My Dad is a really keen photographer and is partly responsible for me getting into photography, seeing some of the photos he’s taken and moments he’s captured convinced me that i needed to make the investment… Plus, it’s always handy having someone around who can show you how to use your new camera and give you some decent tips.

With us both being pretty busy we don’t get to spend much time together so our recent trip down to Dorset was a real treat.  The weather has been pretty dreadful recently and has played a big part in ruining more than a few of my plans over the last couple of weeks. We had this in the diary for a while and decided to stick to it. On the day the weather was really bad with plenty of downpours which meant after the hour and a half drive down to Lulworth Cove we spent a further hour taking shelter in the cafe along with some other drenched people.

After a sandwich and cup of coffee we decided to suit up (umbrella, waterproof jacket, waterproof trousers and wellington boots) and scope out the location. The Cove itself is a really nice area and presented plenty of great photo opportunities, the nearby Durdle Door was also a place we wanted to shoot, so we headed back to the car and grabbed our gear.

The walk from the Cove to Durdle Door is actually a bit of a hike, especially in such bad conditions, not to mention my boots being a size too big! When you get there it’s totally worth it. The steps down to the beach had suffered badly in parts and it was a bit slippery getting down with all the mud. Once on the beach we took turns to take shelter under the umbrella, changing lenses and setting up tripods. Luckily after an hour or so the rain stopped so we retired the umbrella and went camera crazy whilst we had the chance.

I used my 10-24mm lens all day, i didn’t want to risk changing it in those conditions and it’s a great lens for dramatic shots so i was happy to keep it on. I’ll leave you with a few of my favourite shots from the day. They’re all 5 frame HDRs at +/- 0.7 and i used an aperture of f/8 for them all apart from the sunset which is shot at f/5.6 as it’s getting a bit darker. I’ll list the ISO and focal length beneath each image. I’m a bit annoyed with the post processing on these images, some of them have ‘chromatic aberrations’ on which are annoying, i should have removed these in the individual files before merging to an HDR but didn’t. I guess that’s why they say practice makes perfect.

If you get a chance to visit the area i’d highly recommend it, just make sure to check the weather first!

ISO 100 shot at 24mm, just getting the day started.

ISO 200 at 13mm, i like the fishing basket in the foreground.

ISO 160 at 10mm, i was ankle deep in water here.

ISO 100 at 11mm, i was trying to capture some soft flowing water in this shot,  look at the rain in the distance!

ISO 200 at 10mm, the sun is just starting to go down.