Low tide varies. When the moon and sun are about 90 degrees apart (first and third quarters), high tides are relatively low and low tides are relatively high. Each day is different from the next. As the new or full moons approach--sun and moon aligned--the lows become lower and the highs become higher.
The low tide zone is established by "mean lower low water." It's where there is always turbulence at about the same vertical level, and the low tides stay at this level for a few days. The result is that it's never calm, so nothing gets sorted into layers as you'll find higher on the beach if you dig a hole.
I used to try to photograph this sand and gravel mixture in situ. It is, however, always wet and loose. If I try handheld my feet settle under me with wave action. If I try to use a tripod, its legs sink. I like the in situ photos but getting them sharp is difficult. So, one day I picked up about four pounds of this, took it home and let it dry out.
These photographs were taken with the sand on a white platter. I used a diffuser to soften and spread the light from the sun in my front yard. The platter was on a level platform on a tripod, with the camera on another tripod pointing straight down and adjusted to be perpendicular to the platter in both axes.
The diffuser broadens the light source, making shadows softer and reducing specular highlights. Leveling the subject and camera means the sample is sharp in all areas. I choose an F/stop to get just enough depth of field without running into diffraction. I don't have to worry about shutter speed on the tripod. Post processing brings up the contrast a bit. These are all full frame, and are about 10cm across.
I simply took pictures of different areas of the sample after spreading it on the small platter. Endless beauty. To see more detail you can click on the images to make them full sized.
No comments:
Post a Comment