Dunraven Bay and Nash Point

29 Jul

On Saturday 29th July 2023, 17 members of the Devizes Photography Club met at Dunraven Bay for a packed day of Photography. The tide was forecast to be high, the waves were choppy with really good cloud so a perfect day for photography. We spent the afternoon photographing at Dunraven before we moved on to Nash Point with a stop for fish and chips on the way.

At Nash Point the descent to the beach looked initially very steep but was actually not onerous but at the bottom you do have to be very careful as you make your way across the boulders. Sunset promised to be good with a receding tide so that we all set our cameras up and waited for sunset. Unfortunately a large bank of cloud came in but not before the sun lit the rocks a few times allowing us some good images.

We gave up on sunset only to be greeted with a few seconds of the most amazing sky when we all got to the car park. However it is unlikely that it hit the rocks, but the sky above was amazing. I was glad to be back at the car because having made a rookie mistake of not bringing a head torch I would not have liked to go back over the rocks without a decent light. We all agreed that we had a lovely day and many were saying that they would revisit the locations. So a big thank you to Dave Grey and Caroline Wright for organising the day.

So what did I take from the day…….. Well seascape photography is more difficult than expected. You need to check tide times and the tide at Dunraven comes in very quickly cutting off large areas of the beach. Luckily on the day lifeguards were on hand to make sure we moved from areas that could be cut off at the appropriate times. Sea spray is a bit of an enemy with lenses and filters needing to be cleaned regularly. Personally I need a lot more work understanding my filters, what they can achieve and have in mind the effect that I want to make and how to achieve it before I even think about taking an image. I also need to spend more time looking for the image I want and getting into the correct position rather than get excited by all the options available - do I take ICM, can I get images of the waves, what seascapes are there, what landscapes can I see, do I want a fine art smoothed out sea look, how can I simplify the scene, there were just so many options.

So if you want to look at seascape photography here are some Youtube videos to watch which I hope you will find useful

Rachael Talibart is the Queen of seascape photography and I am sure you will find this and any other talk of hers very interesting.

Landscape Photography using ND Filters this shows the different effects a .9 soft grad, 6 stop, 10 stop and 15 stop filter has on clouds and sea.

Photographing seascapes - The gear, the techniques and the apps showing advise for seascape adventures

Seascape photography Michael Shainblum has many different videos on Seascape photography and this link is to different techniques. PC

Dunraven Bay