Monochrome on the beach - My entry in to Monomad

I just got back from a long weekend on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast of England. In between fulfilling my family obligations, I managed to escape to the beach with a camera and tripod.

Being unable to wait or resist, I processed quite a few of the images I bagged on my tiny laptop and now kicking myself I should have waited till I got home and used the enormous colour calibrated monitor I usually use! The colours looked weirdly strange, probably due to the bright light and the fact I was mostly using a 10 stop Neutral Density filter with a slight colour cast.

So after wrestling with the colours, I decided to convert all of them to monochrome. Here are my efforts and even if they aren't the greatest photos in the world, I still enjoyed the process of creating them (and escaping from family!).

Cart Gap Beach, Norfolk

On the occasion, I forgot to take along a remote control which would have allowed me to expose the image for up to 2 minutes with the ND filter. So I settled for 30 second exposures and adjusted aperture and ISO values accordingly.

Cart Gap, another groyne

The trouble with trying to type groyne on a computer is that the damned spell checker keeps prompting me to type groin instead! A groyne is a line of wooden posts and structures leading out to sea which is designed to lessen the impact of the tide and to prevent coastal erosion. Quite a few groynes are gradually being replaced with rocky outcrops laid using industrial machinery. I would imagine these groynes will eventually disappear!

Corton Beach, Suffolk

Near to the apartment where we staying is Corton Beach. It was a quick trip around the corner on foot and easy to grab more shots and I visited on more than one occasion this weekend.

For this shot I used long exposures and focus stacked three images since the flange in the foreground was so close to camera.

The View from Above

To get to Corton Beach, it's necessary to climb down a few flights of stairs and conveniently the stairs provide a great point of view from which to shoot the groynes.

Trespassing over the forbidden fence!

To get this point of view, it was necessary to completely ignore the scary sign saying "Do not pass this point". After a very undignified climb over the forbidden fence, I set up a tripod for this shot. Another focus stacked image since the foreground was so close.

Ultra Ultra Wide!

I recently bought an Insta360 X5, a 360 degree camera. I've been using it primarily for work purposes but it's a lot of fun to use it for leisure too. This is a flattened 360 image where I've trimmed it a bit to a 16 x 9 crop.

The view inside

On this weekend, I also revisited St.Benet's Abbey, a ruined and derelict monastery with a windmill built on to it much later in its life. I've photographed this place before but never with a 360 camera.

St.Benet's Abbey outside

I shot quite a few 360 images but unfortunately they don't appear to display here on Hive. Here I've taken a stills shot from the 360 file.

I've applied a red filter in Adobe Camera Raw and the result looks something like an infra red filter.

Notice the tripod legs in the shot? I could easily photoshop these out but I kinda like them left in the frame!

Behind the scenes

I always try to remember to take a behind the scenes shot. This is my Sony A7iv with a Sony FE 20-70mm lens attached.

About me:

I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in landscape, urbex and artistic model photography. I like to collaborate with other photographers and occasionally shoot outside my comfort zone.

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