Redcoat...

I've given up with weather forecasts: I will go out and shoot and adapt to whatever nature throws at me. It is a challenge, not knowing what I can expect, and it does produce images that are a bit more interesting. Besides, there is no end in sight of it all, so I might just as well get used to it.

This afternoon is shower-dodging time; something I do very successfully as they roll in from the West, and either pass just out to sea or slightly inland. Either way I get great light and stay dry - what more could I ask for?

I'm carrying a super-telephoto lens; an optic I particularly like using as it appears to compress perspective and make objects seem closer to each other than they actually are (the distance between the camera and the dark headland near the top left of the frame being 2.7 miles (4.3km), as with this seascape photograph, taken during one such shower at Southbourne, Bournemouth. A shadowy Isle of Wight lies in the distance, some 12 miles (19km) away.

There is but one man and his dog using the beach, highlighted against the sand by his red coat. Although an old photo tinting trick, I retain the colour of the coat having converted the scene to monochrome in Photoshop. Understated, but very effective if the subject allows.


300mm f/4D AF-S Nikkor. 1/2000 second at f/5.6. - 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400

© 2012