Project 21: silhouettes and reflections

I have recently had the good fortune to spend a week (exceptionally wet at times) on Anglesey.  One of my projects whilst there was to photograph South Stack Lighthouse at sunset.  This fitted this project really well as I was slightly above the lighthouse with the light reflecting off the sea.  I was fortunate that the sun sets directly behind the lighthouse; the trick was to capture a sun star.

In this shot I have captured the sun star but it is slightly unsharp.

This shot is taken a few moments later.  The sun is slightly more hidden and the sunstar smaller but sharper.



No sun star here but an exercise in capturing the decisive moment. Whilst concentrating on sun stars earlier I had not noticed the light flashing. I was just contemplating packing away and going back for dinner when I decided to try and capture it. After a few unsuccessful attenpts I finally succeeded. The image is also a pleasing silhouette.

The following images are all of the same view, all slightly different exposure but all at f22.


Here I have used a longer exposure of 0.3 sec.  There is more detail in the foreground but the sky is lighter, less rich and, I feel overexposed.  There is also significant unpleasant flare.

Here I have used 1/6 second.  There is less detail in the foreground and the sky is slightly more rich.  There is significantly less flare.

1/8 second has been used here.  The sky is becoming more saturated.

Now 1/25 of a second and a much more saturated sky.

1/125 second. A nearly black foreground now with the most saturated sky.

Apart from the first image they are all acceptable in their own way bt my preference is for the definite silouette effect and richer skies of the last two shots.

What have I learned. When taking silhouettes against the light there is more than one acceptable exposure but excessive flare is to be avoided as it can be unsightly.  Peronally I prefer the richer more silhouetted effect. Unfortunately non of the above images has a reflection or a bright foreground.  I still need to work on this.  One idea is a boat silhouetted against a bright sky with a feflection on the water in the foreground.

Below are some more sunset shots of the Forth Road Bridge silhouetted but with the water of the Firth of Forth with reflections which sets off the silhouette.

Here are two more silhouette images taken at Spurn Point this time not at sunset so the sea is silvery.  The groynes are silhouetted but set off against the much lighter sea and sand of the beach.


Learning. Looking at these images I can see that a silhouette with lighter areas behind and in front of the silouette set it off even better.  Now I need to combine this with a sun star.