Blue Twilight Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Place
After sunset at Fuego Beach in Punta Fuego, Batangas, Philippines.
You can always check the location of my photos by clicking on the map link.

Background
I took my family to this very exclusive golf-beach resort (if you are not member, you need a sponsor to book a room for you) near Manila (2 hours by car) before a long business trip to Jakarta. Of course, I spent all the time with wife and daughter but I booked the sunset and sunrise for myself to shoot. I was hoping some nice weather, with a nice color in the sky.
I did some scouting during the day and I found a small, rather solitary, beach almost at the tip of the peninsula (see map).
The sky looked interesting with a good amount of clouds and the sun low in the horizon. However, I do not know why, the sky never lighted up. It remained pale. It was a real pity because the setting was quite nice, good subjects, good water movements, etc.
I kept shooting well after the sunset until it was almost dark. Then, I realized that to my left, high in the cliff, the lights of a house were just on. I found the composition interesting so I moved quickly the camera to my left. Unfortunately, I did not have time to move myself deeper into the water to capture more movement and less dry stones. That could have been nicer.
However, on after the shooting the next morning, I was glad I did not get too close to the waves: by having a very low POV one risks that a sudden change in the wave strength will washed out you and your gear… well that happened the next morning, as you can see in this photo!!. Fortunately, the wave did not drop the tripod, but made the camera and lens a bit wet. My wet clothing doesn’t matter, the camera is the important one.
Another thing I learnt during this trip is that if you keep your photo gear inside an air-conditioned cold room for a long time, and then you go out to shoot in tropical weather, your lens will fog. It was a waste of time during that sunrise.

Technical
No major PP. 25 seconds exposure.
Similar to my previous post, the light was very low and it was impossible to use AF. The manual focus is not good if you have bad eyesight and it is dark. The result is a bit blur in the fg. After this I researched in Internet and I found the Hyperfocus. Too late for this photo, but I hope this new knowledge will help me in my next low-light shots.

Copyright © Jorge Muller. The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained herein for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

grafu, Didi, Clementi, dip, danos, PixelTerror, jhm, jwmunro has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rikko77 (6596) 2009-08-04 7:48

Hi Jorge
very interesting long exposure, I like the idea you had here, lights and shadows are very well balanced. Well done,
greetings,
Rikk

ManuMay (11470) 2009-08-04 7:56

Hola Jorge!!

Una excelente foto y una gran nota!!

Muy bonita composición gracias sobre todo al punto de vista tan bajo, que favorece a esta espectacular imagen, muy buen focus, muy elegante...

Felicidades!!

Saludos cordiales

Manuel

lctan (1057) 2009-08-04 7:56

hi,
all blue but a very interesting shot. the details of the stones in the foreground is great adding to an interesting composition of the entire shot! congrats!
LC

Tobias__Ortmann (2591) 2009-08-04 8:08

I really like this great depth and very good blue tones
well done

I_WanderingSoul (652) 2009-08-04 8:08

Hello Jorge,
The all blue shot is very interesting and very beautiful.
The stones in the foreground look pretty.
Well captured.
TFS,Neelima.

Didi (36544) 2009-08-04 8:57

Hello Jorge
Very good management of lights in the blue hour.
Also there is an interesting deep foreground.
Perhaps it is possible to make bigger size ?
Best regards

sacavem (8561) 2009-08-04 9:09

Olá Jorge,

Magical scenery. Grand perspective. I love the soft light and those dramatic clouds.
Congratulations & TFS
Filipe

Bartleby (5146) 2009-08-04 10:38

Hi Jorge,
superb blue tones here. Sharpness, composition...Everything's just fine! Great job!

Philippe

sebinho342 (18790) 2009-08-04 11:30

elle a qqch de différent cette photo, qqch en plus, qqch qui la fait se détacher du flot quotidien de photo que l'on a coutume de voir, de photos prises en pleine lumière, de 10h du matin à 17h du soir ... ah c'est beau la photographie, dès lors qu'elle nous emmène hors des sentiers que nous battons ..
Splendide capture

Clementi (45339) 2009-08-04 13:36

Ciao Jorge,
excellent image, the light is well managed with the long time, atmosphere indeed only and interesting note.
good job
Giorgio

berek (29049) 2009-08-04 21:03

Hi Jorge,
impressive bleu time taken . creative point of view and great result here. heavy clouds look beautiful
friendly regards.
Burak

dip (12856) 2009-08-05 0:07

Hi Jorge,
the result after the 26 sec. is wonderful!
the yellow lights is a very beautiful detail on the picture,
well done!
Dimitris.

dkeus31 (26399) 2009-08-05 4:13

Hi Jorge
deep blue, I like that!
also the fact that you have here a huge foreground and a little orange point just as it should be, great image!
didier

danos (33386) 2009-08-05 7:20

Hola Jorge,
very nice nocturne shot, under difficult lighting conditions. I read the 'background'of your shot carefully, and i impressed that you entered in the sea to take the shot.Great scene with the pebbles to be so nice captured from this perfect POV.Well done.

Regards,Danos

yquem46 (8475) 2009-08-05 7:38

just enough yellow in the shot to make all this blue stand out
very well done Jorge
regards
patrick

Waylim (11163) 2009-08-06 12:17

Hi Jorge,
This is a very beautiful shot with a very special and melancholy mood. Great exposure, I like the misty ocean capture with at a long exposure and the clouds seem in motion, heading toward us, the light glow of lights in the house give a sence of warm and coziness, a heaven once the storm touch down. the inclusion of the forground rock and pebbles adds great depth to the scenery. Techically very good and good composition and well presented in a nice simple frame. My complements.
Way

PixelTerror (86957) 2009-08-06 12:21

Hola Jorge
I'm viewing that one as I am about to leave for full moon shooting under the stars, well framed seasideone where I always like smoothing of the water due to long exposure
Have a nice day jY

jhm (83446) 2009-08-07 4:01

Hello George,

Blue Twilight, a very nice title for these wonderful picture.
Lovely the big stones these leads us to the house in background.
Nice perspective as usual, and good presentation.
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice weekend,
John.

cdmonson (2771) 2009-08-07 20:03

Hi Jorge:

Ah, blue hour. Very nice shot, made complete by the house up on the cliff there. I also like the rocks, of course, but particularly the blur of the clouds. It seems a bit dark though. Otherwise quite nice.

Clark

yaya13baut (2359) 2009-08-09 10:44

hola Jorge,
a great blue nigt, very sharp thanks to the good exposure control and the use of a tripod.
the coast is well composed.
A fine place to have a walk, between the meal and the bed.
Yannis

avene (11140) 2009-08-12 17:42

hi Jorge,
glad your camera and lens are safe, you never know with those sneaky waves, lol :)
gret shot, I like a lot the dreamy blue cast, and I don't mind at all that there's no silky water in the foreground, I actually like how the stones seem to gradually dissolve in water. moody shot, I like it a lot.

best,
Kristine

Galoy (284) 2009-08-16 13:41

Jorge, esta es una foto fantástica, casi surrrealista y de un dramatismo tremendo. Gran atmósfera y muy buena composición. La tonalidad sobre las piedras es fabuloso al igual que el efecto del agua que conseguiste con la mayor exposición. Maestro. Te felicito.

jwmunro (6257) 2009-08-22 9:48

Hello Jorge -

This is a nice scene - reminds me of "...it was a dark and stormy night..." The blue cast in this situation works to add a sense of mystery to an already moody scene. The blurred water, the sharp rocks, cloudy sky, and a touch of light in the house all working together. Well done!

Thank you for sharing.

John

Photo Information

Copyright: Jorge Muller (Bruno40) (6442)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-06-12
Categories: Nature
Camera: Canon EOS 400D, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC HSM, RAW, Cokin 121 Grad Grey (ND8)
Exposure: f/5.0, 26 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: view
Map: view
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): My Top Photos [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2009-08-04 7:36
Favorites: 1 [view]