The Grantville Goal Posts
Captured below, a long exposure image of the incoming tide starting to submerge the concrete boat ramp at Grantville on Westernport Bay.
Due to the long shallow nature of the ramp the “goal posts” are used as a guide by boat owners to help prevent boat trailers from being driven over the sides or end of the ramp and into the mud/water.
Below – “Moving the Goal Posts”
Below – The boat ramp fully submerged with the Grantville jetty to the left and the sun shimmering on the foreground water.
Exploring Cape Schanck
Cape Schanck is located at the southern tip of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
The beaches here offer a feast of opportunities for photographers. At the tip of the cape sits Pulpit Rock, a huge monolith standing proud amongst tidal rocky platforms.
At low tide the rocky platforms are exposed allowing fairly easy access to a large number of rock pools. These pools are home to a variety of sea creatures including small fish, crustaceans and octopuses. Depending on the time of year the pools can contain various forms of brightly coloured seaweed, providing wonderful hiding places for the rock pool residents. This is a great place to dunk your waterproof compact camera if you’re lucky enough to own one. Unfortunately I don’t own one (yet).
Below – Pebbles at the Pulpit
The beach leading out to Pulpit Rock is covered by rounded rocks that roll around and pound into each other with each wave creating an interesting sound that’s quite difficult to describe.
Below – Cape Schanck Lighthouse overlooking the west side of the cape.
Below – Cape Schanck East. The eastern side of the cape provides a rocky beach where there are lots of opportunities for the photographer who enjoys capturing waves crashing over and around rocks. I took quite a few long exposures here.
Below – The Schanck. The white surf and dark rocks contrast each other nicely and provide excellent material for making great black and white images.
Fluid in Motion – Flinders
One of my favorite spots for photogenic wave action along the Mornington Peninsula is Flinders.
West of the township the rugged coastline features extensive cliffs with access to the rocky beaches in only a few places.
The deliciously dark rocks here provide a wonderful contrast to the bright white surf as waves from Bass Strait relentlessly pound the beach.
On this occasion I visited the beach during the early afternoon so conditions were extremely bright and contrasty.
I used an ND400 filter, sometimes in combination with an additional ND8 filter, to darken the scene and enable the use of slow shutter speeds to blur the moving water.
It’s always fun and games being close to the edge in places like this. Despite keeping one eye on the camera and the other eye on incoming waves I was caught by surprise on a couple of occasions during the afternoon and drenched by rogue waves exploding on the rocks.
This is really quite an extraordinary spot from a photographer’s perspective. Not so special for the grand seascape but more for the myriad of recesses where the surf dynamically interacts with the rocks.
Construction at Powlett River
The construction of the controversial desalination plant near the mouth of the Powlett River has yielded a temporary point of interest for photographers.
A large platform has been placed offshore to assist with the construction of the required underwater pipeline.
Although not the most beautiful structure in the world, it acts as a nice point of interest for an otherwise potentially boring background.
I’m in no way a supporter of this project but I decided to take advantage of the platform while it’s there and took a series of images from the spot where the Powlett River meets the ocean.
The idea behind the images was to use the lines created by running water and rock edges to draw the viewer into the scene towards the platform in the background. The images were taken in bright mid afternoon light using strong ND filtering to enable the exposures to be long enough to blur the water.
Below – Platform One
Below – Platform Two
Below – Platform Three
Below – Mouth of the Powlett – Looking north-west across the mouth to the sand dunes, the waves crashing onto the rocks in the foreground just appear as mist due to the long exposure time.
Below – a couple of experimental panoramic shots of the river and dunes.
Exploring Ricketts Point, Beaumaris, Port Phillip Bay
Ricketts Point is a marine sanctuary located south east of Melbourne in Port Phillip Bay. When viewed from the land it’s an unremarkable looking series of sandstone rock platforms. Apparently under the waterline the platforms support a great diversity of flora and fauna.
When viewed from a land-based photographer’s perspective the area looks pretty ordinary during bright daylight hours.
Towards the evening the area becomes more attractive as it provides an unobstructed view of the setting sun and also provides some foreground interest in the form of waves swirling around rocks at the edge of the platforms.
This provides a good opportunity to catch some nice long exposure images.
Prior to the sun setting, the rocky platforms serve as a meeting place for several species of birds. Amongst them are a very tolerant group of pelicans. They don’t seem to mind people getting relatively close to them here which provides a nice opportunity for bird watchers and photographers.
Chopsticks at Corinella
An excursion to Corinella revealed “the chopsticks”, large angled posts planted in the muddy sea bed. Remnants of some past structure.
Pictured below – “Chopsticks 1” available as a print here.
Pictured below – “Trio” available as a print here.
Below – To give some sense of scale I planted myself in this shot, …and it certainly wasn’t easy holding myself still in this position for the long exposure. 🙂
Below – A view of the beach on the south-west facing side of Corinella.
At the end of Seaford pier.
This excursion to Seaford pier was a second visit. My goal was to capture an image that I’d had in my mind for some time but wasn’t able to quite capture on the first visit.
The subject of the image was a wonderful old wooden bench seat located at the end of the Seaford pier.
Pictured above – “The Silent Partner” is available as a print here.
I chose to use a long exposure here to smooth out the waves on the water and soften the clouds in the sky. This has the desirable effect of making the image less busy and draws the viewers attention to the wonderful grain and smooth worn texture of the wood.
Conveniently the lines of the bench also draw the viewers eyes into the image and towards a swirling cloud in the background providing a second point of interest.
Pictured below – “Observer” is available as a print here.
This is the image I took on the first visit. I like this image but it wasn’t the vision I initially had in mind. A local resident paid me the ultimate compliment by purchasing a framed print of this one.
Slowly submerging in Tooradin
The coastal village of Tooradin is located on the shores of Westernport Bay, Victoria, Australia.
Since I live fairly close to Tooradin I often pick up a hot pie and a cappuccino from the wonderful bakery here and drive down to the jetty area for a relaxing break.
Tooradin has two jetties right next to each other. One jetty is of a floating pontoon design which rides on the surface of the water, rising and falling as the tides change. The other jetty is the usual kind consisting of a raised platform fixed to sturdy wooden pillars.
An interesting thing about the fixed platform jetty is that the platform gradually disappears below the surface of the water as the tide rises. This provides the photographer with some interesting possibilities.
Below – the rising tide starts to envelope the platform.
Standing on this jetty makes one feel like a captain going down with his ship.
Below – “Channel” which is available to purchase as a print here.
The platform is just a few centimeters below the surface.
After taking a few long exposures at the jetty mother nature decided to give me a nudge. The thick black storm clouds opened up and sent down a barrage of hail to chase me back to the car.
Below – Run from the Hail
The Jetties of Portsea and Sorrento
Portsea and Sorrento are coastal villages located at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula, south east of Melbourne. They both share a wild and woolly ocean beach to the south and the much calmer waters of Port Phillip Bay to the north. As a photography enthusiast I enjoy the contrast between the ocean and bay sides of the peninsula.
In winter and early spring you can stand on the ocean beach and not see another soul, a prospect I find very attractive. The only problem is that the wild and woolly conditions that keep the crowds away also make photography difficult. A photographer here has to contend with the difficulties of high winds and sea spray, not impossible I know but very annoying when combined with the low temperatures of winter.
For this reason I’ve found myself gravitating towards the calmer bayside beaches on my last couple of trips down that way.
Below – “34 Steps” which is available to purchase as a print here.
I’ve recently been trying to consciously simplify my images by attempting to exclude as many distracting elements as possible. Whilst shooting on the bayside beaches this has been fairly easy to achieve by using long exposures to reduce the detail in the water and sky. Another benefit of the long exposures is that birds and boats can move through the frame without even appearing in the finished exposure. I used a combination of an ND400 and an ND8 filter giving me about 12 stops of darkness to make the exposures up to 30 seconds long for these images.
Below – “The Danger of Diving”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Portsea and Sorrento bayside beaches feature a wonderful collection of public and private jetties.
Below – “Outbound”, Sorrento beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Despite being technically over exposed I like the drama this high key image presents.
I like the way the sea and the sky are almost one. A personal favorite.
Below – “Nature versus Nurture”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “Boomerang”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “Civilization meets the Sea”, Portsea beach, is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “The Trappings of Wealth”, Sorrento beach, is available to purchase as a print here.
Visiting the Silky Lady – Hopetoun Falls
The Hopetoun Falls is a popular tourist attraction located in the Otway Ranges in Victoria, Australia.
Pictured below – A View to the Falls – Just a short distance from the car park, visitors are treated to a tempting glimpse of the falls from above through a gap in the lush forest greenery.
A short picturesque walk down a path through the forest gives access to the base of the falls. Upon arrival at the base it’s very easy to imagine that you’d somehow been transported into a fairytale. It’s a dream location for photographers and indeed it’s difficult to take a bad shot here.
Below – The Silky Lady
Below – Peeking at the Silky Lady
Below – In the Land of Fairytales
The Beauty of Polly McQuinn’s Weir, Strathbogie.
The picturesque Polly McQuinn’s Weir is well sign posted and located a few kilometers south-west of Strathbogie, Victoria, Australia.
The weir features a spillway where water streams over a concrete wall and onto large exposed granite boulders.
The water then continues snaking around more boulders before flowing under a road bridge then traversing a gently sloped granite plateau before reaching a deep pool surrounded by native vegetation.
There are many opportunities here for the keen photographer.
Below – A long exposure of water cascading over the spillway wall and onto granite boulders beneath.
Below – Looking back towards the spillway wall, water flows rapidly over and around granite boulders on it’s way downstream.
Below – In the days preceding my visit to the weir the area had received heavy rainfall.
I suspect this caused lot of the brown silt present in the water. This caused an interesting effect in the water with the deeper sections of the flow taking on a brownish tinge and the shallow sections appearing bluish during long exposure shots.
Below – The view from the bottom of the spillway looking downstream.
The silted water runs rapidly under the road bridge.
Below – “Polly’s Overflow” – Looking upstream from the pool, the water traverses a gentle granite plateau then strikes some foreground boulders whipping the water into a frenzy before it finally enters the tranquility of the pool. This image is available to buy as a print at my Zazzle and RedBubble sites.
Below – “In Search of Polly”
Apparently the weir was named after a young woman called Polly McQuinn who drowned here more than 100 years ago. Legend has it that the ghost of Polly can sometimes be heard calling for help from passer by.
Unfortunately I didn’t hear Polly on the day I was here.
Abandoned, dilapidated, derelict, decayed and once loved.
Following is a collection of farmhouse images taken on a trip through western Victoria and South Australia.
Initially I intended to take a lot of seascape images on this trip but the rain and sheer cliffs along the Great Ocean Road often conspired against me.
As the journey progressed I found myself becoming more interested in the landscape including the many vacant derelict buildings scattered along the way.
Below – “Shambles” – A deserted farmhouse at Byaduk North, Victoria, Australia.
Below – “Out the Back” Byaduk North, Victoria, Australia.
Below – “The Love Shack” – Found along the road north of Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia.
There is also a colour version of the Love Shack here.
Below – “Spiders n’ Snakes” – an abandoned house along the roadside in Puralka, Victoria, Australia.
Below – “Cottage in the Vineyard” Padthaway Heritage Cottage (Front) near Bordertown, South Australia.
Below – “Backdoor to the Vineyard” Padthaway Heritage Cottage (Rear) overlooking the vineyard, near Bordertown, South Australia.
The House of Pills – Bacchus Marsh
One of the tourist attractions at Bacchus Marsh is the old Chicory Kiln.
The kiln was constructed in 1885 and was used to roast chicory roots which were then ground and used as a coffee additive.
The front face of the kiln features a defaced advertisement for “Dr.Morse’s Indian Root Pills”, a product which was claimed by the manufacturer to contain ingredients which would “cleanse the blood”.
Cleansing the blood was apparently thought to be a good thing at the time as “impurity of the blood” was considered to be the cause of all disease. (Wiki)
Below – House of Pills
Below – Perspective 81 the elevated door on the chicory kiln.
Exploring Cement Creek
It seems to me that Cement Creek was dealt an injustice when it was first named.
Despite it’s odd name, it really is quite an attractive location and a fine example of lush Victorian forest.
Cement Creek in located at the foot of Mount Donna Buang, near the intersection of Donna Buang Rd and Acheron Way.
On this excursion we gained access to the creek by walking along raised platforms which got us most of the way, then we jumped the handrail into the forest to get to the flowing water. At this location you need to be prepared to get muddy and wet, so it’s advisable to keep a change of clothes in the boot of your car.
The main hazard here is the slippery moss covered rocks. A minor hazard is the hungry leeches.
Incorporating HDR tonemapping techniques with long exposures
The following images were experiments using HDR tone mapping techniques combined with the effects of long exposure times.
Each image was constructed from at least 3 separate exposures using in-camera auto exposure bracketing. In my case, being a Canon shooter, I used 3 exposures of -2,0 and +2 simply for convenience. I believe Nikon shooters have a bit more flexibility in this area.
The images were all taken during daylight hours so it was necessary to use some heavy ND filtering in order to increase the exposure times and achieve a nice misty look to the water. In my case I used an ND400 and an ND8 filter stacked together to achieve this.
With the camera set to aperture priority mode I adjusted the aperture and filter combination (sometimes removing the ND8) to achieve an exposure of 8 seconds. When the shutter button is depressed the camera would then give me 3 exposures at 8 seconds, 2 seconds and 30 seconds (which is close enough to 0,-2 and +2). My particular camera doesn’t let me expose for longer than 30 seconds unless I go to bulb mode and use a remote timer, so out of laziness I tend to limit many of my exposures to 30 seconds. 🙂
The exposures were then combined and tonemapped using HDR software and tweaked in Photoshop to achieve the end result.
Despite all of this sounding a bit technical it’s really quite simple and I encourage you to try it. The results are often very rewarding.
BELOW – Jurassic Afternoon – Sunlight and waves break through a slit in the prehistoric Pinnacles rock formation on Phillip Island.
BELOW – The Mist of St.Pauls – A long exposure at St. Pauls beach, Sorrento, Victoria, Australia.
BELOW – Prehistoria – An image from The Pinnacles, at Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia.
BELOW – Swimming with Dinosaurs – Down amongst the prehistoric Pinnacles rock formations at Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia.
Daytime experiments with the ND400 filter.
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.
Addicted to the Ocean
A snapshot of a fellow RedBubble photographer catching “last light” at Blairgowrie beach.
An Evening at Spray Point, Blairgowrie.
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.
Swanning around Westernport Bay
Here are some more images taken at various places around Westernport Bay, Victoria, Australia.
It’s always a lot of fun shooting around here at low tide. The beaches feature a fine grain sticky mud that slowly tries to draw you beneath the surface. With each step that you take you risk losing your footwear. 🙂
Taking long exposures is certainly interesting as the tripod gradually sinks into the silt.
This is just the sort of place where you should take emergency pants in case you unexpectedly sit down in the mud.
The following image was taken at Crib Point beach.
This image Barnacle Build was shot at Balnarring beach.
The following image The Threat of Punishment was taken at Grantville beach. All of the ground in this shot is mud.
Out on the rock shelves
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.
A storm rolls over Port Phillip Bay
Following are 3 images taken yesterday at Ricketts Point, Beaumaris, as a storm rolled across the bay.
The apparent power and turbulence of the clouds in the sky is mirrored by the motion and ferocity of the water. It was an invigorating place to be.
Images from Koonya beach
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. 🙂
Droughts and Floods
An image taken at the very scenic Lake Glenmaggie area in Victoria, Australia.
The water level rises and falls dramatically according to the prevailing conditions.
The Path to Bushrangers Bay
Some more images taken on an excursion to Bushrangers Bay in Victoria, Australia.
Below – An image taken along the path to Bushrangers Bay.
Rolling hills, farmland and grazing cattle. Very relaxing stuff indeed.
The Edge
Gum trees growing precariously close to a cliff edge in western Victoria, Australia.
I was attracted to this scene by the trees silhouetted against the bright cloudy sky and of course the dead limbs in the foreground.
Home Sweet Hell
Images from an abandoned house taken during an excursion to the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia.
The image above is available to purchase as a print here.
A rockscape at Fingal beach.
After a short hike through the “Fingal forest”, see previous post, I arrived on the beach with the sun high in the sky.
Of course this isn’t the best time of day for photographing this kind of environment.
Landscape and seascape images are best captured around dawn or sunset when the scene is always less contrasty.
In the image below I was attracted by the shimmering, sparkling highlights on the surface of the water as the sun managed to poke its way through a break in the clouds.
Through the Fingal Forest
These images were taken on a recent excursion to Fingal beach, near Cape Schanck, Victoria, Australia.
The long track from the carpark to the beach is lined with twisted and gnarled trees creating an interesting viewing experience.
Visitors to the beach also experience the joy of navigating the hundreds of “awkwardly spaced” steps along the path. It’s not so bad going down to the beach but the return uphill journey is certainly a good test of your general fitness. Of course the ideal solution is to take along a strong, sturdy friend who can carry you back up the hill.
The images below were all taken using the Lumix LX3 camera.
After traversing the Fingal forest I managed to take this image.
Stranded
This image was taken at Beaumaris beach, Victoria, Australia.
Walking along the beach at sunset was a hazardous proposition as sand was littered with the stranded bodies of hundreds of jellyfish. Poor things!
This shot taken with the Lumix LX3.
Sounds of the Undine
A black and white rendition of a recent shot of the lake at Bonnie Doon, Victoria, Australia.
Photography by Jim Worrall 