Friday, October 14, 2011

Dewey Beach greyhound sunrise

The appeal to see greyhounds and their owners walking or standing on the beach while waiting for the sun to rise at Dewey is (to me, anyway) irresistible. (Well, it is irresistible if you live in the same time zone. I'm three hours behind the east coast, so it was 4am according to my body-time.)

Maybe rendering dog and owner in silhouette is old and cliched, but it attracts me still. Besides, it's what I get when I shoot up-sun. Other than using the daylight white balance setting to add some warmth to the pictures (and because I didn't want the bluish cast you'd normally get at this time of day), and switching between program, aperture- , and shutter-priority modes, i touched nothing else. I'm a little surprised with the results I got since I wasn't thinking too clearly (I had two hours of sleep the previous day, and sleeping during the four-and-a-half hour flight to Baltimore only left me with a huge headache).

Stuart and Flower
20111007_0017
A group of people gathered with their hounds.

The shadows have a hint of detail in them, which can be easily revealed with adjusting the Darks parameter in Lightroom. I started to notice that I had dust specks on the images, either on the sensor, the mirror, or the focusing screen. I'm not happy about that, although it's inevitable.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens; top and middle picture: aperture-priority with aperture set to f/2.8; camera chose 1/4000 second at ISO 800; bottom picture: program mode; camera chose shutter speed of 1/800 second at f/14; ISO 200; all pictures used daylight white balance; normal JPG.)

9 comments:

  1. Silhouettes of the hounds is classic cool. Will have to seriously consider going to Dewey next year. If you can fly 4.5 hrs, I can surely drive that much. I finally had to clean the sensor filter on my old 20D from too many specks. Used a kit, and it only took a couple of swipes. Hoping the 7D holds out for a few years.

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  2. Stunning, peaceful, soothing photos. I love silhouette shots.

    I need a trip to the beach. You've just about inspired me to go early:)

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  3. Cliche or not, those are beautiful shots. I especially like the second one.

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  4. I love silhouettes and these are stunning. Does anything have a more elegant silhouette than a Greyhound?...not to me.

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  5. I don't think silhouettes are cliche at all. I love them! They are so great for showing off those elegant Greyhound lines and curves. And I know that all of your shots were gorgeous! I love the sun just peeking over the nose of the hound in that second picture.

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  6. i was trying to position myself behind the greyhound and not get an eyeful of sun.

    oh, one other thing about this attraction to sunrises and greyhounds: i'd never see a sunrise over the ocean in california. sunsets? no problem!

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  7. A ha! Now it makes sense! I wondered what would possess you to be up that early for a sunrise!

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  8. Silhouettes are beautiful!
    -Michelle

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