Tip: Shooting an Oft-Photographed Scene
One of the biggest tasks I give myself when I’m shooting popular landmarks is to create a shot that is unique. Sometimes it may seem difficult to get a unique shot of such a frequently photographed spot, but with a little planning and thinking, it’s really quite easy.
Do a quick Google search for a popular subject, and you’ll see what I mean. The majority of the photos you see will all be from the same spot. For this post I’ll be using the ‘Cape Lookout Lighthouse’ as an example. In the screen capture below, you can see that the majority of the photos returned are very similar. Most are shot vertically and are close ups of the lighthouse. You’ll find the same kind of photos no matter what lighthouse you’re searching for, it’s just the way most people see them and want to remember it.
Black, White & Sunny | Cape Lookout, NC
I recently took another ferry ride over to the Cape Lookout lighthouse to shoot it against a dramatic sky, but once again my plans were foiled. It seems like there are never clouds in the sky over there. Good for vacationers, but not for me. A few weeks ago conditions were similar, but I was unable to get a single usable shot because of unforeseen debris on my sensor. All sunflares were useless. This time, sensor cleaned, I shot a few brackets against the spotless blue sky. Those of you who are into HDR know that it’s pretty pointless to try to HDR a sky like this, but I was doing it for the flare. In fact, the lighthouse and the rest of the image are a single exposure masked in. It was just ‘ok’ in color, but I found the black and white conversion really brought out the diamond pattern on the lighthouse and drew a lot of attention to the sun rays pointing at it. The plain blue sky was just over powering, and that’s why black and white worked best.
The Shot: 3 exposure HDR merged in Photomatix. Middle exposure sky and lighthouse were masked back in using photoshop. Finishing touches were made using Nik’s Color Efex and black and white conversion was done in Nik Silver Efex Pro.
©2011 Zach Frailey
The Lantern Level
207 steps and 163 feet above the beach is the entrance to the lantern of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. Dangers of the rotating lights aside, there is really not much of a reason to enter the lantern level being that it has been completely automated since 1950. To the left of this sign is a small hatch leading out to the observation deck. Amazing views of the Core Sound, Shakleford Banks and shoals in the shallow beach abound in all 360 degrees of view.
Processing: This is about as ‘urb-ex’ as I usually get (although I’d like to do more). It’s a three exposure HDR, merged in Nik HDR Efex rather than Photomatix this time though. I don’t use Nik too much, but I’m starting to get a feel for what kind of images it works well with. I then used the Nik Color Efex and Viveza Photoshop plug-ins to selectively boost the contrast of certain areas of the image. I then finished it with some dodging and burning of the sign before saving.
©2011 Zach Frailey
Room With A View | Cape Lookout, North Carolina
We had some friends in town this weekend, so we took the ferry out to Cape Lookout to check out the lighthouse. Having lived in the area for over a year and a half now, this was just my second trip out there. If I had a boat, I’d probably be there every weekend. We took the short ride over and were able to have the chance to climb to the top of the lighthouse. Now, temperatures were in the mid 90’s and the heat index was over 100 so I couldn’t help but wonder how hot it would be inside a 163-foot tall brick tube. In reality, it wasn’t too bad. The windows were all open on the way up, so it was nice to stop and feel the ocean breeze blowing in. That’s exactly what I was doing when I grabbed this shot.
I wanted to get this shot for two reasons. 1) These ‘window’ shots are part of an on-going series for me. The bright blue water of the ocean looked very inviting through the window frame. And, 2) the thickness of the walls of the lighthouse was astounding. You can see it here. That is not a walkway or entry way, that is the wall of the structure as seen from the staircase.
When I crawled through the hatch at the very top, it felt like the wind was going to blow the camera right out of my hand! I was able to get some shots of the Cape and the surroundings while I was up there, but wasn’t all that happy with how they turned out. I’m glad this turned out as it did so the climb wasn’t a total wash!
©2011 Zach Frailey, please do not use without permission.
