Jurassic Coast in Dorset Scouting

Portland Bill Lighthouse
60mm, 2s, f/16, ISO50, Polarizer, 3 stops ND ; 4:5 ratio

I drove to England last week and spent few days in different locations merely to have a look around for planned longer trip (2-4 weeks) in February or March next year.

I read an article the other day about Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of 153 kilometres.

Absolutely amazing location if you like coastlines, and rocks, and tides, and changing weather. 

I was aware that I might not come back with many great pictures as I had only 2-3 days time slot, and I had to move around, so I left everything to spontaneous shooting just to have reference for the future. 

I started with one of the most famous spots around, I believe, Durdle Door - natural limestone arch near Lulworth, and probably the most photographed as well. In any case I wanted to go there to get the feeling of the place and see where I can stay while waiting for good light.

There is huge camping located just by Durdle Door opened from March until end of October. However while driving through Lulworth I have passed some Bed & Breakfast signs and assume, I can find accommodation also in February.

16mm, 1/30s, f/8, ISO 100, polarizing filter + 2 stops ND grad; 16:9 ratio

When I arrived to Lulworth and found way down to Durdle Door it was early mid-day, so not the best part of the day for landscapes. I gave myself roughly two hours to walk around and get some shots, obvious ones and something different as well. I planned to shoot sunset in Portland by the lighthouse, so really had not much time. Also bear in mind that parking is being closed at 4 p.m., (not very photography friendly...). 

Down at water level I set up the tripod and framed to have some foreground stones and leading waves' line toward door's arch. Here's first shot with let's call it standard settings just to get exposure baseline: 

24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 100, polarizing filter

As you can see this is absolutely standard shot, and millions of those had been taken in the past. Weather was not really on my side that day, I had some clouds and at least that was good, sun kept hiding behind them. I also hoped for larger waves but, it was not my day. In few months I will be able to really wait for correct conditions. But I still wanted to make something different. I changed focal length to 35 mm to have slightly tighter frame on the rocks and line of sea, and mounted Gold-N-Blue polarizer stacked with 10 stops neutral density filter to really blur water and clouds. Gold-N-Blue polarizer brought surrealistic blue colour of the sea. I made different shots with other colours as well but I tend to like this one. 10 stops grey filter allowed me to slow down shutter speed to 30 seconds during midday. Result is quite different.

35mm, 30s, f/11, ISO 400, Gold-N-Blue Polarizer + 10 stops ND; 16:9 ratio

Portland Bill Lighthouse
27mm, 1/8s, f/16, ISO200, polarizer

Before 2 p.m. I had to move to Portland, not really far but still... I wanted to be by Portland Bill lighthouse before sunset, which was occurring after 4 p.m. Sunny day started to become more and more cloudy, however from to time sun was getting through so I still had hopes for some capture. For the time being I concentrated on getting some close ups of the lighthouse. 

I do not know why but I love lighthouses, perhaps because I love sea and water so much. Lighthouses are such decent subjects to shoot. I have in mind lighthouses project on its own.

I wandered around lighthouse few times getting to know the surroundings looking for good angle for tonight and also for the following morning.

South edge of Isle of Portland has nice rocks and cliffs. It must be fantastic to see really big waves here crashing on those rocks. I believe on day I will be able to witness that. 

I was after vertical shot with some foreground interest but still exposing lighthouse itself. I found this paddle of sea water. It looked just like normal paddle, but when you sat on rocks, you could see clouds and tower's reflections. I had to get really low to get this picture. I like it. I could have also shot same scene with 10 stops grey filter to have blurred clouds above the tower but was in a hurry to get myself ready for sunset. Now I regret I had not done it. Around 200 metres away, along coast path heading east you will find at least two decent angles, where you can shoot from edges of the cliff and you are about 50 metres into the sea.

Portland Bill Lighthouse; 50mm, 1.6s, f/16, ISO50, Polarizer + 2 stops ND Grad; 16:9 ratio

I composed the scene, set zoom to 50mm, mounted 2 stops ND grad and polarizer, and hoped for sun breaking through layer of clouds... and was rewarded. I got my shot. That scene lasted about a minute and then magic was gone, more and more clouds came. 

Time to prepare for following morning, I already had in mind spot for the tomorrow. Hunger also started to knock on the door, so I drove back to Portland where I found bed & breakfast place. Few pints, something to eat and sleep, very simple plan :) Also checked weather forecast and seemed very promising.

Morning by Portland Bill; 16mm, 13sec, f/16, ISO100; 16:9 ratio
(beam of light added in photoshop)

Wake-up call at 05:00, sunrise calculated at 07:15. I had 1.5 hrs time buffer, better to have more than less. By car you can reach Portland Bill within 15 minutes, so no big hassle.

16mm, 3.2s, f/16, ISO50,
Polarizer, 3 stops ND ; 4:5 ratio

What I saw in the morning, through the darkness, actually what I could not see, were the stars, they were not there. It was cloudy dawn. Most probably there would be no spectacular beginning of the day. In any case, I had to stick to the plan and pray for something. You can see thin gap between sea and clouds. I kept hoping for sun rays getting through, but they did not come. Soon after even this orange cast disappeared. 

At least today wind blew a bit stronger and water seemed more vivid, so I had a chance to get shots from sides of cliffs with waves and for next 2 hours or so I kept shooting water hitting Isle of Portland rocks, and in some cases I am quite happy with the results.

To get blurred water with some sense of movement and their waves, I used of course polarizer and 3 stops neutral density grey filter. This combination allowed me to step down to 2-4 seconds exposures. 10 stops would have been too long, I would not get detailed traces of water. 1-2-3 seconds are good times for such types of pictures.

Now I am really looking forward to my next visit to Dorset early in 2013. Perhaps someone wants to join me or we can meet up along the route. Or perhaps someone can recommend really nice spots to shoot. I would love to hear about them.

By Durdle Door, Dorset, UK; 24mm 1/125s, f/11, ISO100.
Deliberately underexposed background with fill flash

Better resolution pictures can be seen on my website.

Cheers

Jerzy