Coast of Wonders, a photo from South Ayrshire, Scotland

Photographer's Note

Hello

After my short holiday in Poland (or maybe I should rather say “break” than proper holiday :)) I came back to Glasgow, hoping to go for some photo shooting over the weekend.

Unfortunately it’s been raining cats and dogs for the last week or more, so my plan didn’t work at all. I haven’t taken any photo for almost a month that's why my frustration was even stronger.

Finally the weather changed on Sunday. The forecast wasn’t very promising but living in this country for almost 3 years taught me it’s more - less of a fortune telling :)

The whole day was really nice but I was more interested about the actual evening and sunset time.

I remember a couple of my trips in the past, that after a sunny day the sunset (at the seaside) was very gloomy and I was coming back empty-handed.

This time is was pretty close to the usual scenario :)
On my way to this spot I noticed big rainy clouds forming in the distance. Luckily they disappeared somewhere and I could concentrate on finding a place for my shot.

At the beginning I wasn’t happy at all – walking back and forth on the beach, couldn’t find anything to satisfy my eyes with a time passing by.

Eventually I noticed this spot – with golden seaweeds, water pools and the Isle of Arran in the distance. I composed my shot and waited for the right moment.

The trick is the good timing. If you’re too early the Sun is high, the foreground is nicely lighten up, but the contrast within the scene is too extreme to capture it.

On the other hand if you’re too late the Sun is hidden behind the horizon, leaving your foreground a bit dark.

For that particular shot I wanted to capture this transient moment – when the seaweeds are still illuminated and the Sun is partially hidden.

Hope you’ll like it.

Regards, Piotr.

yogi32, Floydian, GG_Poland, grantlp, broglia, vero07, nels, kryger, jean11-3, lucinka, robinlawr, pcflanders, Emiel_Skyfreak, Ragnarok, wolves00 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Floydian (30970) 2007-05-22 9:19

Wonderful photo Piotr. Absolute stunning control over the light in really a great and masterful way. The light is really shining all over the place.
The vertical composition works great, creating an enormous depth.
Absolute great shot...
Regards, Henk

yogi32 (803) 2007-05-22 9:20

witaj,
piekny widoczek, piekne kolory, piekne światło ....
ogólnie super!!!!!
bardzo mi się podoba!
pozdrawiam
Igor

trinko (2950) 2007-05-22 9:29

great composition with the water and rocks wonderful sunset color gradients.

ultracastillo (82) 2007-05-22 9:45

expectacular!!!!

Fantastic colors. better processing of the image

GG_Poland (722) 2007-05-22 9:53

witam tym razem tu :)

szczerze to mam troche dosc takich ujec bo kilku brytyjczykow zasypuje tutaj bardzo ale mimo wszystko musze Twoja prace docenic. jak zwykle dopracowana i przemyslana kompozycja no i wyczekany ten wlasciwy moment. niebo moze malo spektakularne ale dol pieknie oswietlony i ladny kolorystycznie (tak tak kolor nadal moze mi sie podobac :) ) podoba mi sie tez minimalna flara on slonca. praca na wysokim poziomie

pozdrawiam
Grzesiek

blue-velvet30 (6524) 2007-05-22 9:57

Witaj Piotrze!
Rewelacyjne swiatlo i piekna perspektywa. Swietne kolory!
pozdrowienia
Dorota

Pattyjy (2180) 2007-05-22 10:25

Salut Piotr,
Superbes couleurs et une lumière exceptionnelle. Très belle composition. Bravo.
Amitié, Patty.

grantlp (2113) 2007-05-22 10:37

Hi Piotr,
An absolutely, exceptional image of this sunset. The definition, colours and texture of the foreground rocks are amazing, and the hint of sky reflected in the water adds an extra dimension to the overall effect. Really well done.
Cheers Grant.

vero07 (1781) 2007-05-22 10:38

Hi Piotr,
What a wonderful sunset! I like specially the intense yellow of the sun and the rest of the colours of the sky. Nice clouds too. The light reflected over the stones and river is very nice.
Great shot!

nels (2595) 2007-05-22 10:41

hi piotr,, love it !! the golden sunset and the colour reflected on the lichens and seaweed brilliant your wait for the shot sure paid off

adrian

broglia (3598) 2007-05-22 10:42

Fabulous shot Piotr - your landscapes are always of the highest quality - and this is no exception. You have certainly captured a most wonderful light. Patience is obviously the key here - waiting for precisely the right moment. Stunning. Best regards, Roberto

elkab (4921) 2007-05-22 10:45

Wow! Beautiful picture. Nice composition, beatuiful light, great colors, very good quality oh photo. Well done!

regards e

nuts (178) 2007-05-22 11:25

fantastic compo and great exposure grt aj

dkeus31 (27733) 2007-05-22 13:54

Hello Piotr,
Superb this light!
It gives a great amount of details on the foreground and the stone is perfectly positioned.
Regards
Didier

rgarrigus (0) 2007-05-22 15:28

Piotr,

Well you nailed it! Great light on the foreground and perfect capture of the sun without blown highlights. The egg-shaped rock really makes the composition for me.

jean11-3 (2799) 2007-05-22 17:02

Hi Piotr,a wonderful shot, your timing was spot-on.I love the way the sun is illuminating the seaweed, just as you had planned.The 'portrait' presentation of the scene is excellent.The colours are beautiful,tfs.
Regards Jean.

lucinka (9976) 2007-05-23 2:51

Hello Piotr, here comes one of those photos that create envy on my side and make me want to sit on the plane and go to Scotland at this very moment. I've actually had trip to Scotland in my mind for some time, but this photo makes the urge even stronger. Your photo is really stunning for its flawless composition and timing. That front rock just perfectly lit by sunset and that pool leading us thought the shot. Great work. Lucie

cadel (2055) 2007-05-23 5:18

You perfectly caught the moment. I like this kind of seascapes. We miss the smell and the wind !

robinlawr (903) 2007-05-24 5:01

Beautiful shot Piotr! The central positioning of the sun works very well here. Fantastic foreground detail and sharpness throughout. Great exposure control.

Excellent work!

Regards

Robin

ollie59 (796) 2007-06-01 11:34

for me piotr this is one of your best ,fantastic control over the light and superb foreground make this a total winner
ollie

bend1k (934) 2007-06-02 22:41

fits the title alright. did yu use a 3 stop or 4 stop nd grad for that?

azleader (6) 2008-01-03 20:37

Another incredibly well post processed image. Sharpness is perfect. Colors wonderful. Nicely done sunset.

Ragnarok (42) 2008-01-21 3:00

Awesome, I especially like the information of how you planned and set your shot. I'm often taking a photo on the spur of the moment where you must work hard to make a masterpiece like this.

wolves00 (152) 2008-07-10 3:26

Piotr,

An absolutely fantastic shot of the sunset.

The clarity, colours and texture of the foreground is really good. It is added to further by the sky being reflected in the water which brings the whole image together, irrespective of the 'darker' forground you mention in your notes.

TFS, fabulous!

Richard.