The Road
Botany Bay Road is the main route into the Botany Bay Plantation and Wildlife Preserve on Edisto Island, SC. Once the home to several old plantations, the groun...
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Botany Bay Road is the main route into the Botany Bay Plantation and Wildlife Preserve on Edisto Island, SC. Once the home to several old plantations, the grounds are now used for bird hunting, cultural, historic and beach going interests. The famous Botany Bay "boneyard" with its old sun-bleached oaks standing on the shore and in the surf is a rare coastal delight!
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Jan, 2015Views
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dianestoverleyh
August 29, 2016
I absolutely love this picture, this is close to home for me and some of my favorite subjects to photograph
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image of Botany Bay Road was taken at Edisto Island in South Carolina at the Botany Bay Plantation and Wildlife Management Area. This is the entry road to the plantation. The location is as picturesque as any and not exceedingly difficult to shoot with the exception of managing to time things properly so that cars coming and going do not get in your composition.Time
As with most landscape work, the best time to shoot is either sunrise or sunset. This particular shot was made about an hour or so after sunrise. The canopy allows for extended shooting but it can get tricky on bright sunny days as light makes it's way through the leaves and branches creating hot spots on the road below.Lighting
You pretty well have to go with what you get here as far as lighting goes. Since this was my first visit I really didn't have a vision for this shot. I knew once I started looking around that I wanted to portray the feeling of being in a "tunnel" and incorporate all the elements that created it so getting the moss, flowering vines and various colors of leaves was important and the lighting I had in this moment helped with that quite a bit. I ultimately ended up using the light available to draw the viewer through the picture along the obvious leading line created by the road to the end of the tunnel leaving that area at the end as the brightest part of the image.Equipment
I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark III and for this image I chose a wide angle lens, the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II. Other equipment used includes a Really Right Stuff TVC-24L tripod and the RRS BH-40 ballhead and a Canon TC-80N3 remote trigger release.Inspiration
Aside from having heard about this location from fellow photographers and seen many enchanting images, the inspiration comes on strong as soon as you are on location here taking in the natural beauty of the scene. There are not many opportunities, at least for me, to photograph a scene like this. As maritime forests are destroyed in the name of "progress" and development these opportunities will become even fewer. This old road however should be around forever!Editing
This is a single image shot RAW and imported into Adobe Lightroom. I try to minimize the amount of post work required but generally always work the sliders in Lightroom from top to bottom experimenting with each until I am seeing what I like. I am always hopeful that I can process images in LR alone and do accomplish this frequently but I have found that I like to make a quick trip into Photoshop for additional curves, levels and sharpening adjustments which I did end up doing with this image.In my camera bag
I carry an F-stop Loka bag with the above mentioned Canon 5D3 and 16-35 f/2.8L II along with Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II and Canon 24-105mm f/4L lenses, a Lee filter system, the RRS tripod/ballhead combo, several B&W circular filters, headlamp, a couple flashlights and miscellaneous cleaning supplies, extra batteries, hand warmers, bug spray, snacks and water.Feedback
Although it doesn't really look like it, this is a coastal location and with that comes the dynamic and often quickly changing weather patterns depending on the time of year. Early mornings can be foggy with limited visibility that changes on a dime to bright and sunny! Having an idea what you want to create before you arrive would be helpful but if you don't have that worked out, as I often do not, I have begun trying to take time (when possible) to feel the location out and decide whether or not I want to go for the large scene as I did here, or a smaller more intimate and less obvious scene. Maybe only a specific tree or group of trees is speaking to you creatively, maybe it's the moss hanging down, perhaps a side road or even a man made element along the road or side roads that catch your eye. I am working on being a more patient photographer, it is not easy, but when I manage to truly slow down and see many different potential compositions, that is when I usually walk away with something more satisfying.
