July sunset
Near New Plymouth Harbour
Near New Plymouth Harbour
Read less
Read less
Apr, 2016Views
628
Likes
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 20 rank
Top 30 rank
Top 30 rank
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
Looking towards the Sugar Loaf Islands from the marina in New Plymouth, New Zealand.Time
I captured this image around 5:30pm on a Saturday afternoon in mid July, which is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. As I was driving along the harbour side, I looked towards those islands and immediately had an idea of how I wanted my end product to look. Time was against me as the light was changing fast and finding a spot to shoot from that was unobstructed by port buildings was my main challenge.Lighting
I had about 10 minutes before the sun completely dropped behind the horizon. The thing I love about winter sunsets is that it's fast, resulting in the light changing literally every couple of minutes. Great for photography if you're in the right position to shoot from.Equipment
My Canon 5d mk2 and very affordable Canon f1.8 50mm prime lens was all that was needed.Inspiration
I love the dramatic light created by mid winter sunsets. While landscapes isn't my speciality, I think a good landscape, sunset or sunrise shot occasionally, is good for any photographer's soul.Editing
I prefer doing most of my work in camera. I knew that a small aperture (the bigger number) and a faster than recommended shutter speed for the time of day was the way to go. I recall a f-stop of f22 and 1/400 shutter. This exposure resulted in only adding a little saturation and sharpening in processing. The colors were already in place with my in camera settings.In my camera bag
My compositions start in my head before I leave home. Yes, I'm one of those photographers who decide what I'm going to shoot that day and then pack in the equipment needed for my ideas. This habit often results in me missing out on "other" photo ops as I don't always the gear for it. For example, if I decide to shoot a sunrise, I will pack my two wide angle lenses and leave the 500mm behind, so if a rabbit peeks it's head out from behind a bush in the distance, I'd miss that shot. I've learnt many years to always carry my 70-200 f4 lens with me as its a good lens for diversity. But in saying that, I'm still a habitual 'target subject' photographer and would mostly pack up after I've shot what I intended from the start.Feedback
Get into the habit of deciding what you want to shoot based on the weather, the natural lighting at a specific time of day, the season and how you want the final image to look. This way you've shown that you've matured photographically, and you're more than a 'happy snapper' who ends up with 2000 files to upload at the end of the day that will give you a lot of work to do when processing. Less is more. I sometimes spend an entire day out and only come back with 50 files for processing because I've taught myself to only get the shots I've planned for that day. It makes post processing a lot easier and doesn't cut into too much of your free time.
