Godrevy Lighthouse

[ChrisH]

I am drawn back to this spot looking for the perfect shot. This was taken during my May trip to Cornwall with a belter of a storm hitting the North Cornish Coast. Interestingly enough soon after this was taken we returned the few miles to Mousehole on the South Coast, which had calm sunny weather.

I have had to undertake a little manipulation here as the original shot was flat, hazy and uninteresting and had no sky to speak of.

I would be interested in your views.



Aperture: f/6.7m Shutter Speed: 1/500 ISO: 100

[FrankMi]

Hi Christopher, I like it. Good action and color in the sea, a touch of color around the lighthouse, a sense of strength in isolation. If the SOOC was flat and hazy, you have done well to bring out a captivating scene.

I added just a touch of Gradient Overlay to the sky to help give it definition. I hope you don't mind.

[rob marshall]

Chris

Something doesn't look quite right (on my screen) with the colour and image quality. Was this shot in RAW? Would you like to post it here http://www.mediafire.com/myfiles.php and give the link by PM?

[ChrisH]

Thanks for you comments Frank. Your sky is stronger than than mine, so I will have a crack at improving mine as you suggest.

[JohnC]

This is a lovely location and we were there in March but on a calm warm sunny day. I like this photo with rougher seas than we had and a good position to take the photo from. I'll keep my eye on this in case you post another one after Frank's advice.I shoot in RAW. For a start, having seen this photo, next time ie. in November,I'd get further down ,nearer to the sea as you have,it makes a difference to the perspective and the lighthouse doesn't seem so remote as in my photo.

Chris.Hope it's ok with you if I post one I took because any CC, in addition to what I have mentioned myself, would be welcome as I can put it to good use in November. If you do go back and people usually do as it's such a lovely place to be ,did you know that very close to where you were is a cove where wild seals come up onto the beach ? You can't get down to them and it's quite a drop from the cliff top but from where you took this photo you'd go back towards the public loos small building behind you and left up the hill/slope and most of the way you can see ahead towards the right a bit to the very low knee high fence that runs along the cliff top around that bay and there are the seals below...must be a couple of hundred feet below I needed the 400mm end of my 100-400 to get in on them.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

I am drawn back to this spot looking for the perfect shot. This was taken during my May trip to Cornwall with a belter of a storm hitting the North Cornish Coast. Interestingly enough soon after this was taken we returned the few miles to Mousehole on the South Coast, which had calm sunny weather.

I have had to undertake a little manipulation here as the original shot was flat, hazy and uninteresting and had no sky to speak of.

I would be interested in your views.



Aperture: f/6.7m Shutter Speed: 1/500 ISO: 100

Hi,
Somewhat like that is my view

[ChrisH]

John - an interesting comparison. This was my third trip to Godrevy and on each occasion there were storms,so it is quite refreshing to see the scene in sunshine and clear blue sky.

[Geoff F]

Personally, I would go in the opposite direction to everyone else and reduce the sharpening, particularly on the sea.

It just doesn't look natural to me.

[rob marshall]

Christopher

Many thanks for the RAW. I think the problem with this setting was the weather. I took a very similar shot last year of Stumble Head Light in West Wales. There was a terrific storm blowing and it ruined the shot (see below) that I took. A strong wind was blowing across and a great deal of spray was blowing across the scene. If you look at the left side, by that area of land you can see the white spray.

I think the same has happened here with your shot. It does tend to make the image quality look poor because of the spray, the poor light, and the flat colours.



I couldn't get much colour out of your shot, so I went for a B&W. It doesn't work all that well, I'm afraid. I didn't do much in RAW apart from reducing the highlights (recovery) to try and get some detail in the white crests. I converted it in Silver Efex Pro 2. I used the High Structure preset and added a touch of copper tint to try and warm it up slightly.



For the benefit of others, this was the original RAW SOOC.

[jiro]

I like what Rob did on the b&w conversion of the image.

[ChrisH]

Rob - thanks for your efforts. I guess your right about the spray, but not a lot we can do about that.

[rob marshall]

I like what Rob did on the b&w conversion of the image.

It's OK as a conversion. But really, what was needed here was different weather conditions and light. Having said that some photographers can sometimes get really good shots in extreme weather conditions. This is Chris Tancock, a well-know landscape photographer in West Wales, near where I live. I know Chris slightly, and he mostly deliberately shoots in stormy weather, and it takes him a long time to get usable images. http://www.christancock.com/prodimages/Quiet_Storm.html