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FollowThe Saltburn Cliff Lift opened in 1884, and is the oldest operating water-balance cliff lift in the world. It was originally designed to allow tourists easy acc...
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The Saltburn Cliff Lift opened in 1884, and is the oldest operating water-balance cliff lift in the world. It was originally designed to allow tourists easy access to Saltburn pier from the cliff-top town.
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NaturesHaven
July 24, 2018
Great image.........I remember riding up and down on these many years ago........
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in the town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea in North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The exact location is right at the top of the Cliff Lift above the pier.Time
I left the house at about 5:40am in order to get to Saltburn for the sunrise. This was not actually the image I was trying to capture, and I shot this pretty late, round about 7:30am. I was actually on my way back to the car when I remembered this classic view of the two most famous sights in Saltburn. At this time on a weekend there are no people around so I managed to get a completely natural empty scene.Lighting
There was nothing to note about the lighting at all. The only thing is that I bracketed for the highlights and shadows. Apart from that it is all natural light.Equipment
This image was shot using a Canon EOS 7D, EF 16-35mm f/4L IS and a cheap Amazon tripod since my proper tripod is 6000 miles away!Inspiration
As I've already mentioned this was actually a backup shot from the session and was only taken as an afterthought on my way back to the car. I've been away from the UK for nearly 10 years and have just moved back, so I've been getting reacquainted with the area I've been missing. Saltburn is one of the nicest small towns in the UK and has the only pier left in Yorkshire. It also has the oldest water-balanced funicular railway in the world. Both are major tourist attractions, and they are both iconic shots of this stretch of coastline. Getting them both in the same shot is also something of an iconic shot. Basically my inspiration for taking this shot was being away for so long and seeing my local area through fresh eyes!Editing
There was the usual processing for white balance, exposure and shadows/highlights in Capture One, and then my three brackets were taken into Photoshop. I used luminosity masks to isolate the highlights and shadows and blended them together. After doing a little cleanup I used Nik Color Efex Pro to add loads of contrast, and then worked on the colours a little using masks and curves. Nothing too special, but I think it turned out well!In my camera bag
My go-to lens at the moment is the Canon 16-35 f/4L IS. It's stunningly sharp and the IS makes it holdable at really slow shutter speeds. In fact I can get sharp shots at over a second! On my APS-C Canon 7D this lens acts like a general-purpose walk around zoom, so it is more or less permanently attached to the camera. I also reach for the 50mm f/1.8 on a number of occasions as I like the way the lens renders. For portraits I'll grab either the 70-200 f/4L or the 85 f/1.8 depending on what I want to accomplish. As a backup body I rely on my EOS-M that tends to have the 18-55 on it, although I do like the 22 f/2 on occasion. Apart from that I have a cheap and cheerful Amazon tripod to tide me over until I can get my good and sturdy Velbon back from the pile of stuff I couldn't carry with me when I moved back to the other side of the world.Feedback
When photographing landscapes always make sure you have a backup shot. I hadn't actually planned to take this shot at all as I was focusing on the sunrise and I couldn't possibly have got both in the same frame. I was actually on the beach for about an hour and a half before this taking shots of the pier and cliff off to the right of the frame. On the way back to the car I had to stop and tip the sand out of my boots and happened to be just about where I took the photo from. Always plan to take lots of shots, even if you don't really find them compelling or interesting because with a little bit of work something excellent may come from them!