May 2010

It is 5.30a.m and I am standing ankle deep in the retreating tide. The grey skies that plagued me for days have been replaced by a beautiful dawn sky. So finally, after four mornings of standing on the beaches of Meath, it looks like my persistance has finally paid off.

Before me, stands my date, a Manfrotto tripod with camera, coupled with my new purchase. Like a kid in a toy shop I have a new ND-8 Neutral density filter to be exact.

Now what is an neutral density filter you may ask?

A neutral density filters main function is to reduce the amount of light entering the camera without effecting the colour balance. They can either be screwed on to the front of the lens or slot into one of the filter holders that come from Cokin or Lee. They come in a variety of strengths, in my case this ND 8x filter will help reduce exposure times by 3 stops or reduce light entering the camera to 12.5%.  So for example a one second exposure will become eight seconds.

When attached, the cameras own exposure metre and auto focus system can become confused. Peer through the view finder and you will be forgiven for thinking that day has turned into night. So using them can be tricky.

So when working with these type of filters, especially in low light I find it is best to pre-focus on your subject, set your exposure and aperture then attach the filter. Once you have your basic exposure you need to do the math and adjust your exposure time to correspond with the appropriate ND filter strength. In my case 3stops.

If you are like me and maths is a problem, then don’t fret. There are a number of charts you can download from the Internet to help you work out the exposure. Or if you have an iPhone or iTouch, download one of the many apps that are available to do the exposure calculations for you.

The first image I had in my mind was one which would depict the interaction between light and shade as well as one that would capture the ranges of tones and reflections of the sky in the tidal pools.

To do that, I crafted a composition that made use of the rocks that were slowly being revealed by the ebbing tide, and which included just enough of the land to capture the range of tones that were on display. Key to making the image work would be the inclusion of the warmer tones and their reflection in the wet sand. Take away the warm tones in the middleground and the image becomes bland.

Before pressing the shutter, I attached a 3stop Graduated Neutral Density filter to the front of the ND filter to stop any highlights in the sky from becoming blown out.

With the light getting up and me reasonably happy with the image I had just captured, I found myself wandering down the beach, looking for new locations. After having been on the beach for the last few mornings I kinda knew where I wanted to go. So I quickly found myself back in the water again photographing the tidal movement.

With photography it is easy to become lazy and complacent. It becomes easy to photograph the obvious and ignore the challenges of exploring a scene to find fresh views or perspective. Even if the obvious is the only image available, come back at a different time of day, in different weather conditions and see what you can create. Image 2 and image 3 are a perfect example of where I am coming from.

Image 2 is the obvious shot – sweeping view, water flowing into the sea and an interesting sky. However it is boring and when I took the photograph I was bored. The image is clichéd. So to try and spice it up, I waded further up into the image to where the the water was turning.

Here the flow of the water coupled with the interplay of light was more dramatic. Reminescent of a spine or some kind of Chinese dragon. This was to be my picture.  To try and capture the scene, I set the camera and tripod low in the water. Carefully framing the shot so the the ripples where placed just off centre and to make use of the clouds coming in on the top corners of the image. Before pressing the shutter, I set an aperture of F13 and an exposure of three seconds and took the picture.

Does it work? Well that is up to you. But it is more interesting than image two?