared and ruined it!!!!!   Arghhhhhhhh
The beasts are going to get a good run anyhow :)

The sun is setting and at least there are reflections on the wet sand as the tide is going out.  and the kite surfers are great fun to watch.    all these images are hand held with 100-400 L   ISO 200 & 400 F13

The end of an interesting day , frustrating with the weather but at least i have a few images to inspect.  the battery life is a concern, 211 shots and i have 5% left ,  not good but hopefully that will improve as the re charge cycle increases.   the long exposure image quality is looking good , but not done any really long ones today due to the wind.  the colours of the images are very accurate from what i have noticed and the exposure seems better than my older camera with greater dynamic range. producing a lot less blown highlights on the histograms .    Looking foreword to another test in the mountains soon , but that will have to wait until i am back from a few days in Berlin.

Various Perch Rock Sunsets August 2014

   A collection of images shot over 5 trips to Perch Rock Lighthouse on the Wirral during August.