Ponce Inlet Lighthouse
The colors of the lighthouse and palms against the beautiful Florida sky.
The colors of the lighthouse and palms against the beautiful Florida sky.
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Dec, 2020Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at the lighthouse at Ponce Inlet, Mosquito Creek, on the Central Florida Atlantic Coast. This lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Florida and at 175 feet (53.34m), is one of the tallest in the U.S.Time
As a photographer, you learn never to shoot in the harsh light of midday to mid-afternoon. My husband and I were only visiting the lighthouse as a whim so I knew I would not get another opportunity to grab a shot of this anytime soon. I positioned myself with sun nearly overhead and took advantage of the incredible skies of Florida as a backdrop.Lighting
The lighting was very flat as the sun was nearly overhead. Luckily, with the cloud cover, it didn't create any adverse lighting. I relied more on the impact of the complementary colors between the sky and the lighthouse than any drama that couldn't be found in the lighting.Equipment
Since I had intended to climb the lighthouse stairs, I hadn't brought along any DSLR camera, tripod or extra lenses. I only had my cellphone camera and I completely backed out of climbing the stairs when I came to the reality of my fear of heights (discovered on another lighthouse venture in New Jersey as I gazed out around me from the observation deck).Inspiration
I have other lighthouse pictures but wanted to capture something from an entirely different perspective. Because of the height of this structure, I wanted to emphasize its strength and imposing feel. The magnificent sky was serendipity that spoke to me, saying "THIS is Florida." When I viewed the SOOC picture, I didn't even remember the palm trees but was overjoyed with them.Editing
This photo was only slightly retouched to adjust the white balance and sharpened to capture the bricks of the lighthouse. I'm a big fan of Google Snapseed for my cellphone pictures because it allows me to achieve a professional look. When I wanted to print this image at 16 x 24, I ran it through Topaz Gigapixel at 2x to limit any degradation to the image. Now, I have a beautiful print of this at 24 x 36 in my home and there is virtually no discernable pixilation.In my camera bag
In my normal camera bag is my Nikon D850, a Tamron 50 mm prime lens, an original LensBaby, 80-200mm Nikkor zoom lens and a 3LeggedThing tripod. It's a bag that constantly gets changed around because it is my LowePro SlingShot backpack and cannot carry all my equipment for a photoshoot. Therefore, I have to be precise about my intended images so I always bring the right equipment for the right job. For this shot, my cellphone camera was what I had with me.Feedback
Postcard images are wonderful reminders of your day and your life. It is what most snapshooters want to achieve so there is always an attractive recording of your memories. My advice is to go ahead and take that picture, but continue to look for the composition that eludes most everyone else. Try a new angle, try a different perspective. Try shooting from a lower level, or a higher one. Walk around your subject and let it talk to you about what is different and stunning from the hidden point of view.
