Keeled Over at Low Tide
Dec, 2015Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
![Boston Light --- [ 42°19′40.855″N 70°53′24.266″W ] ----- The Graves Light --- [ 42°21′54.48″N 70°52′09.11″W ]](https://cdnpt01.viewbug.com/media/mediafiles/2015/12/10/61130265_widepreview400.webp)
![[ 42°12'17.13"N 70°42'56.97"W ]](https://cdnpt01.viewbug.com/media/mediafiles/2016/01/25/62711373_widepreview400.webp)
![Located in Scituate, MA --- [ 42°12′02.12″N 70°45′19.20″W ] --- It was built in 1902 to cover a 275K gallon water tower. Listed in the Nati](https://cdnpt01.viewbug.com/media/mediafiles/2015/12/22/61549621_widepreview400.webp)
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on the Bluefish River off the north end of Duxbury Bay in Duxbury, Massachusetts. (If you want to find it on everyone's go-to global location app, the GPS coordinates are 42°02'46.85"N 70°40'14.70"W). This area was famous in its heyday for shipbuilding and related industries, and was the old fishing, hunting, farming and stomping grounds for John Alden and his wife Priscilla Mullins of the Mayflower. (Their homestead and museum is located at 42°02'43.68"N 70°41'7.73"W).Time
This was taken just after 4:00pm on a warm August day in 2015. I was out on my own, just me in the Jeep with my gear, and this scene caught the corner of my eye (the right one, if memory serves!) just as I was approaching the little stone bridge over the 'mouth' of the Bluefish.Lighting
I prefer shooting afternoons because the harshness of the midday sun softens and adds a certain ambiance to the shot I'm hoping for. I sometimes find that underexposing a tic or two on the light meter in can enhance the shadowing and warmth that I'm looking for. I generally allow the camera to choose the ISO, but if the lighting demands sometimes I'll set it as high as 1600 and then balance the shutter speed with the f-stop to satisfy the meter and my eye! A still shot like this allows for a lot of leeway vis a vis the shutter speed, so I can often use a low shutter speed and a smaller f-stop setting to give me the larger aperture.Equipment
I use a Canon Rebel EOS most often with a Canon EF-S 55-250mm zoom lens. I rarely set up a tripod, though it's always within arm's length for those times when nothing else will do to keep you steady.Inspiration
There is a lot of inspiration to be found here on the Massachusetts South Shore! There's a certain quaintness and charm around here that is hard to match pretty much anywhere else if you - like me - are a fan of all things oceanic and nautical from historic lighthouses to sailing and fishing vessels to beach scenes and plentiful sea life - it's ALL here! The coastal areas from Boston to Cape Cod to Buzzard's Bay and the islands offer the resident photographer, the artist, the history buff, and the vacationer alike an absolute treasure trove of artistic inspiration - not to mention the most awesome seafood evah! "If you like the taste of a lobster stew Served by a window with an ocean view You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod" ~Patti PageEditing
I always shoot in RAW mode. There is much more information in the raw shot that can help you take a mere snapshot and convert make it a photograph. I go through SD cards faster, but it's totally worth the extra for sake of making photographs! I generally work on the exposure (a little) and curb the highlights (a lot) to reveal more detail that may be washed away and hidden from view by the light itself. I work the shadows to their potential that sometimes adds a little detail. I just need to be careful not to create a digital artifact when working with the raw data shots. It's all too easy to create double edges and/or color lines that shouldn't be there along the edge where light and dark contrast against each other. If that happens I start over and experiment until I can eradicate the artifact. I almost always reduce the actual level of contrast in any case, because I have found that there is often a teeny-tiny bit more detail for the composition. I will often zoom in to full size when I'm working on a shot so that I can see how much blur to add to get rid of noise and speckling that is inherent in digital photography when the light wasn't perfectly adjusted for in the field. Once I 'smooth' the photo just enough, I will use the sharpening function that I can adjust on the fly to bring back a nice amount of crispness in the detail until I'm satisfied with the balance. If I ever feel the need to boost the color or tweak the tint and temperature, I do so as little as is necessary to bring out the actual level of color that I saw with my naked eye. A little bit of up-sat is very often just fine and can be considered an enhancement. But there comes a point (to my eye at least) when a scene begins to look fake or almost cartoonish. I'm not a big fan of making an adjustment the most prominent aspect or feature of the piece! Everyone is different of course, and that's why they call it "art", but I like to allow the photo to speak for itself as truthfully as it can. That is not to say I don't mess around with saturation; I do. Often. I just try not to over-saturate my work. My personal rule of thumb is just this: try to toe the line between making an 'enhancement' and making a 'change'. If you stand back from a piece you are working on and think you need to begin again - do it. And then just don't OVERDO it!In my camera bag
I always carry lent-free cloth lens wipes and Residual Oil Remover (ROR), a squeeze bulb with a brush, caps for both ends of my lenses, my battery charger and a folding keep with all my used SD cards ... and snacks! (Gotta have snacks!)Feedback
I suggest for starters that folks always have a camera with them. It seems pretty obvious, but nearly every time I have left mine behind I have invariably regretted not being able to grab a shot that should've been grabbed only to deal thereafter with the idea that that exact scene and moment will NEVER come around again! When attempting to find just the right shot - say, one like this - it might be helpful to know your local tide schedule and plan your trip for a day that is forecast to be bright and sunny. This shot was taken at dead low, or 'slack' tide. I didn't happen to plan this, but I did want to be in the area during low tide because I was originally hoping to see more wading sea birds when I happened upon this scene. Truth is, you never know until you see it. Have a great time and Happy Hunting!!
