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.
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