Rodney Campbell's Blog

Back in Sydney after our long trip away, this was my first early morning sunrise seascape shoot. I was still somewhat in holiday mood but I braved the early morning to join a number of friends from my local photographic club for a sunrise session at North Narrabeen tidal pool.

I’d shot here before a couple of times but I hadn’t shot here for some time.

The Cutting Edge

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 21 mm, 123 sec at f/13, ISO 100

The morning was very very calm and still, you can see here from this vertical of the tidal pool edge how still the water is. This little sliver of concrete is the edge of the main pool. The pool area is on the right and is quite large, however there is also this large body of shallow still water on the rock shelf to the left. The fantastic and unique thing about this spot is the wooden boardwalk which runs through the middle of the pool cordoning off a rectangular swimming area.

Still In Your Thoughts

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 15 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

There was very little cloud this morning – which usually isn’t all that great for sunrise or sunset photography. We did however have a heavy thin patch of cloud right on the horizon. The upside here is that it lends a nice heavy red glow to the pre dawn twilight and I was expecting some nice strong pastels to follow.

Counting Down the Moments

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 13 sec at f/14, ISO 100

Having exhausted my shooting opportunities at the pool itself I headed out onto the rock shelf at the end of Narrabeen Head to look for something I could include in my foreground. There are a few channels in the rocks but nothing really grabbing my attention – the rock shelf is pretty large and flat. In the end I settled on this patch of greenery and looked to craft a composition with it in mind.

I’ve added a touch of light painting with my head torch to bring out the foreground and make it pop off the dark rocks.

Greenery

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 10.00 sec at f/14, ISO 100

It’s still seven (7) minutes till sunrise and by now there were a few high whisps of cloud being lit by the sun over the horizon. But with such little cloud around it was too few and far between.

With the sun now rising through the bank of cloud on the horizon there was just enough time to check out the main incoming channel at the end of the rock shelf. The spot wasn’t all that conducive to putting together a good composition but this tiny patch of greenery being lit but the low sunlight allowed me to craft this diagonal composition with the nice flow of water between.

Patch of Sunshine

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 8 sec at f/16, ISO 100

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