Enjoy the Silence
Enjoy the Silence - by Martijn van der Nat
The puddles left by the low tide and shapes in the sand attracted my attention. and invited me to make an almos...
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Enjoy the Silence - by Martijn van der Nat
The puddles left by the low tide and shapes in the sand attracted my attention. and invited me to make an almost abstract image of the beach. No distractions just shapes, color and silence…
Stuff I used: Tripod, remote release, Nikon D90, Sigma 10-20, 12 mm, ISO 200, f14, 15 seconds, Circulair Polariser, Hitech 0.9 Hard grad ND, WB=Daylight
This image is featured in my blog together with others from this trip;
www.martijnvandernat.nl-katwijk-buitensluis-
Read less
The puddles left by the low tide and shapes in the sand attracted my attention. and invited me to make an almost abstract image of the beach. No distractions just shapes, color and silence…
Stuff I used: Tripod, remote release, Nikon D90, Sigma 10-20, 12 mm, ISO 200, f14, 15 seconds, Circulair Polariser, Hitech 0.9 Hard grad ND, WB=Daylight
This image is featured in my blog together with others from this trip;
www.martijnvandernat.nl-katwijk-buitensluis-
Read less
Oct, 2013Views
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DanushiaDee
February 21, 2015
Surreal Realism, a place to dream, meditate and fill your soul with gratitude. I feel all those emotions as I stare into the many layers of this stunning photograph. Congrats!
Celtgirl420
August 30, 2016
Great photo! Love your blog. Inspiring creativity! Thanks for the tips, I couldn't agree more.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
A good friend of mine wanted to experiment and learn long exposure landscape/seascape photography. So after checking the weather and tide and matching our own schedule we finally hooked up on a warm monday evening in July. We decided to go to the town of Katwijk by the Sea in the Netherlands, where the Rhine finally ends up in the North Sea. The river first has to pass the big outer sluice/locks. They were built to prevent the high tide from surging up the river and creating floods inland. There is a breakwater built out of rocks that breaks the force of the waves around the entrance of the sluice and keep it from eroding. Some of the rocks of the breakwater have come loose or have been put loose to slow down the incoming tide. I knew that these rocks would be visible at low tide and my friend wanted to do ‘something with rocks and water and a long exposure’.Time
The photograph was taken on a warm summer evening. Right after sunset the blue hour starts and this was the time when this photograph was taken. I’m just a sucker for the blue hour and with the sky being what is was, clear and kind of boring, I knew that after sunset there might be some nice red tones just over the horizon.Lighting
In the photograph everything you see is natural light, the blue hour made everything have awesome blue tones and the setting sun lit up the horizon in nice warm red tones. Because of this a nice color contrast happens in the image between the cool blue tones and the warm reds, one of the things I believe that makes this image so strong. I also used a Hitech 0.6 hard grad ND and an 0.6 soft grad ND to balance the exposure of the rather bright sky with the foreground. If you do not use filters or bracket your exposures (for HDR or manual blending) your camera will either expose for the sky and make the foreground all black, or expose for the foreground and lose all color in the sky. Because of the various filters and the time of day I was abled to get a nice long exposure of 15 seconds. This made the water go all soft, smooth and milky. Which made for even less distractions from the shapes and colors. The long exposure adds even more minimalism which is another factor why I feel that this is such a strong photograph.Equipment
Stuff used Tripod, bubble level, remote release, Nikon D90, Sigma 10-20, Circulair Polariser, Hitech 0.6 Hard grad ND and 0.6 soft grad NDInspiration
I had been at this location before so I knew what to expect. I did not have any previsualization at this time, I just went out to try to get nice images. This not only set me free to do as I wanted but made me try a whole lot of different compositions and angles, working the scene as they say. Usually I go out on a specific plan and I do my best to stick with the plan but this time was different. Having no other plan than just ‘getting out there when the conditions were nice’ gave me a broader angle of view. I was simply more open for whatever caught my eye. At this specific shoot this approach worked out really well for me. We stayed during the sunset and way after. I’m just a sucker for the blue hour and with the sky being what is was, clear and kind of boring, I knew that after sunset there could be some nice red tones just over the horizon. Whilst taking photographs the light just got better and better! After taking some nice images of the breakwaters, the puddles left by the low tide and shapes in the sand attracted my attention. I immediately recognised ‘the shot’ in my mind’s eye, THIS IS THE SHOT! The shapes in the sand invited me to make an almost abstract very minimal image of the beach. No distractions just shapes, color and silence…Editing
Used software; Apple Aperture 3 for RAW conversion, color tweaking and photoshop for minor tweaks like removing small details and lens correction.In my camera bag
I usually carry around almost everything that I have which is not that much, I travel light and it fits nicely in my Golla Shoulder bag. Nikon D90 Nikkor 50 mm 1.8D Nikkor 18-200 VRII 3.5-5.6 Sigma 10-20 mm 4-5,6 DC HSM Manfrotto 290 Tripod with Manfrotto 494RC2 Ballhead Hitech ProIRND 10 stopper Stealth Gear Circular Polariser Hitech ND hard grad 0.3, 0.6 & 0.9 Hitech ND soft grad 0.3, 0.6 & 0.9 Nikon SB-700Feedback
Search for a nice location using google earth or the Stuck on Earth app, find out about tides, check the weather, scout the location before you go, so you know how to get there in time. Then when the weather is right & the tide is low, be there an hour before sunset. You might get some other amazing shots, look around, look behind you, look up, look down, and most of all... have fun!!!! If the results are not what you wanted... plan again and go back, learn from yourself...
