These images were taken during a trip to Tasmania in the spring of 2011. It is a wonderful unspoilt island with a stunningly diverse landscape.
Wineglass Bay is rated one of the best top ten beaches in the world and it’s not hard to see why. Accessible only by a 40 minute walk which deters a large proportion of potential visitors the beach is empty and pristine. The water is crystal clear, teeming with fish, and very inviting (if a little chilly!). This photo was taken with the camera mounted on a tripod. Landscape photography depends upon strong composition and the photographers ability to capture the information on film, or in this case digitally. By information I am referring to the tonal range of the image, the ability to render a range of tones from the highlights through to the shadows. The key to this is through the use of graduated neutral density filters (ND or grads short). ND filters are usually used to ‘hold’ the highlights in a scene, to stop them ‘burning out’. ND filters come in .3 (1 stop), .6 (2 stops), and .9 densities (3 stops) . My image of Wineglass Bay was taken using a .9 ND filter that covered all but the rocks (in shadow) in the foreground. This has effectively reduced the brightness range between the highlights (sand, sky, etc) and the deep shadows of the rocks, allowing the camera to capture the scene in one frame. No post production work was done on this image.
Shortly after taking this pic, I cracked a cold beer and settled down to some fishing………heaven.
