TimeLines

I spent a couple of hours exploring the amazing rocks at this incredible location on the north coast of Spain, finding new opportunities as the tide came up. Unfortunately this was my only visit to this place and the conditions weren't kind - as we approached the coast the sun disappeared and the sky washed out to an almost featureless white (although there was some subtle detail there if you underexposed it). To add to the difficulty of getting a shot I was happy with, I smashed my most-used grad on the rocks half-way into my session here, so had to resort to blending exposures for the rest of the trip... Although I'm not completely happy with this image, it's the best I have from this place so thought I'd share it. I had a blast walking along these lines of rocks and the location reminded me of the amazing Mupe Bay in Dorset - and given the conditions I had to keep reminding myself that this was Spain, not England!

 

The shot:

- Canon EOS 5D Mark II

- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM @ 20mm

- 30 seconds @ f/8, ISO200, Manual mode

- B+W Circular Polariser and Light Craft Workshop LCW ND500MC 9-stop ND filter (actually 8 stops)

- Manfrotto 190XB tripod with 322RC2 joystick grip ball head

 

Processing:

- WB and tonal adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw

- Second raw conversion for sky detail blended in

- Noise reduction with Noiseware Professional plug-in

- Selective Curves to darken the sky

- 50% grey layer for a little dodging and burning

- Contrast boost with a Gradient Map layer in Luminosity mode

- Resized and sharpened with Smart Sharpen

Done