craigzilko

Sunset

Jan, 2014

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Behind The Lens

Location

Firstly, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to comment on this image for others to potentially read. This image was taken at a beach very close to home in a beach side suburb south of Perth, Western Australia. It forms part of a marine park that is home to a variety of wildlife from dolphins and seals to sea birds and penguins. It also has some interesting coast line that lends itself to some spectacular sights in the right conditions.

Time

I think this one would be fairly obvious :) - the end of the day and into the "golden hour" it is a great time to be out there - even without a camera in your hand. Just standing there and taking in the beauty of the environment is reward in itself - being able to share it is just a little extra pleasure.

Lighting

As I alluded to before, the "golden hour" provides all the necessary lighting one could wish for in natural light photography. The setting sun bouncing of cloud is all I needed here.

Equipment

This image was captured on my Canon 7D with a 10-22mm wide angle lens set on a Manfrotto 293 Carbon Fibre tripod - the perfect travel companion, light and small enough to carry on the bag all day but yet sturdy enough to securely hold the camera.

Inspiration

I get inspiration from the images of seascapes I have seen here and elsewhere and not necessarily those taken by the masters. Basically I am inspired by all forms of photography by all photographers and the personal challenges of capturing a scene as you visualised it.

Editing

This image is the result of a bracketed series of shots from -3EV to +2EV at one stop increments. This was my first attempt at blending using luminosity masking in Photoshop. It was really required here to capture all the detail in the scene. It would have been impossible to get this detail from a single image due to the dynamic range in the scene. I look back at this image now and whilst I am not 100% happy with the result, it serves as a case study for me of where I could do things a little better, maybe a little more subtle in some areas. It was a great image to practice on with luminosity masking in post processing.

In my camera bag

This will depend now on what I am going to shoot - if I am heading for a landscape shoot I will take either my 1Ds MkII or 5D MkIII and my 17-40mm lens and maybe a short telephoto and of course my tripod, spot light meter and a few filters. If I am heading out to shoot wildlife I go straight for the 7D and either my Canon 400mm f/5.6 or Sigma 500mm f/4.5.

Feedback

I would do a little (lot) research on post processing methods and blending multiple exposures to maximise the opportunity to make your visualisation come to reality. I guess with these type of images you just have to be prepared and ready to go when Mother Nature puts on her show, the sun will always go down but getting the right amount of cloud and particularly on the horizon to diffuse and liven up the light - is something we have no control over. A little planning and weather watching certainly helps but patience is a virtue - and even if the shot isn't there, just being out there and enjoying the outdoors is worth it. Oh, did I mention practice, if at first you don't succeed .... I am sure you know the rest :)

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craigzilko

craigzilko

Sunset

Behind The Lens

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