A long exposure image from Pearses Beach in Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula. You can get to Pearses Beach by parking in the carpark at the southern end of Pearse Road in Blairgowrie, and walk a short distance along the sandy walking path to the beach.
Following are a couple of long exposure images from Montforts Beach taken at first light on a cloudy grey dawn. You can access Montforts Beach by parking at the Spray Point Road carpark and following the sandy walking track south. Montforts Beach is signposted along the track. It’s also well worthwhile visiting Spray Point while you’re here.
Tech stuff for the image below- 5 sec, f/11, ISO50.
Technical stuff for the image below – 2.5 secs, f/18, ISO50.
Picture above – A long exposure image from Montforts beach, Blairgowrie, on the Mornington Peninsula. Â Montforts beach can be accessed from the carpark at the end of Spray Point Road, Blairgowrie. Â Take the path to the left.
Tech stuff – 10 secs f/13 using a 10 stop solid ND filter and a 4 stop soft grad.
Picture above – A long exposure shot of the Bunny Rock’s close companions at Montforts beach.
Tech stuff -30 secs f/11 using a 10 stop solid ND + 4 stop soft grad filter.
Pictured below, a pre-dawn long exposure shot from Bridgewater Bay in Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula.
Bridgewater Bay is accessible via a short walk from the carpark at the southern end of St Johns Wood Rd. Â Â Beach access is via a set of stairs. Â The best time to visit is at or near low tide when the rock platforms are exposed. Â Navigating the beach at high tide is problematic.
Tech stuff –Â 30 secs @ f/11
Pictured below, me shooting the bridge rock formation. Â Photo courtesy of friend Jason.
A pre-dawn long exposure image from Koonya beach at Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula.     The colour image was annoyingly way too blue and had a couple of mini star trails which were simply a distraction and had to go.  🙂
Koonya beach is located at the back beach end of Hughes Rd in Blairgowrie.
Below are some images from this weekend’s excursion to Fowlers beach in Blairgowrie.
If you’d like to visit Fowlers beach the closest carpark is at the end of St Johns Wood Rd in Blairgowrie. Follow the track from the carpark area to the beach then turn right and follow the path for about two hundred metres. Where the wire fence ends walk down towards the edge of the cliff and you’ll see a “goat track” down the steep embankment to the beach. I would describe this as a medium difficulty access point, …not everyone will be comfortable with negotiating the sandy steep descent down to the beach.
After the recent group excursion to Montforts beach I decided to revisit the place at high tide. The aim was to catch the three feature rock formations and also the “Bunny Rock” with a bit more water around their bases.
If you’re interested in visiting these fine rock formations park your car at the end of Spraypoint Road in Blairgowrie and take the short walk to the beach.
Below – Just for fun a 13 second long exposure selfie taken at Montforts beach. 🙂
Below are a couple of images from Bridgewater Bay in Blairgowrie, on the Mornington Peninsula. This crepuscular ray sunset appeared for maybe a couple of minutes before disappearing behind thick cloud.
Pictured below – A long exposure image of the locally famous rock formation in Bridgewater Bay.
To visit Bridgewater Bay drive to the car park at the end of St Johns Wood Rd in Blairgowrie. It’s a short walk from the car park to the beach.
Winter has suddenly struck with a vengeance in Melbourne and it’s surrounding areas.
The reduced temperature of the Bass Strait water combined with chilling winter winds now makes wide-angle shooting amongst the crashing surf fairly unbearable.
On my most recent trip to Koonya beach, the chill of the winter water running across my lower legs caused my teeth to ache, ….well almost. 😉
Wild winter conditions at Koonya beach, Blairgowrie.
Until the weather warms up a little I’ll be using the mid-range zoom in an effort to keep my feet drier and warmer.
No more long exposures standing in the surf, …..bbrrrrrrr !!
The following long exposures were taken during daylight hours using an ND400 and ND8 filter stacked together on the front of my Sigma 10-20mm lens. The combination of these two filters attenuates so much light that peering into the viewfinder reveals an inky blackness even during bright daylight conditions.
It’s therefore necessary to compose the image BEFORE screwing the filters onto the lens. It’s also necessary to adjust the focus manually since the auto-focus system has no chance of working under such conditions.
*** (Update October 2012) The introduction of “live view” to many DSLR cameras means that is’s no longer necessary to compose and pre-focus with the dark filters off the lens. I shoot all the time now using live view to peer through the combined darkness of an ND400 and ND8. The filters now stay on the lens which means there is a lot less fiddling around. If you’re looking for a guide to show you how to use an ND400 have a look at my recent blog post here.***
I found that if I set the ISO as low as possible, and set the aperture very small (i.e. a high number), then it was possible to obtain a shutter duration of about 3 minutes. Such long exposures during daytime create some interesting images. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with the ND400.
The following images were taken on an evening excursion to Spray Point / Montforts beach, Blairgowrie.
I’m never really sure where one beach ends and the other begins. 🙂
Tidal Trickle (below) was taken just prior to the sun dropping below the horizon giving some nice pinks in the sky.
Friends and Fatalities (below) is a long exposure shot taken just after the sun had dropped below the horizon.
The extended exposure time makes the moving water take on a misty appearance and blurs the clouds whilst the foreground rocks remain in focus.
The Unpredicted (below) is a long exposure shot showing water flowing off the rock plateaus after sunset.
Despite the deceptively calm appearance of the image this is really a potentially treacherous area with unexpectedly large waves occasionally sweeping across the plateaus.
The following three images were taken on an excursion to the rock shelves of Montforts beach, in Blairgowrie.
It’s an interesting place to be during the transition from high to low tide, as the water on the expansive rocky plateaus cascades over the sides on it’s return to the ocean.
Whilst here it’s important to be aware of which way the tide is going and also keep an eye out for occasional large rogue waves that sweep across the shelves. Prepare to get wetter than you expected here.
The image below was taken at the neighboring Sorrento beach.
It’s a long exposure taken after sunset giving the oceans surface a deceptively calm and smooth appearance.
These images were taken on a recent dusk excursion to Koonya beach on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia.
Dusk is my favorite time of day for shooting, ……it’s certainly MUCH more user friendly than that other time of day, …….what do they call it, ….”dawn” or something like that. 🙂
A series of long exposures taken at Sorrento and Blairgowrie beaches on the Mornington Peninsula, Australia.
These images were taken using the Sigma 10-20mm and Canon 17-85 mm lenses with ND8 and polarizing filters stacked on the front in order to slow the shutter speed.
Note – when stacking two filters on the 10-20mm lens the rim of the outermost filter becomes visible in the corners of the images necessitating a little cropping in post processing.
All of these images are available to purchase in various forms and sizes by clicking on their titles.
This is a reworked version of one of my first images posted to Redbubble. I’ve finally had time to tweak it the way I way I like it.
It was a taken on the beach at Blairgowrie as a storm was rolling in from the ocean. It was an amazing storm to see, …dark swirling clouds, lightning, halos formed by the sun shining through sheets of rain, ….marvelous stuff ! Tempest over the Ocean – Blairgowrie
Tempest over the Ocean is available as a high quality print at my Zazzle and RedBubble websites.
This sunset image taken at Blairgowrie beach, Australia, turned out to be much softer than I expected but I like the final result. The softness of the image is due to a build up of ocean salt spray on the lens filter.
A sunset taken at Blairgowrie beach, Australia.
I never get sick of visiting this ocean coastline along the Mornington Peninsula. The rocky landscape remains as a constant, however the continually changing sky and tide never fail to create a new captivating scene.
Generally the best time to visit this area are when the sunset corresponds with a low tide.
This image is available to purchase as a quality print here.
Photography by Jim Worrall 