Stormy Seas Cupecoy Coast St Martin by Matt Anderson
Stormy Seas Saint Martin by Matt Anderson
Stormy Seas, Cupecoy Coast. Even though this is technically a “still photograph”, breaking the barriers and conveying emotions, feeling, mood, and movement is what much of my photography attempts to do.
I like the dark nature as an empty canvas. The light on the waves and surf creates the soft and bright brush strokes. Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, Caribbean
Technical aspects of making this shot.
This image is composed of two exposures.
The main exposure:
Canon 5D Mark II
EF 50mm f/1.4 USM at f/11
ISO 320 B&W ND Filter 1.0 Second
My intention was to get the shutter speed to 1.0 seconds, knowing (after a few tests), this would result in a wave motion I was trying to achieve. I picked f/11 to maximize sharpness and maintain needed DOF for this particular FOV, as well as the near, middle, and far components of the composition. My B&W filter is not a variable ND, so I used the ISO setting to create a “vari-ND” filter. (Without spending $400 on a vari-ND from singh-ray ;~} ) Simply dialing in the ISO (important, do this after setting WB, see below) for an accurate exposure.
White balance. To maximize DR and toning, I did a custom white balance so when looking at the histogram, all three channels had an equal ETTR starting point.( Custom WB with manual XY offsets) This made the image look ugly on lcd, but I knew my final intention would be a dramatic black and white.
As the sets of waves came in, I took multiple shots. For this particular shot, I ended up taking 12 images, and picking the best 2 for blending.
Finally, subtle dodging and burning finishes with a slight dark midnight blue tint. (The artists touch)
A note on sharpness and f/11. I could have easily set the f-stop to f/16 or f/22 and possibly negated the use of a ND filter. Because most of my fine art prints are output at 28” x 42” (largest safe size on a 44” Epson 9880) I choose to use f/11. The effects of diffraction are minimized, light fall off in the corners is minimized, DOF is more than sufficient given the distance from me to subject, and the content of the composition.
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Category: Artists Posts, Landscape, Matt Anderson, Technical Talk
This guy is really lucky !