Dec 022012
 

Here is another shot from my hour spent on the boat dock at the Tampa Bay Grand Hyatt. For this shot I decided to drop the camera down low and extend the docks reach for the horizon. It’s interesting to compare this photo to the other two I’ve already released:

Three Little Birds

Boat Dock in Blue

These photos were all taken within about a half hour as the sun was rising. It goes to show just how much the light conditions change as the sun rises, and how hectic it can be taking advantage of the changes. It can also make it difficult to decide when the right time to take the shot is! I’ve had a number of occasions, for example when I was shooting Horseshoe Bay, where I think I’ve taken all the pictures I want and then suddenly something happens that offers a better photo to send me running around taking them all again.

A boat dock extends to the horizon at sunrise, in front of a pink sky at the Hyatt Resort in Tampa, Florida.

Nov 192012
 

While I was out on the dock at the Tampa Bay Hyatt a load of birds decided to settle on the end of the dock. It was like a scene from Hitchcock. I set up and took a few photos of the birds. As I moved closer more and more would get scared away. In the end I was left with one bird per lamppost. I knew at the time that having just the three birds spaced nice and evenly made for a nicer composition than the earlier flock.

If you’re interested in seeing the effect that the time of day has on the light in an image you can compare this image to the one shot from earlier in the morning, during the blue hour. Today’s photo was shot shortly before the sun appeared above the horizon behind me and the stark difference in colour is pretty clear. I think there’s about 20 minutes between the two images.

Three birds sitting on the light posts on the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay's Boat Dock

Oct 292012
 

I recently spent 4 days in Florida visiting my girlfriend. My first two days were spent in Williston. It’s a beautiful area with moss draped trees punctuating fields for livestock. Unfortunately, I’d just done a lot of traveling in a short space of time and was completely worn out when I got there. As a result, I didn’t summon the energy to get the camera gear out until we’d made it to Tampa, where we decided to spend a couple of nights.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and were given the option to stay in the resort area of the hotel which had a pool, tiki bar and table tennis. It was also where this interesting looking dock was located that I’d spotted on google maps. Our first morning there we dragged ourselves out of bed at sunrise and I photographed this dock from the beginning of the blue hour right up until the end of the golden hour. As a result, I’ve got a series documenting the subtle changing of colours from night time until daylight. The first of these photos is the Blue version, below.

Long wooden boat dock with lights on calm blue sea during the blue hour at the Hyatt Resort in Tampa Bay, Florida

Oct 022012
 

Once I got the weather I was after at Horseshoe I took quite a few pictures from the top of the rock there. Here’s another one, taken as the sun climbs a bit higher through the haze, spilling golden rays across the light pink sand and adding an extra glow to the cool turquoise water.

View of Horseshoe Bay Bermuda beach from top of the rock with the sun spilling golden rays across the light pink sand and adding an extra glow to the cool turquoise water.

 

Jun 112012
 

Today’s Photo: Horseshoe Bay (Again)

I took a lot of pictures on that morning down at Horseshoe Bay. I won’t be publishing all of them but think this is pretty cool. It’s taken with my 14mm prime lens. One of the things I really like about this lens is the fact that it allows you to look off into the distance and almost straight down at the same time. It’s particularly effective when stood at the top of a cliff such as this one.

Next Saturday I’ll be visiting the most Westerly point in Europe, in Iceland. There’s a huge cliff there that’s home to multiple species of birds, including puffins. You can bet I’ll be using this lens to give a view straight down the cliff. With any luck I’ll get close enough to a puffin to include it in the foreground. I’ve heard they let you get really close, especially if you crawl up on your belly.

Sunrise over Horseshoe Bay beach Bermuda.

Something Interesting: Night and Day in One Photo!!

If you’re into photography that breaks from the norm, you should check this out. This photographer takes multiple shots through the days and combines them into amazing night and day photographs. I feel a need to figure out how to do this: http://9wows.com/day-and-night-in-new-york-city-captured-in-single-images-8-pictures/

May 192012
 

After taking the photo posted here I made my way back down off the rock. Once I got down on the sand, I noticed the fact that the sky was reflecting in the thin layer of water left by the retreating waves. So, I walked out to where it was about ankle deep when the waves came in and set my tripod up low to maximize the reflections. The water was causing the tripod to sink into the sand. As a result, I didn’t take my usual 7 exposures. Instead I only took 3 because if I had to mess around with the settings the tripod would have shifted between photos.

Horseshoe Bay Beach in Bermuda with the sky reflecting in thin layer of water left by retreating waves.

 

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May 082012
 

This morning marked trip number 5 down to Horseshoe Bay for the sunrise and today, it paid off. Admittedly the photo I was picturing did not involve the top of the cliff as the foreground. However, after firing off a few shots with my 24-70mm lens, composed as planned, I broke out my favorite lens – the 14mm prime. Going that wide required that I include a nearby foreground and I’m glad I did. I’m happy with a number of shots from this morning that I’ll release over the next few days, but I think this is my favorite.

I’ve started enjoying going down to horseshoe before sunrise. It’s surprisingly active with people walking and jogging for exercise and surprising a number of brave individuals wading out into the chilly waters. Everyone down there is just friendly and happy. It’s pretty nice. I think I’ll keep going down to horseshoe a couple days a month for sunrise shots, it’s a big beach after all. I think I’ll sleep in tomorrow though.

Horseshoe Bay Beach in Bermuda showing the cliff tops, pink sand, and golden sunrise reflecting on the turquoise water.

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Mar 112012
 

This photo was from last week. I dashed out because I realised there was going to be a great sunset. I planned on getting out to Ferry Reach but left too late. I stopped off on the way and grabbed this photo of a fishing boat sat in its harbor at day’s end.

As I was rushing I shot this handheld using my 70-300mm lens to get in close to the boats. I took 3 exposures and then used Photoshop to align the images prior to running them through Photomatix.

Little fishing boat anchored in its harbor in Bermuda at sunset.

Dec 262011
 

This is the photo that I had planned on uploading for my first entry. I decided this would be a good start as I consider it my first successful HDR photo.

I had woken up late and had to rush out of the house as I’d seen a purple glow developing. Had planned on getting to one of the Tucker’s Town beaches when i came across this scene.

I used 7 exposures from -3 to +3. The boats had swung on their moorings while taking the photos so when combining in Photomatix I used the selective de-ghosting tool. This took a few attempts but I eventually settled on one big circle encompassing most of the water. Still some motion blur on some of the boats but not sure I could have avoided this. After HDR processing I worked with layers to bring up details in the foreground and particularly focused on getting some green into the trees in the background. Finally, run through Topaz Adjust to bump up the level of detail before using Noiseware to smooth it out.

Boats on their moorings under a glorious purple sunset, reflecting pink in the water of Tuckers Town Bay in Bermuda.

 December 26, 2011  Bermuda, Travel 2 Responses »