Landscape photographer Drew Hopper discovers a uniquely photogenic site on the NSW mid-north coast.
Being a landscape photographer I am constantly ‘chasing the light’ in search of spectacular images that take the viewer on a visual journey. Living on the mid-north coast of NSW has its advantages for finding interesting nooks and crannies that are quite literally at my doorstep. This shot was taken in a cave at Emerald Beach, and you can only get safe access at low tide and when the ocean is calm. The surreal colours and light immediately caught my eye when I entered – it was so beautiful!
I used a Canon EOS 5D Mk II and a 17-40mm lens for this shot, the wide angle allowing me to capture as much of the cave as possible in the confined space.
Wide-angle lenses can be a powerful tool for exaggerating depth and relative size in a photo. They have a few issues, though. One common hurdle with wide-angle lenses is strong variation in the intensity of light across an image. Using an ordinary exposure, uneven light can make some parts of the image appear over-exposed, while also leaving other parts underexposed. Most of the time I would use graduated neutral density filters to help with this, but that wasn’t possible here.
In order to capture the dynamic range I took multiple exposures and manually blended them together in Photoshop. I was able to get away with just two exposures, one to capture the shadows and mid-tones, and another to capture the harsh highlights from the ambient light.
Many people have asked me if the colours are ‘real’, and I can say they are completely natural. The only adjustments made were to levels, curves and contrast to give the image more ‘pop’ and bring out the details in the rocks.
CANON EOS 5D MKII, CANON 17-40MM F/4L LENS, MULTIPLE-EXPOSURE HDR COMPOSITE. TRIPOD.
