A Quick Dash To Lee On Solent

After zapping the Mrs with my Sons Super Soaker (she had got me earlier), I thought it best to make a quick exit and head on down to one of our local beaches at Lee On Solent, to see if the Sunset was worth catching.

It turned out to be a bit of a disappointment - heavy black clouds on the horizon obscured the setting Sun, so I got a bit "artistic" with a few of the photo's and put some more b&w practice in.

Wide Angle Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/3rd, ISO 100, Focal Length 6.3mm, Tripod

I chose a low ISO and small aperture to maximise the shutter speed and depth of field. I really liked the colour version of this shot, but the black and white version (done using the b&w adjustment layer in Photoshop) just seemed a little more peaceful.

From My Towers Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 0.57sec, ISO 100, Focal Length 57.3mm, Tripod

This part of the Sunset was the most colourful - so I tried to get a view of the Fawley Power Station in too. I increased the contrast in Photoshop and went for a severe crop.

For Mr Sugimoto Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 3.1sec, ISO 64, Focal Length 63.3mm, Tripod

Taken with the dark part of my Cokin Grad over the lens to increase the shutter time to 3 seconds, this picture was then converted to b&w, a slight sepia tone added, and a vignette. It's inspired by the sea-scapes of Hiroshi Sugimoto. I know it won't appeal to all, but its quite serene if you look at it for a minute or so. Not sure about the vignette though....


Tidal Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 3.5sec, ISO 64, Focal Length 63.3mm, Tripod

Another attempt at a bit of an abstract. Covert to b&w and a tone added. Not sure if I like the way the colour has blown out in the middle, and obviously the crop is too severe, but a theme to work on a think.


Beach View Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/3sec, ISO 64, Focal Length 6mm, Tripod

A more traditional shot to finish off on.


I only spent about 20 minutes at the beach, but it showed me that again its worth taking chances with your shots, and trying something different in pre and post processing, and it gave me some ideas for different styles.

Thanks, Rob.

PS, A note on camera exif data. Being a bridge camera, my S5700 has a crop factor because the sensor is a lot smaller than on a dSLR, so when you're looking at the focal lengths bear in mind that the S5700 has a focal length range of 6-63mm, which is the equivalent of 38-380mm in a 35mm dSLR. Also the aperture and shutter speeds given are approximate, as for some reason sometimes they're different in the PC exif data than what I actually took, but its usually just the next step up or down.

Comments

[josie]

I love all of these,and i especially like the strong gradient in the first one- it works really well

[Rob_Nunn]

Thanks! ;-)