Kinghorn beach sunrise

[Ravinder]

Well, after another night of not being able to sleep, I got up and decided to head to the beach again. I knew it was going to be a high tide and sunrise together so was hoping for something special.

When I got to the beach in Kirkcaldy, tide was too far up so I wasn't able to stand on the beach. I was hoping to use something on the beach as interest for my foreground. That plan was quickly scrapped.

I decided to drive the extra 5 or so minutes to Kinghorn beach. I was able to stand on some of the beach. I took 3 pictures. I'm not very happy with the first one as I should of used a filter as the sky is too blown out and I couldn't correct this in LR. I will learn from this. Anyway, tide wasn't that high. I was hoping for some more action with the water hitting and channeling around the rocks., looking towards Inchkeith Island in the distance. It was pretty calm.

I couldn't find a good enough composition for my 2nd shot for the sunrise so in the end I decided to stick on the 300mm lens and zoom in on the sun. I was trying to catch it half on the horizon but it is amazing how quick the sun rises that I just didn't have enough time. Still quite pleased with the result, although looking back, I wish I made the water sharper. A bit too blurry. I used the reflection of the sun on the water as a leading line.

3rd shot wasn't planned. Again, zoomed in onto the sky and it really looked like the sky was on fire. Not much editing done in LR on these shots.

Sunrise this morning really was epic, however. As hard as it is getting up, the views are just worth it. We take all things for granted.







Many thanks

[Robti]

Thanks Rav, can you explain where you say in the first that the sky is too blown out, as you can tell I know nothing as the first is my favourite

[Ravinder]

Hi Rob. Yes, if you look on the left hand side of the picture in the sky, you'll see that it's all white and blown out. The further right, it's blue like the sky should be. The reason for this is because the sun was rising just to the left of the picture. As you know, the sun is extremely bright. When taking the picture, the camera is getting confused with the brightness of the sky and the darkness of the foreground so it over compensates making it brighter. To tackle this, if I used a bit of filter in front of the lens, it would have darkened the sky and balanced it out. I also struggle to take pictures with filters. Something that I need to work on.

[Robti]

Thanks for explaining this,really wish I could do photography

[clf]

Originally Posted by Ravinder

Many thanks

I hope Rav, you dont mind a critique on these, I particularly like the first two, however the third doesnt work for me because of the rig in it. Without the rig, it would look like a colour bar, a natural colour bar, which are very difficult to come across and photograph with punch - which this has!

The second one, I think would work better if you cut out the RHS dead space. This is such a beautiful shot, but in my view it feels lop sided. Keep a look out in the viewfinder for dead space, and for this type of image, remembering the rule of thirds. I hope it is ok with you, I copied your images and cropped them to give you a very rough idea of what I mean.



I love sunsets, and of all landscape photography, a sunset(-rise) is what will draw my attention. But your first image, is the winner for me. Again though, there is a little too much dead space at the top, and a square crop would sort this.



/\ /\ /\ /\ This by the way, would look amazing in a canvas on a wall /\ /\ /\ /\

Serene and sublime are words that I use a lot of when I see an image that strikes an emotional response for me, and these have those sublime colours, and serene qualities, that make me sit up and stare.

Originally Posted by Ravinder

Hi Rob. Yes, if you look on the left hand side of the picture in the sky, you'll see that it's all white and blown out. The further right, it's blue like the sky should be. The reason for this is because the sun was rising just to the left of the picture. As you know, the sun is extremely bright. When taking the picture, the camera is getting confused with the brightness of the sky and the darkness of the foreground so it over compensates making it brighter. To tackle this, if I used a bit of filter in front of the lens, it would have darkened the sky and balanced it out. I also struggle to take pictures with filters. Something that I need to work on.

A couple of tricks I use when I struggle with the dynamic range of a scene (ie the extremes are too much for whatever sensor I am using to take the shot). The first, by default, my camera is constantly switched to P, with exposure control is set to -1/3. Having it set to program, allows me to get the grab shot and not worry about exposure being too blown out.

The other technique I use is if I use a tripod, I will take at least two shots exposing for the different extremes, then blend in Photoshop after.

If you cannot take two shots, in lightroom, you can rescue the exposure using the touch up/adjustment brush tools, and playing with the exposure settings etc.

[keithst24]

I think they are all fantastic, keep them coming Rav.....Super

[mininuts]

Fabulous shots again Ravinder

You're getting good at this

[The Rovering Member]

Yes, all three are very impressive. All the type of thing you would expect to see for sale in a gallery, especially the wave shot.

I didn't know Fraser had his own beach though.

[Ravinder]

Many thanks for the responses. And cheers for the advise clf.