Pentre Ifan 1
Jan, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
After a small drive along a narrow country lane, I pulled over following the signs for Pentre Ifan, Pembrokeshire, Wales, the famous but seldom visited ancient monument. The sky was a deep blue with a combination of vapour trials and high white sporadic cloud, the natural contrast was played down a little in post production but the image was generally conceived in-camera.Time
If I remember correctly, and I might not, it was taken around late morning, 10-11am I think. I wish I could say I predetermined this time of day but it was totally opportunistic, a theme oft repeated for me!Lighting
The light was bright, early spring and the sun was a little low even though the day was already unfolding. I took a walk around the site and decided for impact the light was best positioned behind the subject, hiding the worst of the glare from the sun behind the huge slab of rock positioned as the roof for the monument, adding drama to the majestic burial mound.Equipment
I hand-held my Nikon D600 with 50mm lens at f8, 1/2000sec, ISO 400.Inspiration
I've always had a fascination with ancient burial mounds and prehistoric sites of that ilk. I think such sites lend themselves to a certain amount of romanticism, hopefully I've helped that along with the bit of added drama to the finished image.Editing
The contrast was reduced a little, shadows filled, the image was rendered into black and white from the colour original. As usual for me, very little post processing, I prefer to take pictures rather than spend hours processing them. There is nothing wrong with either approach but I'd rather take longer thinking about an image or trying mulitple things while at the site, rather than at a computer. Just my personal preference.In my camera bag
A single camera, Nikon D600. Lenses are all Nikon too which consist of f4 300mm, f1.8 G 50mm, f2.8 D 20mm & AF-S Micro f2.8 105mm.Feedback
Practise with backlighting to get the effect you want, often with static subjects, there aren't many things that require you to rush, take your time and run off a few images with slight variations. This not only gets you more familiar with how your particular set up of photographic gear deals with the subject under different conditions, but will help shape your preferences for an image. Have fun!
