Articles
Land’s End, Cornwall
Uploaded January 2010
Field Notes
Some of the UK’s most dramatic coastal scenery can be found in Cornwall, especially around the peninsula of Land’s End. Away from the tourist trap of Land’s End itself the coastline is unspoilt and wild. This view towards Enys Dodnan from Pordenack Point works particularly well at sunset. Depending upon the time of year the sun will go down behind the rock arch casting magical light upon the scene. The best times to visit are April and August as the sun will be setting directly behind the arch. This image was taken in early April from the coastal footpath south of Land’s End’s rather unsightly “theme park”. The conditions were overcast but occasional rays of light were breaking through on the horizon. Thankfully the resulting beams helped to inject some additional atmosphere into the image.
Shooting Notes
Gear – I used the Live-view function on my Canon EOS 5Dmk2 in combination with the depth of field preview to enable me to place the point of focus in precisely the right spot to record both foreground and background elements in sharp focus. I find this particular function to be one of the most significant advances in digital camera technology when it comes to shooting landscapes.
Composition – The flexibility of my 24-105mm zoom lens allowed me to compose this scene very precisely. I had the lens set to 35mm to include the most vibrant section of flowering gorse in the foreground whilst also recording the rock arch a reasonable size in the frame. Accurate composition is critical in landscape photography. I had to reposition my tripod several times before I was happy that I had eliminated as many distracting foreground elements as possible. For me the compositional benefits of a zoom lens far outweigh any slight improvement in image quality afforded by primes.
Exposure and lighting – Low light levels in combination with a three stop neutral density filter allowed me to use a long exposure time of 15 seconds to record movement in the water. By smoothing out the waves and ripples the composition is simplified and appears less busy.
Post Production – In order to control the contrast between the land and sky I made two exposures which were merged together manually via two layers in Photoshop. The first exposure was made for the sky without the ND filter at 100 ISO, 1/15th sec @ f22 (to retain detail in the clouds by preventing motion blur). The second exposure was made for the foreground with the ND filter at 50 ISO, 15 seconds @ f22 (to smooth out the surface of the sea).
Even though this is a classic Cornish view and one that has been photographed many times, the changing light, choice of foreground and varying weather conditions mean that you’ll always end up with something different and sometimes quite unique.