St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall

St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall is a popular international tourist attraction.

It’s right on the very edge of the country, just off the coast at the town of Marazion.

It’s linked by a man made causeway.

When the tide is high you have to cross the water which can be choppy at times.

St. Michael’s Mount Photo Facts.

It’s difficult to deal with a site that has been photographed so much before.

As a stock and editorial photographer I’m looking to create an image which is instantly recognizable which rules out a range of treatments involving abstraction or completely new viewpoints.

As a creative photographer, I want an image which is more than just a record of the been here seen it variety.

I also don’t care for heavily graduated filters or overdone HDR effects.

I decided on a traditional approach for this image.

I stayed in the nearby town of Marazion in a hotel which overlooked St Michael’s Mount.

The days were generally cloudy but I soon found that the light was clear at dawn.

I went down to the shore before dawn.

I found a position which included the causeway.

I set my Canon 5D Mark 2 on my Benro Traveller tripod.

I switched to C1 on my dial with the memorised settings of

• Manual Exposure

• Mirror Lockup

• Self timer

For this picture I focussed using manual focus and liveview.

I had gridlines on the screen to help keep the horizon level.

I used my Tamron SP 28-75mm lens at 28mm.

To stop all camera shake I fired the shutter using a Phottix remote control.

Of course the light changed rapidly but I was able to get a few shots of the type and standard I was looking for.

I was not the only photographer on the beach that morning and was able to have a chat with one or two.

Hope they got the images they were looking for.