Paddle boarders in the golden glow of a Dorset sunset in Poole


 Paddleboarders moving across the water from the Port of Poole to Sandbanks
Paddleboarders moving across the water from the Port of Poole to Sandbanks

Again a strong, thoughtful composition. Great timing on the shot. You look at this image and get it straight away.

Paddle boarders at sunset – a classic Dorset picture

That is the story of this shot. Which is for me what photography is all about.

Story telling.

Imagine being on that lovely flat, calm water surrounded by the golden glow of a spring sunset as you head slowly and gently to Sandbanks, with Evening Hill to your left and Brownsea island to your right. Nice!

Settings for this shot were as follows

  1. Canon EOS 6D
  2. 70-200mm F4 L lens
  3. 1/125th second
  4. F8
  5. ISO 100
  6. 200mm focal length used
  7. Exposure mode – AV

I used the longest focal length I have, 200mm. I was confident that with the fantastic image stabilisation on this lens that I could achieve a sharp image using 1/125th second at 200mm, despite the rule of 1/the focal length – I should really have been above 1/200th second.

The Canon 70-200mm F4L IS lens really is a great lens, super sharp, 4 stop image stabilisation, nice to use and light weight. I chose this lens over the F2.8 version which is big, bulky, and more than twice the weight.

If I need the extra F stops I just have to do something different, which has never been a problem in my photography

And here are the before and after images for easy comparison

 

 

Lightroom adjustments were as follows

  1. Crop as shown in before and after.
  2. White balance adjusted to daylight.
  3. Contrast +50
  4. Highlights -50
  5. Shadows +48
  6. Whites +64
  7. Blacks -10
  8. Clarity +50
  9. Vibrance +25
  10. Lens correction
  11. Sharpening 100 Radius 1.0

A lot of these settings are default adjustments which I apply using a present on import, to give me a better starting point than the flat RAW image. For this shot I did not do much at all, making it a nice and easy edit.

Thank you for reading this post, and I hope you enjoy my new image, bringing some spring warmth into a still stormy march here in England!

You can view my Sandbanks photography at

www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk/sandbanks-photographer

and please call back to my blog tomorrow for something, not sure what yet, at

www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk/blog

Rick McEvoy

I am Rick McEvoy, an architectural and construction photographer living and working in the South of England. I create high quality architectural photography and construction photography imagery of the built environment for architects and commercial clients. I do not photograph weddings, families, small people or pets - anything that is alive, moves or might not do as I ask!! I am also the creator of the Photography Explained Podcast, available on all major podcast providers. I have a blog on my website where I write about my work and photography stuff. Rick McEvoy ABIPP, MCIOB

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