One of Cape Patterson's most southern points after sunset

From MV Photography Happy New Year and all the best for 2011. Thank you to all the readers, clients, family and friends for your support over the past year, it wasn’t as busy I had hoped but 2011 is shaping up to be a great year for my photography.

Above is an image I took while I was down in Inverloch for my annual Boxing Day trip at Cape Patterson on the South East coast of Victoria an hour 40minutes from Melbourne. I surveyed the area during the day looking for a spot so I didn’t have to hurry around when I got there for sunset. Unfortunately the sunset wasn’t anything to write home about so I pointed the camera at the rocky peninsula I was sitting on. This particular photograph was the second last picture I took of the evening about 20minutes after the sun had gone down. To the naked eye you could barely see this as it was quite dark. I ended up using a 30second exposure to render the scene visible and I used an aperture of f8 to get good depth of field and to keep it in the sharpest range of the Tamron 17-50mm I used. To maintain optimum sharpness I used the mirror lock up feature in camera to lift the mirror before the exposure was taken and a cable release so I didn’t have to touch the camera. I used my monster Benro tripod to hold the camera steady. A smaller tripod would rattle in the wind and the picture would be soft as a result. The focal length used was 35mm (approximately 56mm in the old film scale) and I needed to guess the focus point because it was so dark and I forgot to bring a torch (there is a lesson for you, always pack a torch for sunset photos, not only to help you focus, but also to see you way back to the car). The photo was entirely processed in Lightroom 3.

Until next year, keep safe, relax and have a good time.

On my usual trip down to Inverloch for Christmas I went to see one of the most photographed icons in the area, the Eagle’s Nest on Cape Paterson – Inverloch Rd, Inverloch, Victoria. It’s only a short walk from the car to view it from the look out and about a couple of hundred meters on foot to the beach. You do have to have good shoes to access the point as it is very rocky. Check the tidal patterns before attempting to get to the point as there is always a risk of being stranded.

I only took a few frames that evening as the sunset went very quickly and of course the best light was 10-15 minutes after the sun went down. The slow shutter speed captured the dusk glow on the rocks.

Shot with 2Stop Neutral Density (ND) graduated and UV filter. My Polarizer filter was all scuffed from the Kata filter pouch and I couldn’t clean it in time for the light show.