Bite-Size Blog Post #18 - Trevose Head

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The Need to Be Flexible and Positive

The ability to be flexible in landscape photography is an important skill. I had made plans with my mate to shoot the thrift along the Cornish coast, but a worsening forecast was making that prospect less and less likely. Our desire to eat chips and catch up overrode any concerns we had about the forecast, and we decided to meet up regardless.

After a good chat and some excellent chips, we headed to our first location. We were only there a few minutes before we came to the rapid conclusion that shooting thrift was not going to work. The wind was strong, the cloud heavy and getting a soaking was a real possibility.

We could have just given up and gone home, but with a positive attitude and a bit of local knowledge, we decided that Trevose Head might be a good bet. We’d both shot Trevose Head many times before, but with good reason. It’s one of those dramatic coastal locations that can work well in unsettled conditions.

When we got to our regular viewpoint though there was a nasty area of seafoam. Not something that could be avoided or cloned out in post-processing. Too late to try another location we started to explore the area. As we did the clouds started to break a little and for the briefest of moments, we got some half-decent light.

Trevose Head Lighthouse #1, Cornwall - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 18mm, f/13, 13 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL.

I wasn’t in the best spot for my first shot. While the light is good, I feel the composition doesn’t work as well as I thought it did when I took the shot. In retrospect, the foreground area dominates the photograph.

Trevose Head Lighthouse #2, Cornwall - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 19mm, f/13, 20 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL.

The 2nd shot addresses that problem and there is a better balance between the two areas of land. However, the light isn’t as good.

Trevose Head Lighthouse #3, Cornwall - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 49mm, f/11, 15 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 CPL.

My final shot was a bit of a salvage shot. This is a vertical crop from a horizontal frame. Though I took a few vertical shots of this composition, I had failed to clean my polariser and those frames were ruined by some unsightly water droplets! This version gives you an idea of what I was aiming to capture, but I much prefer the water patterns in those original vertical frames.

Image critique aside, given the last 12 months, it was just good to be out again on the Cornish coast. I’ll be going back again soon.