Peggys Point Lighthouse
This photo was made during a trip to Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada. During that trip I had time to make the short 40 minute drive from Halifax to Peggys Cove, to be honest I would have loved to be here during sunrise for the golden hour but that was not possible this time. Instead it was almost noon as I arrived at the small car park beside this well known tourist attraction, which was already very busy.
Tourist heavy locations present additional challenges to the usual photographic ones. Crowds vying for position will circle around the main focus point constantly, concrete pathways and railings are often in place to protect and control the masses, litter bins (or sadly just litter) is also an issue at tourist heavy locations; add to this the time of day and harsh lighting conditions and the potential for success this day was low.
I approached the lighthouse from the south and couldn't find a way to eliminate the concrete and railings whilst maintaining a composition I liked, so I skirted around the boulders that surround this iconic structure and dropped lower down toward the sea to eliminate the people walking on the rocks between my position and the lighthouse. It was at this lower point that I saw the puddle of seawater and beautiful lime green line of lichen on the rocks, this was the place.
The composition was achieved by lying flat on the ground which both eliminated the people above and gained more of that wonderful reflection. This gave me a perfect 'rule of thirds' horizontally shared between the water, rocks and sky. I positioned the lighthouse in a 'power point' where the thirds connect which I feel works well in this case. Depth is created by a strong foreground (the reflection) middle ground (the rocks) and background (the main topic).
As you can see, the main topic of an image need not be 'front and centre' in your shot it can be in any of the image zones and still work very well.
Tourist heavy locations present additional challenges to the usual photographic ones. Crowds vying for position will circle around the main focus point constantly, concrete pathways and railings are often in place to protect and control the masses, litter bins (or sadly just litter) is also an issue at tourist heavy locations; add to this the time of day and harsh lighting conditions and the potential for success this day was low.
I approached the lighthouse from the south and couldn't find a way to eliminate the concrete and railings whilst maintaining a composition I liked, so I skirted around the boulders that surround this iconic structure and dropped lower down toward the sea to eliminate the people walking on the rocks between my position and the lighthouse. It was at this lower point that I saw the puddle of seawater and beautiful lime green line of lichen on the rocks, this was the place.
The composition was achieved by lying flat on the ground which both eliminated the people above and gained more of that wonderful reflection. This gave me a perfect 'rule of thirds' horizontally shared between the water, rocks and sky. I positioned the lighthouse in a 'power point' where the thirds connect which I feel works well in this case. Depth is created by a strong foreground (the reflection) middle ground (the rocks) and background (the main topic).
As you can see, the main topic of an image need not be 'front and centre' in your shot it can be in any of the image zones and still work very well.