SimonTHgolfer

Southwold Pier at Dawn

NIKON D5100

settings

Aperture f/14.0 ISO 100 Shutter 20/1 Focal Length 115/10

upload_date

May, 2015

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2499

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Behind The Lens

Location

This shot is of the iconic pier at Southwold in Suffolk, England. It's such amazing location that has been photographed countless times as it is a great basis for a superb seaside shot.

Time

This image was taken during my absolute favourite part of the day, pre-dawn ! I was up and out of bed at around 3am on an unseasonably cold morning in mid-May 2015, so cold for this part of the world my immediate thoughts turned to gloves. After my morning glug of coffee, the 20 mile drive to the location seemed to take no time at all due to the lack of any cars or people around on any of the roads. Arriving at the completely deserted beach around 4:15am, I was surprised to be the only photographer there as the sunrise was looking to be a real beauty. After a few minutes choosing location and setting up my gear, the sun started to awaken and made the effort of dragging myself out of bed at such an ungodly hour, truly worth it.

Lighting

The lighting for this shot was provided entirely by mother nature. I wanted the sun that was just over the horizon to almost ignite the piers windows with a golden fire while the sky remained bathed in subtle, pastel hues.

Equipment

For this shot I used a Nikon D5100 with a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6, Velbon tripod and a pair of stacked GND 8 and GND 4 filters.

Inspiration

I've always lived in this part of the world and there are many truly iconic structures and landscapes here. It was early summer and I promised myself that I would strive to capture as many of them with the best possible natural lighting. Being on the east coast, that time is in the pre-dawn and dawn hours.

Editing

I used Photoshop to just tidy this image up and to make sure the horizon was straight. For some reason I can never get it level in the camera !

In my camera bag

I take my kit with me absolutely everywhere as I'm terribly worried about missing "that shot" while not having it. I currently have Nikon D750 and D5100 bodies, a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6, a Nikon 24-120mm f/4, a Nikon 50mm f/1.8, a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, a Nikon SB-600 speedlight, two tripods and a mass of different filters. I figure that you can't be too prepared !

Feedback

Don't be afraid to have to call off a shoot, if you get out of bed and find the sunrise or weather isn't going to play ball, don't sweat it. It's better to have a few "false starts" than miss that one opportunity for a corker of a shot. To get nicely balanced lighting between the sky and the sea use graduated ND filters, it'll smooth the shot out and save a ton of time in post-processing. For the effect of milky, misty water and a nice depth of field use a fairly narrow aperture and a nice long shutter speed. Most of all have fun doing it, you'll get a far better shot if you enjoy being where you are.

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SimonTHgolfer

SimonTHgolfer

Southwold Pier at Dawn

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow SimonTHgolfer

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