I was shooting in Maine in October 2001 and stopped at the marina of a small seaside village. I photographed some basic scenes with docks and boats and buoys, including this frame of a mooring line. But while the subject was decent enough, the light was rather flat.
| Lincolnville, Maine. Nikon F5, Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8. Photo not for sale. |
Maine can be downright chilly in October, especially when the wind blows in from the Atlantic Ocean. Not much time had passed when I wondered why I was letting myself get that cold just to get some standard stock photos in less-than-inspiring light. I thought about packing up my gear and heading to the warmth of my car, but two things stopped me:
1) The photographer I was shooting with was busy working. I figured that if he was finding a way to be productive despite the flat light and the cold temperatures, then so could I.
2) Because of passing clouds, the light had been in and out all day. I looked at the sky behind me and saw that the large cloud blocking the sun was slowly blowing to the east, meaning that if I had patience, I had a chance to see some nice light.
So I decided to stay, sitting on a cold dock waiting for weather to help me. Finally the cloud passed, the light appeared, and I fired off a few frames of a nicely lit nautical landscape. The better light added warmth to the foreground, gave some color to the background, produced a shadow in the lower right corner that anchors the composition, and allowed me to get a little more depth of field (my shutter speed was limited by the motion of the dock on the waves).
| Lincolnville, Maine. Nikon F5, Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8. More Boat Scenery Photos. |
Had I not waited for the better light, I still would have had the decent photo that I'd first shot. But by watching the weather and being patient, I improved my results.
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