Coogee Sunrise by the rocks

[biggerry]

Coogee is certianly an interesting place at the wee hours of the morning, Suren and I headed down to South Coogee by Wiley Baths for a poke around before headin got the northern side, the access on the northern side is safer and more convienent.

I am sure you are all wondering 'what sunrise?' well, that is correct, it was a definitely a no-show! However there was some good wave action.

I used the Tokina 11-16 + 2 filters for these and I have only good words to say about this lens - it does take some getting used to the increased FOV, which I am still coming to grips with.

if your looking for a really ominous BW shot check this one out..

[dviv]

I love the last one Gerry - fantastic

[aim54x]

When I woke up this morning I was relieved that it was grey...meant I had not missed a sunrise...but now that you deliver this set I am kicking myself again!

I have to admit that I really like the ominous B&W image linked....could do with a bit more shadow detail but it really works for me.

I like the whole set, not much more to add to that...shame the sun didnt come out to play.

[robert]

The last one is a cracker!

[whitey]

Very nice, getting value out of that 11-16. I have plans to get down to Wiley Baths over christmas for a few sunrise shots.

Like the composition very much on the final one. Shame the sun didnt come out, still a great result though.

[surenj]

Holy CARP! Brilliant work Gerry.

Those who weren't there won't realise that there was not much to work on. In fact, it was a little heart wrenching to get there so keen and not even get a glimmer of sun.

I really love the 1# as it looks so creamy and smooth with great composition.

4# is also held by it's very strong composition.

I will need to chug through my images soonish.... watch that space.

[zafra52]

Excellent photography! The one that has stuck in my head is the last one.

[biggerry]

really like the ominous B&W image linked

yeah, it was just an after thought but with a bit of tweaking i reckon it be better!

getting value out of that 11-16.

I think so... I have basically left it on the camera all the time to try and make myself get used to the FOV and composing with it...as suren pointed out to me, i think it will be an essential item in the bag but not necessarily used as much as the 17-55..

get down to Wiley Baths over christmas for a few sunrise shots.

a word of caution there, referring ot the first image posted you can see the baths and there is a very very bright argon light (the most left one) which can be a real pain.

Refer to the image below, this is one of the early on images I took with D80 at the wliey baths, you can see the same light here, however it is not on, you can imagine what is does when its on!


*edited - probably should have it in the public file so ppl can see it eh?

Also bring a torch and scope it out before hand, there is a pretty tidy track down there but if you have not been there before it would be interesting

won't realise that there was not much to work on

true, but there was some good waves

little heart wrenching to get there so keen and not even get a glimmer of sun

especially when u get up at a stupid hour! I hope you held up OK thru the day - man, i flaked before lunch!

Thanks for the comments guys!

[wendellt]

great work man
you should be happy
the black and white version is awesome

[BBJ]

I love all of these shots, did you hapen to use a filter of some sort? Either way all great.

Cheers
BBJ

[craig.rohse]

Guys I am sooo lazy, whish I would have got up for this one, but even then I don't think I would have ended up with something so good

That last one is fantastic with the leading line would love to see it done on a sunny day and nice blue water.

[biggerry]

did you hapen to use a filter of some sort? Either way all great

for the first 1/2 hour I used just a circular polariser, then as it got brighter i double stacked the ND8 filter.

Guys I am sooo lazy, whish I would have got up for this one,

trust me thats not what goes thru your head at 3:45am

with the leading line would love to see it done on a sunny day and nice blue water.

yeah, some blue water would be nice - the polariser makes the water very dark, will have to keep that in mind for next time.

black and white version is awesome

ta wendell, i was unsure whether it worked as BW, but something in it appealed to me.

[hellman]

Very impressive, any tips on this style for us plebs?

[biggerry]

any tips on this style for us plebs?

well, i am very much a pleb, so here goes...

some of the images are HDR, processed in Photomatix, 3 images 2 stops apart (thats the limit on the D80). Processing is purely up to you and what you think works, I find there is no consistent forumla and usually have differing adjustmets for each image set. What i consistently do is tone down the saturation alot in teh HDR images, they can often come out of Photomatix very overcooked...in this case i have used both the circular polariser and the ND8 filter, mainly to get the shutter speed down. anything else?

I guess there is not really much to it - the hardest thing is actually getting out of bed and tryingto get the brain to focus...on something..

[surenj]

I guess there is not really much to it - the hardest thing is actually getting out of bed and tryingto get the brain to focus...on something..

Hear hear.

I would suggest a very strong coffee to get going unless you are a morning person. This time around, I found it very hard to focus and get good compositions. Every movment seemed to be a big effort. Perhaps having a solid few hours of sleep (instead of 3.5hrs as I did) would help as well.

Make sure your lenses are nicely cleaned and flare will destroy your images.

Bracket all your shots as the LCD will not be accurate. As Gerry mentioned, ND4 and ND8 or a graduated gray filter will also help.