Even though recently I've had all the time in the world, I've still been procrastinating and not getting around to editing my photos. Specifically, some cool shots from three sunsets in and around the south of Jeju Island, near where I am living in Jungmun.
Below are details about those three sunset shoots and my favorite shots. Let's call them the Snake Mountain Fall, Searching for a Subject at Sunset and the Old Ship and the Sea shoots.
On another note, my American friend Craig recently visited here with his girlfriend, next post will have details and photos of that visit.... click on any image to make it bigger and see it with a nice white frame!
Below are details about those three sunset shoots and my favorite shots. Let's call them the Snake Mountain Fall, Searching for a Subject at Sunset and the Old Ship and the Sea shoots.
On another note, my American friend Craig recently visited here with his girlfriend, next post will have details and photos of that visit.... click on any image to make it bigger and see it with a nice white frame!
Snake Mountain Fall
The first set of shots came from a small mountain, which will forever now be known as Snake Mountain, near the larger Mt. Sanbangsan. Why snake? Because when Craig, Rui and I decided to climb it midday, before we even arrived on the beginning of the path, a medium sized brown snake slithered past us. Rui is deathly afraid of snakes, soooo, that killed that plan and we hit a beach instead. So, it's Snake Mountain...
Anyways, here is the story behind these shots (I wrote this in one of my Flickr posts a while back): I hiked up with Yeoju a bit of the way but she stopped once we got to an off-limits path. She was fed up with me (and wearing casual slippers) so she went back to the car while I carried on towards a peak to see the gorgeous sunset. Once I got to the second peak there was a bit of an accident however...
I had my Canon L 17-40mm lens on my camera, on a tripod, and the photo after [the shot above] I tried to add a little interest to the photo. I had the light, the layers and a decent composition but I wanted to add something more, so I decided to stand on the rock to get my feet in the shot. I blame the theory that I read about that says great photos need good light, composition and a level of interestingness. So when I had the exposure and the timer set I stood up and then BAM, my camera fell forward because the tripod wasn't set up to support the weight of the front heavy camera (my neck was supporting it with the strap before). My camera hit the rocks hard. Immediately I was, "no no no no no" -ing. Glass was broken for sure.
I couldn't believe my stupidity. I didn't even put the lens hood on the lens! What an idiot. I was rushing and wasn't patient and careful. I checked my lens and yes, lots of broken glass. HOWEVER, thank heavens, I had my protective lens on as WELL AS a polarizing lens, and only those two cracked! My actual lens was spared, but barely, and it was a messy, scary experience. Seriously, I feel so lucky that I didn't crack the actual 17-40 (quite expensive) lens.
So, this was the last shot before the fall. I had to use my 50 mm and 70-300 mm lens after this to get some not so great shots of the landscape. Very happy about not breaking my lens, quite happy about this photo, and a little disappointed I didn't get to take better shots of this view. I will be back there another day though (with a lens hood on my camera and wearing socks and shoes!)...
Anyways, here is the story behind these shots (I wrote this in one of my Flickr posts a while back): I hiked up with Yeoju a bit of the way but she stopped once we got to an off-limits path. She was fed up with me (and wearing casual slippers) so she went back to the car while I carried on towards a peak to see the gorgeous sunset. Once I got to the second peak there was a bit of an accident however...
I had my Canon L 17-40mm lens on my camera, on a tripod, and the photo after [the shot above] I tried to add a little interest to the photo. I had the light, the layers and a decent composition but I wanted to add something more, so I decided to stand on the rock to get my feet in the shot. I blame the theory that I read about that says great photos need good light, composition and a level of interestingness. So when I had the exposure and the timer set I stood up and then BAM, my camera fell forward because the tripod wasn't set up to support the weight of the front heavy camera (my neck was supporting it with the strap before). My camera hit the rocks hard. Immediately I was, "no no no no no" -ing. Glass was broken for sure.
I couldn't believe my stupidity. I didn't even put the lens hood on the lens! What an idiot. I was rushing and wasn't patient and careful. I checked my lens and yes, lots of broken glass. HOWEVER, thank heavens, I had my protective lens on as WELL AS a polarizing lens, and only those two cracked! My actual lens was spared, but barely, and it was a messy, scary experience. Seriously, I feel so lucky that I didn't crack the actual 17-40 (quite expensive) lens.
So, this was the last shot before the fall. I had to use my 50 mm and 70-300 mm lens after this to get some not so great shots of the landscape. Very happy about not breaking my lens, quite happy about this photo, and a little disappointed I didn't get to take better shots of this view. I will be back there another day though (with a lens hood on my camera and wearing socks and shoes!)...
Searching for a Subject at Sunset
One day I decided to go to the Grand Hyatt hotel and walk down to the beach area. It's actually on the other side of Jungmun beach, which I recently discovered is probably the coolest beach on Jeju because of the waves! But on this occasion I planned on walking on the black lava rocks away from the beach and photographing the clouds and sea at sunset.
It turned out alright but there wasn't much interest in the shots in my opinion. It was just rocks, waves and sky. I including a protruding cliff in some of the shots, which I think turned out pretty well, but I was still not satisfied. I really wanted a subject. Preferably a girl with a colorful dress. I've been watching Joel Satore's DVDs on photography and he always adds girls with colorful dresses to make a nice background or landscape more interesting. He says it's easy to find the 'stage' most of the time, but one must add players and make them compositionally fit to really get a good shot. I really like this advice but it's kind of tough to do.
Anyways, I used myself for a few shots this time (above image). I set up my camera on my tripod, made sure it was very sturdy, put it on ten-second self-timer and then hastily found a rock to sit on. I made sure to look pensive but still it doesn't seem natural to me. It's a cool shot, but it doesn't have the level of interestingness that I'm seeking. Some day I will find the right balance of light, composition and interestingness.
Below are my other favorite shots from that shoot.
It turned out alright but there wasn't much interest in the shots in my opinion. It was just rocks, waves and sky. I including a protruding cliff in some of the shots, which I think turned out pretty well, but I was still not satisfied. I really wanted a subject. Preferably a girl with a colorful dress. I've been watching Joel Satore's DVDs on photography and he always adds girls with colorful dresses to make a nice background or landscape more interesting. He says it's easy to find the 'stage' most of the time, but one must add players and make them compositionally fit to really get a good shot. I really like this advice but it's kind of tough to do.
Anyways, I used myself for a few shots this time (above image). I set up my camera on my tripod, made sure it was very sturdy, put it on ten-second self-timer and then hastily found a rock to sit on. I made sure to look pensive but still it doesn't seem natural to me. It's a cool shot, but it doesn't have the level of interestingness that I'm seeking. Some day I will find the right balance of light, composition and interestingness.
Below are my other favorite shots from that shoot.
This shot and the one below were probably shot 20 minutes apart? I'm guessing but you can see the difference. I use a NISI 77 mm neutral density filter to get the waves to blur like that. It basically filters the light so much less can reach the camera, thus allowing me to increase the shutter speed without blowing the highlights (the whitest part of a photo). The result is nice, blurry, ethereal water over rocks. It's a fun trick and quite essential for waterfall or ocean shots when the sun is still out. You can see the difference in the shots below
this shot was taken even later...notice you can see a little blur in the clouds as well! It's because the shutter was left open for 25 seconds for this shot! So you can imagine the possibilities at night if you leave it open for even longer, minutes or sometimes hours! That's how people take those star photos where it looks like they are moving in a circle
The Old Ship and the Sea
Finally, I found a subject or two to include in my sunset shots! Not girls in colorful dresses this time, but an old colorful ship, some individual stones on the shore and a piece of beach wood allowed me to create some more interesting shots.
I went to Hwasun beach near Mt. Sanbangsan by myself a week or so ago. I went at like 5 pm to go swimming and enjoy the sunshine for a few hours. Then I planned to walk around and see if I could photograph the scenery at sunset. The shots below are my favorite from the shoot and the captions give some details about each shot.
I went to Hwasun beach near Mt. Sanbangsan by myself a week or so ago. I went at like 5 pm to go swimming and enjoy the sunshine for a few hours. Then I planned to walk around and see if I could photograph the scenery at sunset. The shots below are my favorite from the shoot and the captions give some details about each shot.
rock to wood to sea to ship to mountain to sky, this is one of my new favs....it was taken in that 10 minute period at sunset every day when the light is perfect and shadows and highlights can come out beautifully...I like how I composed the beach wood here, it points to the ship...always trying to lead the eye...