I went on a walk and collected stones, cuttle fish, shells, and sticks that I found on the beach, whilst I was taking long exposure photos in the evening. I put all the different objects in a bag so that I could photograph them under proper lighting.

Then at home I made a mini studio using a 2 or 4 point lighting setup depending on what I thought looked best, as it varied on the object.

I mostly shot under white light, however I also experimented with different coloured light, for example, red. This helps show texture and surface structure.

This is a small contact sheet form the shoot:

Editing

I edited all of the images in Photoshop, after choosing all of the good images by placing tags on a MAC.

I used 4 images of the shells which I took on a black background in the dark, and I placed the shells on top of my phone torch. Then in a portrait document in Photoshop I drew 4 rectangles all the same size, which I aligned with the guides, then I used clipping masks to insert the images into different rectangles. After all the images were in the correct places I used a camera-raw filter to make small adjustments to the colours and tones in the images. I had to use a radial filter on the bottom left shell as it had more extreme shadows.

These images are of the same shells but from a different angle. Since I used a macro lens, I took 2 images, the first image the top of the shell was in focus, the second image the bottom of the shell was in focus. I aligned both images on top of each other then, I used clipping masks to erase the unfocused parts of the image. I used clipping masks so that I can recover anything I erased at anytime, instead of using CTRL Z. After the shell looked good I used a black brush with 50% hardness to brush over areas were the light was escaping, this allowed metro create a minimalistic effect and cleaning up the overall look of the image. Finally, after the image was done I added a camera-raw filter to make final colour adjustments.

For the majority of the images I just loaded them into Photoshop and by default they would open in a camera-raw filter since I shot in RAW. Here I would make all the adjustments that I need to.

Final/Best Images

These are all of the images that I edited and think are the best from this photoshoot.

Overall, I love how simple the images look, and they would work so well to juxtapose other images that I’ve taken. They look like they have been taken in a professional studio, as the lighting and background is setup properly.

I put a GoPro dome attachment on the front of a GoPro, so that I could get a 50/50 shot. Half underwater, half above the water. I couldn’t see what I was shooting as there isn’t a screen on the back of the GoPro, as it is an older version. So I had to point and guess that the subject was in frame and that it was a good composition.

Overall, looking at the photos there were some good images that have a potential after post-production in Photoshop. Due to the water being “foggy” the clarity and dehaze slider will be extremely useful. However, since I shot during midday the water was lighter which allowed me to capture the underwater subject in more detail.

Final/Best Images

These are the best image from the photoshoot, after editing them Photoshop. There was no complicated edits involved, all that I did was make adjustments in a camera-raw filter, and occasionally use gradual and radial filter to emphasis the subject better.

Overall, these are my favourite images, especially the last three. They have a good composition compared to some of the photos that were produced on this shoot. They have great colours that give off summer vibes. The subject fills most of the underwater space in most of the images.

Firstly, I flew my drone around the bay and captured some unique angles of the bay, and a general overview shot of the bay. It allowed me to capture some of the features of the bay in greater detail such as, Fort Leicester (heritage site), and the l’islet. The contact sheet that contains the images from the drone flight of the bay.

I also explored the hill leading the Bouley Bay, as I could compare the images with some of the old photos form the archive. Using the winding road images, means that I could link in some photos of Bouley Bay Hill Climb, which is an iconic event which happens in the area. An example of the contact sheet featuring the hill.

These are the best images that I took with my drone, after being edited in photoshop.

These 2 images are my favourite images. I really like how the sky has a hazed look to it, and has a gradient of overexposed sky, which gives the image a softer look. For the jet ski image, I used the clone stamp tool, and the spot healing brush to remove distractions such as, bright orange buoys, and some floating seaweed.

I made sure to capture images of the road which the Bouley Bay Hill Climb takes place on, which makes linking images of bikers and racers easier to connected relations to.

Overall, I like how the images came out. I feel that I achieved my main goal when taking photos with the drone, which was to show unique angles, that offers a new perspective. I like the images that show the object in a more 3D aspect, rather than the straight down, birds eye view shot. However, it still works well, especially for the cars driving down the road. I found that editing these images were easier as I could easily change the composition at which I took these images, as there were no limits for example, with a normal camera you can only shoot from as high as you climb to reach, where as a drone is controlled remotely.

These are some of the contact sheets that include all of my long exposure images. They weren’t all taken on the same day, which allowed me to capture the area in different light.

Editing

Most of the images have been editing in the same way using similar processes, so I will only show one example of the editing process.

I decided not to use the basic filters, gradual filters, and radial filters. Instead I used the brush as there are lots of different elements that need to be individually focused on. I used the brush to select different parts of the image, for example I started with the pier, I increase the shadows, clarity, and the sharpness. The red is only showing the mask and won’t be there in the final image, as it helps you see where the edited are happening, but I turn it off when making the adjustments. I also used a brush filter on the water where I decreased the temperature, clarity, and texture.

For images that I combined multiple image to create one final image. I made sure that they were all aligned before making them into one image, then made the edits.

Final/Best Images

I edited all of the good images in Photoshop. For some of the images I had to merge approximately 10 images to create a single final image, and then do all of the simple edits, such as gradual and radial filters, brushes, contrast, exposure, etc.

I love the mist look that the water has, due to the long exposure. It is a combination of 8 images, which really helped display the effect. The composition is good as it includes the green, seaweed covered rocks, which balances out the green in the background of the headland.

This image expresses a wide selection of colours as it was shot during sunset. It is a composition of 10-15 images, as this helped it get the surreal look.

These images give off a cold atmosphere, they were shot earlier in the day compared to the two images above. They are my strongest images however they still show great camera skills and they have an interesting composition.

I like this image a lot, although it is not clear it was taken at Bouley Bay, it is clear that it is associated with a bay and the rock formations around a coastline. It strongly captures motion and the black and white edit creates more of a contrast, that brings out the blurred lines that is the highlighted water from where the sun is shining on it.

Another one of my favourite images, however there where boats in the image, but I removed them as they were blurry because they were moving. Plus, it gives a more natural look to they photo, although it takes away from the authentic bay feeling.

This is another more colourful image. It was taken at high tide during a sunset. If gives off tropical ocean blue colours, which contrasts with the pink sky. This colour combination gives off a calming feeling.

This image was taken at the secret bay behind the pier at Bouley Bay. The rocks were just peaking above the water, which made for some interesting shots. The combination of blue and orange gives off a tranquil vibe.

Not the best image, however it showcases the bay during golden hour. And having the water out of focus makes the viewers focus shift to the islet and the headland behind.

Another favourite image, the blue tone creates a surreal, alone, spooky atmosphere. Whilst, the shuttle

Overall, I love how these photos came out. The long exposure effect creates a new perspective on the area