WHERE'S THE HERO?....

Anyone living on or near to the NSW Central Coast should spend a sunset at the waterways of Long Jetty. There is always great foreground interest to put in your frame - from the most obvious subject of the long jetties to the ducks and the occasional boat or windsurfer.
This day was very windy and I was actually going to shoot The Entrance at sunset but decided to find somewhere a little more protected. Not because there were angry looking fishermen in my frame that didn't seem to appreciate me taking their portraits ;).
I always have good shoots at this spot, mainly due to the sky firing off some vivid colours and I thought this time would be no different. BUT it was. The setting sky didn't get to great vibrancey I had come to expect from this location.
It's hard to come back to a location and shoot it again when you are happy with the initial results. But sometimes it pays to return. Like this time. Becasue at least I knew I wasn't interested in shooting the same composition as two of my previous shots (below).

The Calm, Long Jetty NSW © Josh Pitt

Sunday, Long Jetty NSW © Josh Pitt

So I turned my attention to finding a whole new shot. When I got out of the car I spotted a large row of reasonably manucured row of reeds by the waters edge. I was fascinated by this and spent a fair amount of time trying to compose the image you see below. My tripod went up. My tripod when down. I walked to the right. I walked to the left. Until I found the right spot.
Leaving enough mystery that you can still see what is "Beyond the Reeds" - the couple watching the sunset together, the jetty, the last glimspe of the sun for the day. The sky wasn't the hero this time. And it didn't need to be. The soft setting sun was enough to draw the day to an end.

Catchya
Josh :)

Beyond The Reeds, Long Jetty NSW © Josh Pitt

EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT EXPOSURES...

Shallows, MacMasters Beach NSW © Josh Pitt

It has been a while between shoots at Macs. I knew exactly what I wanted to shoot on this occasion - the ocean bath at the southern end of the beach. It always remains calm and you can get some really nice reflections. On this shoot I noticed the lines in the sand under the water and wanted to be able to show the in my final shot. I was able to create a very interesting image with the sand lines because as the water got deeper and closer to the horizon the reflection gets more intense and the lines disappear.
Sometimes when you are out shooting, you might struggle to accurately portray the scene you see. At times like this you need to take a deep breathe and experiment with different exposures until you can see your plan coming good. Don't be afraid to shoot multiple exposures to compensate for different areas of the image and then post-processing those aspects together.

Josh :)

IT'S ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN....

.....It's a good bit of advice. No matter how dark it can get, sometimes you just have to wait for the dawn to be able to seize an opportunity.
This one was a real gift. I was so happy to be able to experience this scene, which was a little surreal as I walked around the rocks at Terrigal Haven to see this amazing glow permeating from the sky. I must say the bright yellow strip along the horizon looked quite bizarre and maybe a little out of place, but maybe not as bizarre as me frantically trying to set up and shoot before the intensity disappeared (I wasn't going to miss this one!). The whole scene just went together - the sky, the reflection and the natural vignette that had unfolded in front of me.
This was actually plan B of my shoot on this day, because I had originally wanted to shoot around the Terrigal Beach rock pool, but there is an annoying floodlight shining nearby there that really plays games with the lighting.
The other nice feature of this image is the special aligning of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter, in the centre of frame in the sky. Very cool! Even though I could only make out 3 planets? But they tell me there is a forth there somewhere.

Glow, Terrigal NSW © Josh Pitt