Kiama Lighthouse Photo

Photographer’s Note

I saw this Lighthouse when I dropped in to Kiama to see the Blowhole. They are both found at Blowhole Point. It was becoming a “dark and stormy night”. There was a piece of a rainbow low in the sky and the lighthouse just seemed to make a great model for all of this.

The Kiama Lighthouse was first established in 1887, constructed of brick and rendered outside with concrete at a total cost at time of construction £1,350. Original apparatus contained an oil burner with a catadioptric fixed lens, visible for nine miles. This was converted in 1908 to coal gas fired light with a range of 15 miles. In 1920 it was converted to acetylene gas. At this point it became unmanned. In 1969 it was converted yet again to electricity with battery backup.

The height of the light above sea level is 121 feet. The height of the tower, from the first floor is 50 feet.

http://www.lighthouse.net.au/lights/NSW/Kiama/Kiama.htm

For this shot I had seen the rainbow, and had already done some shooting of this with waves bouncing against the rocky shore. To shoot a rainbow you basically want to find a storm, or waterfall or something that puts water mist into the air, and plant yourself between this and the sun. If the sun is just rising or setting, so much the better.

I don’t like to shoot something like a rainbow on it’s own so I tried a few with the lighthouse. By this time, the rainbow was getting pretty small, and you could only see basically what you see in this shot. The cropping on this is tight. I wanted to show the lighthouse with the dark sky and the rainbow, but there were cars parked behind it, and up front there was a curb, so I essentially cropped to leave just the elements I was looking for in the shot.

I was back to see this lighthouse on the weekend. It was under renovation, getting a new facelift. So if you go to see this now, you won’t see quite the same rustic beauty you see before you here.

Workflow was as follows:
Shot taken in Raw with JPG reference – (ISO 200 28mm @f4.0, 1/500)
NEF files adjusted for exposure, shadow, vignetting and brightness
Filtered for Lens Distortion – on the vertical aspect
Levels – white and black points
Curves – S-curve for contrast
Added saturation layer +20 to master
Saved as a tiff
Cropped to get rid of parked cars and accentuate height, resized, added a layer for sharpening with USM, modified sharpening with a layer mask (50% opacity black brush), framed and saved as a jpeg.

wishlist, mvdisco, skippy007, pierrefonds, kschanna, Floydian, chpp, crckt, jwmunro, angela926, jusninasirun, Geomancer, MLINES, Wanda1, abulafia, scobert, macondo, pboehringer, waminda2020, Hellas, pablominto, zeca has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

migzal (485) 2008-04-07 19:21

The angle of the light creating interesting patterns on the lighthouse, the treat of rain at the background and the colorful rainbow creates real mood and ominious overtone, you have the skills to work with weather. Excellent shot.

Waylim (8382) 2008-04-07 20:22

John,
I love the stormy cloud on the background and that sliver of rainbow behind the lighthouse. I love the cropping and you frame it beautifully, enhanced the height of the lighthouse tremendously. I stole your frame idea for my latest post, you’ll see. Great detail and sharpness with nice light shinning on the white lighthouse. Yet you managed not to over exposed it against the dark cloud.
Way

mvdisco (10588) 2008-04-07 20:55

Hi John,
Lovely composition with a rainbow behing the lighthouse, well presented and beautiful light very well done,
Michel

skippy007 (5713) 2008-04-07 23:09

Hello John,
Nice composition, I found myself looking up & down and looking at different things like the nice little picket fence, the rainbow of course is nice little addition, the dark clouds, the peeling paint & even the emblem on top. Sharpness, detail & light spot on as always.
Thanks
Santo
PS. thanks for your note including workflow.
Interesting & informative.

dumbo (3860) 2008-04-07 23:18

Hi John!
Great photo of this beautiful lighthouse. I like the contrast between dark sky and white lighthouse. This composition is also great but maybe the most impacting thing in this photo is that colorful rainbow.
Well done!

Best wishes,
Eino

kapt73 (442) 2008-04-07 23:32

hello john
a lighthouse in blues looks so beutiful well done
zeynep

MarcT (20231) 2008-04-08 1:38

Hi John,
Superb light on this lighthouse :o)
Nice, tight, crop in this dark sky with a good rainbow bonus.
Well done
Marc

pierrefonds (23528) 2008-04-08 4:00

Hi John,

The rainbow on the side of the white lighthouse is an asset to the composition. The subject is well framed. There is a good contrast between the colors. The point of view is showing the details and colors of the lighthouse. Have a nice day.

Pierre

kschanna (2157) 2008-04-08 4:40

Hello Johb,

This lighthouse is truly a verr good model for this shot. The close crop is brilliant. The stormy sky provides the perfect backdrop and you executed this shot beautifully.

Regards
Kamran

Floydian (30970) 2008-04-08 5:31

Hi John,
Hard but also softer tones are mixed up perfectly in this tight vertical composition. The small edges are working very good in this image also thanks to that small fence around it, gives it something horizontal to it which is very clever composed. The rainbow is of the course the grandprize here...beautiful.
Regards, Henk

chpp (3423) 2008-04-08 7:14

Hi John
nice shot, good capture of the little rainbow. I like the balance of light and shadows in contrast with the rainy sky.
Nice sharpnes and very nice job
cheers
C

Cormac (26423) 2008-04-08 7:52

Good shot with some very dramatic lighting. The sunlight on the lighthouse while the background clouds are so dark gives this an amazing look. The rainbow is a great addition too, and I think it would have looked better if there was some separation between it and the lighthouse, but as you explained, that wouldn't work for other reasons. Well done!

crckt (6846) 2008-04-08 12:26

Hi John,
I think this one is one of your very best. OUTSTANDING shot! I love the vertical frame, the rainbow adds so much to it. Wonderfully sharp and crisp too.
Well done,
Shaeri

angela926 (1880) 2008-04-08 18:05

Hello John,
great capture, excellent composition, nioce point of view, great details and i really love the rainbow. Superb sharpness and depth of field, nice colors and good light.
Angela

alftrek (2300) 2008-04-08 21:44

Hi John,

A glorious shot indeed. Great sunlight and shadow on the lighthouse contrasted against the dark sky, and you are so lucky to get the rainbow too.

I have been to Kiama several times in the 80's and 90's but never seen a moment like what you have captured here.

Thanks for sharing such a beautiful moment, John

Regards
Alfred

jwmunro (6478) 2008-04-09 4:20

Hello John -

This is a wonderful composition and crop. The light on the lighthouse is great but the storm in the BG makes this image. The rainbow that is just an added pleasure to see. All of the technical stuff is spot on the money. Well seen and presented. I really like the tight crop.

Thank you for sharing.

John

jusninasirun (8990) 2008-04-09 4:25

Hello John. You have got yourself another first class top quality image. You have got everything that matters in this composition of the lighthouse. The ambiance at the top looks contrasting against the gray sky. The light and shadow works well and the rainbow looks like it came from inside the picket fence is gorgeous. Well presented in tall vertical perspective. Best regards. Jusni

Geomancer (72) 2008-04-09 10:58

Hello John

Great capture, thanks to the sky and the light quality. The rainbow really is a bonus that makes it exceptional. TFS and thanks for the interesting note

Regards
Michel

MLINES (10308) 2008-04-10 0:59

Hi John, Good composition and excellent notes about this tall lighthouse. The dark background and the rainbow add a lot of interest. Good presentation. TFS. Murray.

MarianneS (13052) 2008-04-10 13:48

Hi John,
A very nice composition giving the whole place to this lighthouse. The contrast between the dark sky and the wonderful light on the lighthouse is excellent.
And of course, the lovely rainbow perfectly completes yoru composition.
Well done!
Regards,
Marianne (I will come back)

Wanda1 (10233) 2008-04-10 22:03

Hi John,
What a wonderful shot! I love the white lighthouse illuminated by the dappled light against the dramatic dark clouds and of course the rainbow is a real bonus here. Your long slender vertical format has worked really well to emphasise the height of the lighthouse, and great sharpness too.
Regards
Wanda

abulafia (4734) 2008-04-11 2:22

Hi John
Indeed a tight crop, but it works pretty good for me, great light from the dark sky, and a nice little rainbow to finish it of.
Very nice
Harry

wishlist (4133) 2008-04-12 7:34

Hi John,
the perfect white balance allowed you to enhance even more the contrast between the lighthouse and the thonderous sky with the little rainbow down the corner placed like the classic icing on the cake. Quality is super, as always and I really like the picture posted in the ws as well.
Thanks for sharing it.

Igor

scobert (5333) 2008-04-12 22:24

Hi John,
You are a genius of working with this tricky dappled lighting of the variable coastal weather. How you get all of these rainbows in your photos is beyond me. You created a first-rate image of this sturdy old lighthouse. Your light management is excellent with your handling of the bright highlights and the dark storm clouds. A marvelous and beautiful image!
Stan

macondo (11881) 2008-04-17 22:34

Hi John.
Thanks for the very detailed critique on my last upload.
Just had another look at your recent shots. You must have one of the best collections of Australian photos on TE at the moment. This one is a beauty. Nicely PPed to remove distortion, and very pleasing contrast. Pity the rainbow didn't come out on the other side of the tower as well.
I've just started trying to use layers, but am not sure what modifying sharpening with a layer mask will do or how you do it. Anyway, it's left this one looking superb. I like the dappled shadows on the tower but can't work out where they come from; they seem too small to be clouds.
Regards,
Andrew

pboehringer (768) 2008-04-19 9:39

John,
not a lot to say here but simply great. That little piece of rainbow giving support to the huge lighthouse with all the patterns of shadows and light is perfect. The tight framing works extremely well excluding any possible surrounding distraction.
Peter

albertz (2310) 2008-05-01 9:44

I was looking at your portfolio and i spotted this. This is an amazing shot John, you have captured the three elements very well. The rainbow behind the subject is an eye catcher. Excellent shot.

waminda2020 (409) 2008-05-02 2:19

John - as always thankyou for your critique! A lovely photgraph of Kiama lighthouse. We often go there for lunch a really lovely spot! This photo has it all - great contrasts, great composition and the rainbow justs caps it all off - wonderful.

Greg1949 (7685) 2008-05-02 4:29

John, great capture, this light has such character and you have capture the minute details very well.

Greg

cam (8874) 2008-05-11 17:39

Hi John
Lovely.
The shadows on the lighthouse are giving depth and interest to the photo, even without the rainbow which is a super add-on.Good contrast with the stormy sky.

Well done John
Charles

romanaa (2502) 2008-05-22 1:05

Hello John,
beautiful work here, wonderful white lighthouse against the deep blue sky and the piece of the rainbow down there, it is absolutely stunning. You are right that the facade renewal seen in WS spoils the ancient hint.But this photo is superb.
Bravo
Best regards
Romana

Hellas (4949) 2008-05-28 1:16

This is a superb image!
You did a very good work, John! The light management is great as well as the framing and the contrast between the lighthouse and the dark sky. The rainbow steals the show!
Congratulations!

Greetings from Greece,
Athanasios.

pablominto (35973) 2008-06-07 10:31

Hello John,

A lovely lighthouse, not the largest but a beautiful design!
It is a pity the era of lighthouses is over, since many of those historical buildings will suffer from decay and lack of maintenance...
Inclusion of the rainbow is a clever touch!

Gretings,
Pablo -

microdas (109) 2008-06-09 6:40

Hi,
Nice shadows on the lighthouse and a very prominent little ranbow to accompany. A feast to the eyes!
Regards,
Amitabh

zeca (20122) 2008-06-10 20:31

Wow, John! I was missing this wonderful shot!
The lights on the lighthouse are very nice, creating beautiful shadows. The picture is nice even without that rainbow, just because of the lights and the beautiful sky behind the lighthouse, but of course that it is a fantastic detail that makes your picture even better. Congratulations!
Regards,
Zeca