P#27: A Dramatic Predawn Shot in Maine

Exposure is Everything

Brenda Tharp: This shot is a predawn image along the coast of Maine. I wanted the rocks to be mostly silhouetted, but knew that some would, because of their shape, be reflecting some of that predawn light. They were wet. (click the image for a larger version)

The bay was just kind of lapping at the shore, so there would be these surges of the tide, and then the tide would go out. Then there would be another tiny surge that would come in, sometimes a bigger surge would hit. Each time it was a little different.

I decided that I wanted a more ethereal effect of that tidal movement so I did a 14 second exposure. I had to calculate it as I was looking at things, but I calculated that in 14 seconds I would get at least three surges where it would come in and then go out again.

Because each of those came in at a different height level, I got some ghosting and some very ethereal sort of mist as well as water reflecting the colors of dawn. I did this on a tripod and I was at f16 for this so that I could get a maximum sharpness and depth of field that I wanted.

That also enabled me to use a slower shutter speed. Then the variable neutral density filter that I applied allowed me to go even slower so that I could get a 14 second exposure out of it. That allowed me enough time for the motion to repeat itself in slightly different heights, giving me that ghosting.

To Conclude

Sometimes getting the perfect image is about calculating the perfect exposure. That's exactly what Brenda Tharp did with this amazing predawn shot, and it turns out that fourteen seconds was the magic number.