Penmon Lighthouse - First images of 2018

SFTPhotography

SFTPhotography

Ranger Smith
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Steve
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I decided to break the mould and do something new with New Year. I've enjoyed many trips to Rattray Head to visit the lighthouse that is set into the sea there. I thought I would try another. I ruled out Talacre as it needs a really good lick of paint and thought why not try this one. I knew it would have to be high tide to get the water round the lighthouse for the image I wanted. Hogmany and New Years day both had reasonable forecasts but went with New Years day as the roads down would be quieter. Left just after the bells and had a terrific morning going somewhere that was new to me and taking a different type of image to my usual norm. I also treated myself to a Sigma ART 50 (Thanks @gad-westy) for a good sale and providing a mint example of a lens. This lens is perfect and worth having in the bag. Colour rendition and optics are just flawless.

Not sure if I prefer this as a 7x5 or square

_DSC0850 (1) by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

Square

_DSC0851 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

Longer take from further back with the 70-200 with the lighthouse framed centrally - the light never really came nor did much colour but the muted tones work well

_DSC1708 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

Took a couple more down at the shore once the water started breaking

_DSC0875 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

_DSC0894 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr
 
Great to see it's being put to good use :)

Really like that last one. Though the tiny bit of rock poking in from the left bugs me a little. Very nice though.
 
gad-westy said:
Great to see it's being put to good use :)

Really like that last one. Though the tiny bit of rock poking in from the left bugs me a little. Very nice though.
Click to expand...

Cheers - problem is cropping it puts the edge of the larger rocks to close to the frame edge - and moves the lighthouse off centre.

Seascapes aren't quite my thing - I went with the 50 as I could keep a few paces back from the breaking water so there was no splashes and so the lighthouse isn't lost in the frame and I found a slight raise just to keep me, my feet and gear directly away from the drink. Some of the better seascapers (@Steelo ) probably have a better approach to shooting them than that.

Really glad I took it - originally was going to just take your 24 (which has been out already). It's completely viceless - no real distortion and sharp edge to edge and in the corners just a dream to use.
 
7x5 for me. I think the stubby nature of the lighthouse detracts from a square crop- it looks unbalanced
 
Jim_Tod said:
7x5 for me. I think the stubby nature of the lighthouse detracts from a square crop- it looks unbalanced
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reasoning.

I can see why you think it. On the big screen it feels better - I could have placed it central. I’ve got two central ones I took in portrait with the 70-200 but the deep blue faded away by the time I figured I needed more than just the 50mm.

I had planned to go with a wider aspects than 3:2 when shooting but it didn’t work on the big screen
 
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I was there the day before. Had similar conditions and tried all sorts of exposures and compositions. Nothing really worked for me so binned the lot!.

Dave Semmens said:
Nice enough pictures Steve and you should have hopefully avoided the toll booth man on new years day :)
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He was certainly there New Year’s Eve. At 7am, in the dark, with a fire lit and bollards across the road :LOL:
 
Very nice set of presentations Sir, with #1 being my pick of the set.(y)

George.
 
Nick Livesey said:
Without wanting to be too scathing, Steve, of all the incredible places you could have gone to in North Wales you travelled all that way for a poxy lighthouse!
Click to expand...

My skins thick enough for that one. I enjoyed the drive down - the motorway is nice at night when no one is on it.

This really isn’t the season that has much emotional pull for me. Prefer the lakes and mountains in the summer and autumn. The brown hues bore the life out of me and there was F all snow which at least hides the bare brown horror that’s winter. This sort of thing helps me through this awful time of year.

Plus it was too windy for reflections which if I’m going to Wales it’ll be for those in summer [emoji4]
 
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RichieTee said:
I was there the day before. Had similar conditions and tried all sorts of exposures and compositions. Nothing really worked for me so binned the lot!.



He was certainly there New Year’s Eve. At 7am, in the dark, with a fire lit and bollards across the road :LOL:
Click to expand...

Free on New Year’s Day. Wasn’t the only one there, couple of camper vans and a few bird watchers. I was the only tog though and then by mid am the dog walkers arrived which was cue to go - can’t stand dogs.
 
Quite like the last one if it had better light Steve but the others aren't doing much for me - you've eluded to a different approach to seascapes e.g. getting closer to the water - having shot this place fairly recently they really need more interaction with the water itself. The lighthouse taken in isolation in this way with a long exposure probably needs a more creative approach to the processing (i.e.minimalist mono) or better conditions for them to work.
 
Stuart Mc said:
Quite like the last one if it had better light Steve but the others aren't doing much for me - you've eluded to a different approach to seascapes e.g. getting closer to the water - having shot this place fairly recently they really need more interaction with the water itself. The lighthouse taken in isolation in this way with a long exposure probably needs a more creative approach to the processing (i.e.minimalist mono) or better conditions for them to work.
Click to expand...

The problem with a mono is you’d lose these lovely deep blue dawn colours-I tried it but deleted the image as the colours for me were to good to lose and I felt something was lost in the conversion. And it’s not like a long exposure mono is fresh off the creative blocks.

Agree re the light mind - just a little break to hit the Lighthouse would have been just the thing.
 
Just to be different, i like the 3rd one. Simple but with nice detail in the sky.
To me the lighthouse seems to be leaning a slight bit to the right. The horizon appears to be level, I'm looking at this on a small tablet, sl it may be that.

Pete
 
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