This shoot of Lancing Bather’s Beach was originally scouted out on the back of a previous one, and this particular stretch of beach allowed a vast view at low tide where you could see Brighton in the distance to the East and Worthing pier, not too far to the west. Sadly, I didn’t get the tide timing right, and since then I’ve used a free app to predict the tide times for future low tide projects. The App is called My Tide Times and has been a bit of a godsend ever since I started using it. It can be very dangerous by the coast, so always check the tide and the weather conditions before heading out.
ND filters
Graduated Filter tests – Top: ND Hard Grad Coral; warm tones in the sky – Bottom: ND Hard Grad 0.6 (2 stop); colder tones in the sky, stronger exposure reduction.
Here’s a couple of test shots experimenting with LEE ND Hard Grad filters. Filters are best used with a level horizon, and you can see the groin changes colour and tone at the top in the test shots. This isn’t desirable, so in this case it might be better to use either a softer grad (these filters have a hard gradient) or opt for a HDR toning technique instead. I’ve got two filters, the top is the coral, which I’ve since used on the bottom half of images to warm up the foreground of some images, particularly for winter sunsets on the downs, and the bottom is the standard ND Grad, which reduces the exposure at the top of the image by two stops, which is great for the controlling exposure in the sky.
Rocks on Lancing Bather’s Beach, 2015
These are much better. The coral filter has been used on a flat horizon to warm up the sky, without affecting any other areas of the picture. The bottom image uses the LEE Big Stopper 10 stop ND filter, which is a full filter to reduce the exposure time by 10 stops. The shutter speed changes from 1/2 second (Top) to 240 seconds – 8 minutes – (Bottom) which has a huge impact on how the sea looks in the picture.
Lancing Bather’s Beach, 2015
So using the same techniques and a bit of a different composition I captured this calming photo of the groyne leading into the ocean.
On my way back, I dropped into Shoreham by Sea to have a quick look at the fiery glow the sunset was producing on the clouds. I captured this shot along the Adur river of Lancing college silhouetted against these beautiful clouds.
