portobello beach groynes, a photo from Edinburgh, Scotland

Photographer's Note

One from my "pastel" collection.
Taken on Portobello beach just outside Edinburgh on a very calm and still morning a few weeks back.

This is one of the last exposures i took as the colours were fading and being replaced by the more harsh deep oranges. This can be seen on the groynes as they started to look on fire. Normally a great thing with a decent cloud cover but on the morning the cloud cover was minimal.

Shooting over to the east coast tends to bring better options for the rising sun in Scotland, with the west coast sunrises sometimes not the best. Although this generally holds true it also really depends on the time of year as well.
On the west we get paid back by decent sunsets with the sun dropping into the sea.

I had been expecting 40% or so cloud cover but when i arrived before dawn the cover was light and not what i was looking for. These types of sunrise can have the opposite effect and favour the west due to the belt of venus being stronger against the sunrise.

This is a 65 second exposure using a 10 stop on f11 (my lens sweet spot)
Focal length rather than fully wide i was zoomed in to 40mm to concentrate on the groynes.
Shot in portrait format i cropped the bottom after composing in camera for this square format.

Post production work.
The image here was exported from the canon .cr2 file in lightroom which means no color efex or other external software.
Just pulling down of the highlights and a softening of the orange.
A good shoot on the day producing around 6 quality images exposure length varying between around 65 seconds (this was the shortest) and second to last of the day
The earlier ones were up to 200 seconds not bad for such a tight shoot.

As with all my work i am happy for people to enjoy them but i a not so happy to allow posting on Pintrest.
Please dont
many thanks
John

Update
I have added the co-ordinates which were missing from my original post. I had to get out to work this morning and forgot all about them
Its basically at the bottom or top of Bath street off the promenade
the street has a red post box at the bottom and the groynes lead out from there
there are loads of them along there but i like this set which has featured in my images before

tyro, SnapRJW, kabel has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

sabermonajati (7567) 2012-10-16 2:09

hi
amazing style from water with excellent perspective you captured.
regard
saber

tyro (13009) 2012-10-16 3:54

Hello John,

This is a very beautiful picture which, together with your very interesting and informative note, must make us all realise just how painstaking and meticulous you are in your photography, not only in the actual taking of the picture but also in the processing thereafter.

You have chosen the perfect time for the low angle morning light to illuminate those groynes (I suspect you probably studied maps or Google Earth while planning your trip - I sometimes do) and your composition is excellent, the line of posts leading the eye perfectly toward the distinctive marker which, again, is perfectly placed in the frame.

Your use of that 10-stop ND filter has allowed you to use an enormously long exposure which has smoothed the already calm water magnificently. The colours are just right - pastel shades as you so rightly say - and the exposure is spot-on. Exquisite sharpness and a gorgeous sky top it all off perfectly.

A Masterpiece!

Kind Regards,

John.

You know what would make this even more interesting? Inclusion of co-ordinates so that we can see a little Google map of the place from where you took this picture. Just in case we want to pop over to Portobello to try to emulate this shot! :)

SnapRJW (18642) 2012-10-16 5:05

Hello John - The rich smoothness of the colours and the simple but studied composition is just so perfect. No bells and whistles just a beautiful minimal seascape. The work of an artist, well done. Warm regards Rosemary

kabel (991) 2012-10-16 9:37

Hello, beautiful pastel colors for your series. Good compositon and technically excellent. I don't know what Pintrest is.
Thank you for such detailed notes,
Have a nice day and TFS,
Karen

GREGG (8243) 2012-10-16 12:07

Hello John,
beautiful simple composition,
perfect exposure,
very good work,
congratulations,
Greg

chawax (14858) 2012-10-22 11:33

Hi John,
I love the peaceful atmosphere of this photo, you did very well with the long exposure. Beautiful end of day light and colours and very well balanced framing. Very good job !
Have a nice week,
Olivier