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Caswell Bay Twilight

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"Caswell Bay, Gower, an hour after sunset. I haven't altered the colours, this was exactly what came out of the camera. It was nearly pitch dark at the time, the blue colour no doubt came from the dark blue sky above (which looked black to me). The sunset colours in the distance weren't visible to the naked eye. I couldn't see the ground without the aid of a torch and the viewfinder was almost black, so composing the picture was very difficult. I took multiple exposures to create an HDR image, one of which was 30 seconds long. Night photography can be quite tricky, but the results are well worth it."

15 Comments

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Strategikal [author] Jul 15, 2021 @ 2:59am

Thanks all.

🌪 XTS 🌪 ™ Jul 14, 2021 @ 7:01pm

phenomenal!!

ナスチャღ..::**L*I*L*U* Jan 15, 2018 @ 2:01am

Baznoc™ Aug 28, 2017 @ 6:02pm

Amazing....Just awesome.

Strategikal [author] Aug 28, 2017 @ 12:59pm

Oh I see! Sorry, my head's in a different space at the moment.

But since you mentioned it, it's worth noting that this is what a well exposed HDR image looks like, as opposed to the so-called "HDR graphics" of some modern games (like Project Cars) which show white over-exposed skies and very dark foregrounds. That's not "high dynamic range", it's actually HIGH CONTRAST, which is the total opposite of HDR! It simulates the low dynamic range of normal photographs, with the attendent problems of over and under-exposure! If this photo wasn't an HDR image, the rocks in the foreground would be completely black.

XShadowY Aug 28, 2017 @ 12:47pm

Just kidding, Paul... suggesting it`s from a game... ;-)

Strategikal [author] Aug 28, 2017 @ 12:39pm

Um, not sure what you mean by "maxed out graphics settings". I took three different exposures, all in RAW mode, then combined them into an HDR image in Photoshop. I processed the HDR image to brighten the foreground (which was much too dark) and adjusted the contrast to give a natural look (not the usual OTT look). I didn't change the colour at all. In fact, I thought it looked too blue and I wanted to tone it down a bit, but then I decided that I liked the effect and left it as it was.

I did a monochrome version as well which looked more natural without the excessive blue, but then it lost impact and didn't really look like a night photo anymore. I've obviously reduced the resolution. I haven't looked at the original for a long time. This was taken 10 years ago, early in January 2007.

XShadowY Aug 28, 2017 @ 12:24pm

Great image! Have you taken it with maxed out graphic settings? ;-)

Cyber_Chupacabra Aug 28, 2017 @ 12:14pm

What a great photo, well done!

Strategikal [author] Aug 28, 2017 @ 12:13pm

Thanks for the nice comments! I'm sure many of my friends have noticed me posting photos occasionally, usually of the Red Arrows, but that's just a bit of fun. I'm actually a landscape photographer, that's my true passion. I just thought it was about time I posted a few of my landscapes to show what I'm really interested in.

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