Planned Photo-Shoot for Portfolio

Location : Pembrokeshire, Wales

Equipment : Panasonic Lumix DMC G1, 14-45mm & 45-200mm Lenses

Tripod, Cokin Filters 

I decided a few weeks ago that I was not satisfied with the photographs I have already taken and planned a visit to the Pembrokshire coast in Wales in an effort to take some photos for my portfolio.  I have taken a couple of trips to the Peak District in Derbyshire and thought a change of location would give me some fresh ideas and impetus and after researching the work of Joe Cornish and Charlie Waite I was eager to replicate some of their seascape and  'inner landscape'  images, such as the two shown below.

I love the pink tones in this picture, it has a great use of thirds and the swirling water leads the viewer into the distance and creates a feeling of depth.

Pastel colours and rounded shapes nestled into the sand form an interesting pattern.
The weather forcast for the weekend was fair and sunny and I planned to take all my equipment and cokin filters to try them out.  I wanted to get lots of beach shots, particularly sunsets, dawn and early morning light.

We arrived in Saundersfoot near Tenby at approximately 11.30am, the tide was going out and the sun was shining, not ideal timing since the sun overhead took out all the interesting shadows, there was no cloud in the sky to add any interest and lots of haze over the sea and hills.

However, we decided to walk along the beach and I took a few pictures of the ripples left by the receeding tide and some interesting rock formations on the beach.  This gave me the opportunity to use  filters and I achieved some interesting results with the filtered shot as header, taken in early evening when the sky was quite grey and uninteresting.

We also walked round Tenby harbour and in the evening went out to Freshwater beach to wait for sunset which turned out to be very good, with lots of pink cloud reflected on the wet beach, this is my interpretation of the Charlie Waite picture above, with the stream of water leading the eye into the distance creating depth and rock formations adding texture and interest.

Next morning just after sunrise, we set off for Saundersfoot beach again to see if I could improve on the previous days pictures.  It was not an interesting sunrise with grey cloud cover for most of the morning but I managed to take some interesting shots of the exposed rock formations and beach debris with early light reflected in the wet beach from the cliff face.

On reviewing the pictures I am pleased with the results, the subject is interesting and the colour saturation and temperature improved.  I have varied the viewpoint with some taken at eye level and some lower.  I have tried, where appropriate,  to get interest in the foreground to improve perspective and have used filters on some to add a interest and impact.  I now have to decide on the final 12 for my portfolio and put them through photoshop for minor adjustments.

I am pleased with the image above, it was taken with a 14-45mm lens and a polarising filter using my tripod.
I used thirds and tried to get a formation in the beach debris that would lead the eye into the distance to the receding tide and horizon.

I found filters easy to use although a little fiddly when I wanted to change from one to the other, since I had to be careful not to get them smeared with fingerprints.  I now know what results I can get and when it is best to use them.

After discussing the results with Steve I feel I now have several images for my final portfolio and will review them in photoshop over the next two weeks, although I do have a trip to the Lake District in Cumbria planned, which may present an opportunity for more images.

I have experienced some difficulties with my photography, usually constraints of work and family, when I do get to a planned location the usual problems are access and weather, but this only makes my successes more enjoyable.

More images can be viewed on my Picassa website, please click here.