208 Final Images Nature Theme 2.

I'm happy to be able to show you the images I have chosen for my Assignment 208 Nature Theme.
I have greatly enjoyed taking these pictures as they were all taken in Cornwall, one of my favourite places, all on the coast line of the Celtic Sea on two short holidays in the one of the county's most beautiful areas and also with great fortune to have been blessed with good weather and light conditions. They were all taken near to Porthleven , Lizard's Point and Lands End.
In capturing these I have had to work with various light conditions from the dim light given from the twilight before the sunrise and warm glow of the sun disappearing I experienced in the Cornish sunsets. To help me I  used Ultra Violet , sky light and various Cokin graduation filters. Along with these the use of my Veldbon DF60 tripod , a must for the early morning shots where the light is low and the shutter speeds slow.
I used my Nikon D3100 along with its kit lens a Nikon DX 18-55mm VR and a Tamron 70-300mm Tele-Macro lens. I had taken over 400 images so it was a battle to thin them out to be able to choose the final 10, well It was a struggle so I couldn't,  so I'll be posting 12. I hope you enjoy them as much as i did capturing them.
All my images have been taken in full manual mode to enable full control of all settings this has allowed me to experiment with aperture and shutter settings on my camera to attempt to get the best possible pictures. With this in mind I also attempted some of the pictures using my cameras bulb setting as well.

Above picture 1. This was taken just as the sun was rising over Porthleven , I used my Tamron Telephoto lens set upon my tripod . I had attempted before to use a smaller aperture of around f32 but had struggled to get a crisp image as having to use a slow shutter speed as I'd wanted to give as much depth of field as possible but I kept getting a poor result. So after some experimenting this image was taken with the ISO set at 200 a f9 aperture and used the bulb setting on my camera which gave a shutter speed of 1/160th. I feel this gave a good compromise to enable to get a sharp image and not loose to much detail in the back ground . I didn't post processed this image at all as I felt it was a strong enough to be able to be used in its original state.

Above picture 2 . This image was taken from the beach in Porthleven , I took it in the early evening on the first day after only arriving about an hour or so before.After a little experimenting again I settled on ISO 200 f16 and a shutter speed of 1/8th , with a orange Cokin graduation filter. I wanted a slow shutter speed to be able to give a sense of movement in the image and a small f stop to help balance the shutter speed and give a clear image throughout. As you can see I have processed this image and have shown the various stages above. I particularly like the rich texture of the rock and sand  as a contrast to the soft foaming wave as they crash down on them and how the water has been captured in lines to the top right of the shot.

Above picturer 3 . This picture was also taken on the same afternoon in Porthleven . Settings were as follows; f16 , ISO200 and shutter speed of 1/3sec. This time I thought I'd use a slightly slower shutter speed to try and show the waters shadow on the sand as it retreated back into the sea to leaves. Also I timed it so the water is shown at it's highest as it hits the rocks. I decided to crop as this would balance the foreground and background . Also by doing this it has given the image more of an impact to the viewer as the main detail is in the middle and not in the top third of the frame. 

Above picture 4 . Again took at Porthleven on the same evening.  Settings of f16 , ISO200 and shutter speed of 1/3 of a second. As you can see I have used the same settings as photo number 3 . I was happy these so thought I'd try them again as it seemed to be working for me as I wanted a slow shutter speed to show the movement of the water. I have only cropped this picture to give it a panoramic feel to it with no other processing being made. 

Above picture 5 , As the light was so good I'm showing another from the same evening at Porthleven . Again also very similar settings; f16 , ISO200 and a shutter speed of 1/4 of a second. I think someone was looking down on me during this shoot as I was lucky enough to produce what I think are some very good pictures.Here we see a lower angled shot with no horizon in view. I have only cropped to give a panoramic view again feeling that the image is strong enough not to need processing. With this shot my eye is drawn to the bottom left then it has a natural path diagonally along the rocks up to the top right.

 Above picturer 6. The next morning . Setting our alarm for 4.30am, yes really , so as to give us plenty of time to adjust to the early hour and to travel the short distance from Porthleven to Lizard's Point the most southerly part of the United Kingdom we attempted some sunrise shots. This was taken at 5.40am using f10 , ISO200 with using my cameras bulb setting I judged the correct length of time with it giving it me a shutter speed of 5sec. I've not touched this picture at all , I've done this as it was,  out of about 50 shots the only one that came near to what I was trying to achieve so didn't want to do anything to it.

Above picture 7 . This was taken the same morning at Lizards Point about an hour after the sunrise. I'd wanted to use my tripod for this shot to get the best possible image but with it being so close to the edge was unable to. With this in mind  I positioned myself so that I was not obstructing anybody near to me , as I would create a trip hazard but as there we were the only people there at the time this was not a problem. I       positioned the forefront so that the two outer parts of the cliff balanced with the central part so that they all lead your eye towards the sea below. I'd like to say that I'd timed it so that the white seen in the wave also points out but this was all by chance. I have post processed this but to only fill in a area of white I've not adjusted anything else. I love how the colours and the texture contrast from the forefront to the the sea below giving it a feeling of great contrast . With it being taken looking straight down you don't get true feeling of the depth but by using the small aperture I'd wanted to give the viewer the feeling of being standing at the edge of no return.

Above picture 8 . Sunrise at Lizards Point. This was taken at same day at 7.48am . I used ISO 400 , F11 and 1/400th second shutter speed to help reduce blur within the picture. I not adjusted anything apart from only slightly straightening it in photoshop. I was very please with the colours of the sun reflected in the sea and using the quicker shutter speed was able to keep the waves in focus up to the horizon.

 Above picture 9 ...Taken on the first evening at Porthleven. I used ISO 200 , F16 and 1/4th of a second shutter speed . This has been cropped so as to only see the foreground up to the waves crashing against the rocks . Also as you can see from the photshop screen grabs I have removed items from within the sand ie seaweed etc. I am very pleased with this image, particularly how the the wave to the top left is shown to be holding still at it's peak. 

Above Number 10, This is my my favourite image . For me to be able to capture the water as it rushes into your feet shown as a  soft white blanket with the contrast against that and the texture of the sand and the exposed rock really works.Also I am very pleased to that it's also showing the next wave in the background still in focus. I used ISO 200 with F16 and 1/4second shutter .Using the slow shutter speed meant that it was essential to use my tripod , this helped to keep the images fore ground in focus and let the lens capture the movement of the water in a fixed position.

Above picture 11. Taken again at Lizards Point a little bit earlier then the other at 7.26am . Using ISO 200 F5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second . I not done anything to post process this at all, I feel that it is not perfect at all but after several adjustments with photoshop I kept coming back to it's original state so left as it is. Two things stick out to me with this , firstly how the sun is in the middle and secondly the the horizon starts level with where the rocks to the left finish . It hasn't got the sun reflection on the sea as the sun's not high enough but the sun it self and its warm glow and how it's reflected off the above clouds really makes this image stand out.

Above picture 12. Another sunrise but a little later in the year now in mid November so didn't have to get up quite so early. Taken in Porthleven again looking over the harbour to the church , which is actually a working man's club ,the onto the bay behind and then the sun . So we have 4 sections the the picture. I did again with this image attempt to make adjustment to but keep coming back to it's original state .I tried to lighten but in doing so just kept losing the suns detail , after actually being there this is it looked to the naked eye , with having the sun behind the church very little light was cast on the church. I used ISO 100 F22 and a shutter speed of 1/200th. Perhaps in hindsight I should have used a larger aperture along with a higher ISO but time was limited as the clouds were rising over the sun and wanted to attempt to get as much focus throughout the image as possible. Also out of about 10 shots I'd taken this was the only one which was no blurred as we had a wind rushing in against us so was quite difficult to keep the camera stable.