Wedding Day

Marsden in Black & White

South Shields

This morning was my first trip out with the camera in months, due to a busy work life and a lack of energy for early summer mornings. I was very rusty, and it shows. These were the only three images I managed to rescue.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.8 : 24secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 1.2 ND : Lee Big Stopper

 

I'd picked an uninspiring spot along the South Shields coastline (I won't be going back), so I opted for some close-ups of the rocks instead. This kind of thing irritates me, as it gives no sense of place, but then I guess it's better than coming home empty-handed!

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.8 : 15secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 1.2 ND : Lee Big Stopper

 

There's something I find extremely fascinating about wide-aperture long exposure, that I'd like to explore more. Long exposures are usually shot at very narrow aperture for maximum depth-of-field, and to increase the amount of time the shutter can be held open.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.8 : 25secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 1.2 ND : Lee Big Stopper

 

I've been experimenting with extreme neutral density (11-stops) to get a reasonably long exposure time, yet with a very narrow depth-of-field, which leads to some interesting and unusual shots. I just need to get them looking good now :)

Click on any of the photos to see them full-size against black, and please do leave a comment below if you like the photos.

South Shields at Sunrise

The colour of the sky this morning was so much better than last weekend, which is just as well, since I chose a really crappy section of beach to photograph - I had to settle with a sunrise shot. I feel like I’ve turned a corner; I’m starting to get decent shots like these straight out of the camera now - very little tweaking needed in Aperture.

Click on the photo to see it full-size, or buy a print (from only £1.51)

EXIF: 50mm : f/16.0 : 60sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee Big Stopper