Rodney Campbell's Blog

The morning session at Cathedral Rocks at Kiama Downs on the NSW South Coast was one filled will excellent opportunities. The spires of rock thrust up out of the ocean at the edge of the sea are just fantastic subjects. Whilst sunrise itself was a total non event (very heavy cloud on the horizon hid the rising sun completely) the light show both before and after sunrise was on the excellent side.

The light was still quite strong so I was forced to bracket my exposures so I could blend them in post – I’m not yet proficient at all in Photoshop so I’m utilising Exposure Fusion techniques for these but I was happy with the results. All three shot with the Heliopan CPL stacked with the Hitech 0.9 Reverse Grad

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Last shot of the morning – a quarter of an hour after sunrise and the sun is finally breaching the top of the cloudbank on the horizon and I’m timing for the waves

Glass Cathedrals

Minutes before sunrise and I’m down in the sand in this narrow channel trying to avoid some of the larger oncoming waves so I can get a nice shot with the golden reflections on the wet sand as the water pulls back out to sea

The Face of Dawn

Just minutes after 6AM and we’re right on scheduled sunrise

Pointing Skyward

and about 5 minutes after sunrise I’ve got a composition I like better with some nice weed and greenery in the rock pools up front

Reaching for the Sky