Features
Sunday, 04 July 2010 22:03
South Downs Sunset II
Nikon D200 w/ Sigma 10-20mm @ 12mm.
1sec @ f/8. ISO100.
Hitech .9 Reverse Grad
Lee filter holder.
RAW Processed in Lightroom 3.
Tweaked and sharpened in Photoshop CS5.
Near Southwick, Fareham, Hampshire.
And to think, we nearly left before sunset as the sky was boring...
As we arrived, the sky to the east was gorgeous; blue skies, fluffy clouds, with a front blowing in from the west.
Looking west, it was just grey... rain bearing, flat, grey...
Neither myself nor Mark had high hopes for the sunset, we said we'd retreat to some ponds near my house if the sky didn't improve; easier access to tea at my place.
We both shot quite a few images in the evening, making the most of the blue skies and patches of sunshine, which were few and far between; both trying different techniques, and generally chilling out, like most of our shoots.
Hopes weren't high, and the discussion drifted towards what'd we'd be having for dinner and other locations, hoping to make the most of the cloudy skies;
Long exposure seascapes? Tides out... Ponds? Maybe...
When we caught a glimpse of the sun, desperately trying to break through the cloud. A little hotspot burning through the thick rain clouds, maybe there was hope after all.
The sky to the west slowly started to take on a soft pink glow, just along the horizon at first, and then spreading higher.
I bolted on the telephoto and started isolating the horizon with the pink glow behind it, when boom, as if on queue, the sun burst through the cloud, illuminating the South Downs.
Sigma 10-20mm back on, filter ring attached, what filter...
With the sun on the horizon, this was the perfect time to use my new Hitech Three Stop Reverse Grad in real anger. Review of that coming soon.
Filter aligned with the horizon, the dark middle laying across the skyline, holding back the sun perfectly.
Aperture priority mode? Selected. Matrix Metering? On.
Click. Flaaaare.
The direct sunlight was just too much.
As much as I hate it, I had to stop the lens right down. Trying aperture settings from f/16 all the way upto f/29, diffraction was just something I was going to have to deal with if I wanted this shot, and I just couldn't pass up this shot.
f/22 it is. Locked, click, check exposure, adjust exposure compensation/shutter speed, click...
Gotcha.
Little did we know that we were only just getting started, and the Sunset Gods had a lot more instore for us.
Varying composition, experimenting with settings and generally lapping up this gorgeous evening.
Nothing quite came close to the first shot though; the foreground details, the lead in lines, the depth, the starburst from the sun. I couldn't match that.
Until...
...the whole sky exploded into colour!
I've been doing this for 4 years now and I don't think I've ever seen colours in a sky quite like this.
The reds, the yellows, oranges, pinks, purples.
Arrrrrr. Colour pallet overload.
The light turning the mist in the downs violet, and with it all constrasting against the yellowy-grey ears of barley strewn out for miles infront of us.
It was genuinely awe inspiring. The whole world bursting into life just before going to sleep for the night.
Snap snap snap! Recompose! Snap snap snap! Rinse and repeat.
I wanted to make the most of this light, but theres only so many compositions you can create when you're in the middle of a field, a sea of seemingly identical plants.
I got my shot, and then another shot, and one more for good measure.
And as quick as the colour had burst into life, it slowly faded into the night, leaving no trace, other than the images on my memory card and in my head...
Its moments like these, that as a landscape photographer, you dream of.
You feel uplifted, giddy, giggly, euphoric, high.
When all your waiting pays off, when all your doubts are destroyed, just because of those few moments, when the light emerges and shines down across the vista infront of you.
Its what I live for... Its my life.
And I wouldn't have it any other way now.
Needless to say, high fives were shared, fist bumps given, and a sing-song may have occured in the car... before I got kidnapped and taken to Portchester castle, in the dark, and rain... But thats another story all together...
All the images are available as prints.
Click to image to be taken to the corresponding product page.
I have not adjusted the colours of this image. Colours are as seen and recorded by the camera.
Minor Lightroom and Photoshop adjustments have been made, but the image is as seen.
