Sunday, November 13, 2011

Lighting the Sunrise

My good friend Producer/Director/Writer Mark Strickson has a wonderful phrase: "let's not over-egg the pudding". It's sort of another way of saying 'gilding the lily'. It came to mind this morning when I was out trying to light my sunrise shots. I just needed the foreground rocks lifted a little, so was downslope with a 580EXII flash and CTO gel, while I had a remote trigger on my camera. There I am with the flash in the corner of the shot below:

Highcliff sunrise

Not quite over-egging the pudding I hope, just adding a little light to bring out the lichen pattern in the rocks, while the sunrise did its thing. Unfortunately it wasn't the spectacular one I was hoping for, but I did get a little colour and was ready when the colour in the sky peaked.

Highcliff sunrise

A few minutes later and most of the colour had gone.


Highcliff sunrise

So after my setup I got a few unlit shots, while listening to the Yellow-eyed penguins calling on the beach below.

Highcliff sunrise

There was also a sealion playing in the waves. Guess I'll be carrying on down the track in a few days to see if I can get any pictures of the wildlife.

Highcliff sunrise

Between shots I checked for twitter updates on my smart phone (as you do). Looks like the Otago Daily Times has decided to show an interest in the local Occupation and have run an interview with Kieran Trass this morning. Shame they couldn't get a better picture of him.

In other news, Mike and Fran Thorsen have ended their sojourn on St Helena. You can read their final post from there in their Banzai Chicken blog. It's going to be interesting to see where they wash up next. I'm guessing we could be seeing some cool shots of post-earthquake Christchurch one day soon.

The shrubs around these Highcliff rocks?  Coprosma crassifolia. Thanks for the botanical steer Mike. And thanks Jaq Tweedie for proofreading services. Gilding the Lily.

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