Hanging boats of Istria
This is a sunset photo of hanging boats in Savudrija, Istria, the most northern part of the Croatian coast. It is a special technique of keeping boats sheltered...
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This is a sunset photo of hanging boats in Savudrija, Istria, the most northern part of the Croatian coast. It is a special technique of keeping boats sheltered from the bad weather during winter.
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Apr, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in North of Istria, the most northern part of the Croatian coast.Time
At sunset/blue hour.Lighting
The sun was setting down to the left side of the hanging boat and lit it beautifully. The day before I was checking where the sun would set and saw it could look good.Equipment
I shot it with the Canon 5D Mark III and Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens. I had a B&W 10 stop ND filter on as well as the wireless remote control. The tripod was the Sirui M3204 with the Sirui K40 head. It is a very stable carbon tripod, I love it!Inspiration
I love taking seascapes and I knew there was some interesting motives in this area. This is a good balance to my stressy job and I enjoy spending alone some hours in the nature and taking photos.Editing
Yes, I shot two exposures and combined them in Photoshop in order to have a balanced exposure. I first took them into Lightroom and made small adjustment like lens correction, white balance and some contract corrections. Then I imported both exposures into Photoshop and combined them via the luminosity masks technique which is a pretty accurate exposure blending method. I did some more contract adjustments, added some saturation and sharpness, removed distractions and that was it.In my camera bag
I always of course have the Canon 5D Mark III body and the 3 lenses: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art My Sirui tripod and ball head are a must on every shoot as well as the Lee filter set with the big stopper (10 stops) and the 6 stops ND together with the 3 soft ged filters (1, 2 and 3 stops). I always take the cleaning kit, Hähnel Giga T Pro II wireless remote control and one flash with remote transmitter and spare batteries.Feedback
The key of such an image is in first place to find a good subject with interesting foreground (rocks work very good as they have a lot of detail), main subject (something interesting like a house, a stone or anything that doesn't move so it remains sharp during the long exposure) and a rich sky (with clouds). Then of course the best is to shoot when the light is soft, at sunset or blue hour or sunrise. The time frame to take such an image is very short, perhaps some 30 minutes, so everything has to be set-up well in advance. You also have to consider that a exposure of 6-8 minutes takes the time and normally you would take 2 or 3 exposures. If you notice a mistake then you have to do it again but the light is getting darker and darker and the entire scene is changing. So, you have to check when the sun is setting or rising, at which angle and from which direction is the light coming. I always do that couple of days before. There is many good apps for that, I use the app called The Photorapher's Ephemeris which enables me to see the needed data. Then you should definitely scout the location before or come 2-3 hours before the planned shooting time. I also suggest checking Google Map to see if there is any obstacles blocking the sun lighting the subject at the specific angle at sunset. It happened to me couple of times to plan everything, get ready and go to the location very thrilled and then to see a three or a hill is blocking the light at the right time. So, scouting and planning is very important. Then you should take enough test shots and check them to see if the composition is OK, that there is no distractions and that everything is perfect. I always use live view and manual focusing in order to get the best sharpness possible. Then you attach the remote control, set filters and the best part comes. You open a beer, lean back and enjoy the silence waiting for the right moment to push the trigger.
