Tucked high on a set of cliffs on the quiet side of Mount Desert Island sits the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. Marking the entrance to Bass Harbor, this lighthouse was built in 1858 and stands 56 feet above the water line. Its bright red light shines to sailors safe passage throughout the night.
The previous year the house we rented was much closer to the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. This allowed me ample opportunity to return time and again to the lighthouse in attempts to capture it in the best possible lighting. I went there morning, noon and night in efforts to capturing that “Gallery Shot.” But that picture perfect shot eluded me. Now mind you, getting to this vantage point is no small feat. One must first go down this steep staircase.
Once safely down the stairs, with tripod and camera in one hand, and the other hand free, boulder scrambling is required to get down to the best vantage point to photograph the lighthouse.
Mind you, the pink granite boulders are quite craggy and the closer you get to the water line, the more precarious they become. During high tide, many of these rocks are covered by water and have algae growing on them. Of course, the prime photo spot was already taken by the fancy photographers with their huge Mark D cameras and graduated neutral density filters attached to their lenses. Did I remember to bring mine this time…no of course not ! It was in my car in the parking lot and there was no way I was going back over the rocks and up those stairs to retrieve it.
Trying to figure out where to stand, I was quickly asked to move, so I went further down into the water line. Thankfully it was low-tide so I was able to find a spot to set up my tripod. However, my feet were bridging a little tide pool, and one misstep would have me in the drink! Luckily the sunset was to begin shortly as I timed my arrival so I wouldn’t have to wait long.
While waiting, I was listening to the pros…seems that the picture perfect photo I have in my mind is impossible to get. You see, I am traveling in mid-summer and the sun sets quite north on the horizon. I wanted the sun to be further to the left of the lighthouse. This night, you couldn’t see the sun as it was setting about 10 degrees behind and north of the lighthouse.
Here’s where being an amateur meteorologist comes handy for a photographer. We are all chasing that perfect light, those sweet “Golden Hours” where the light pulls out the life in the subject we’re photographing.
Well, there was rain called for the next day. If I had put any thought into it, I would have realized that the sunset that night would be uneventful. It certainly wasn’t going to be a “Red Sky Tonight…Sailor’s Delight.”
But I was determined to see what I could create with the lighting offered to me. After eavesdropping on the pros, I decided to bracket three frames with -/+ 1.34 stops, planning on merging the three photographs in Photoshop Elements 10.
The first photo is my first attempt in creating the photo. Three bracketed photos were merged, then moved into Lightroom 3.5 for more edits. Making the lighthouse exposure lighter, added fill light on the rocks, and boosted saturation on oranges and reds for the sky helped bring the photo to life. After sleeping on the edits, I think I’d go back and mask just the sky for the saturation, leaving the rocks in their more natural state.
Here are some additional photos of Bass Harbor Lighthouse. Enjoy!
In The Fog
Categories: Acadia, Foot Prints
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
Absolutely beautiful… What a vista. You’ve captured it perfectly (love the fog). Sigh; can I live here?
Um…you’re a Florida girl…Maine winters are COLD !!!
My retort to that (which I hear often, in our investigations) — stick to the coast!
Beautiful photos! I love taking photos of lighthouses.
Thank you! It was fun for me!
Nice job! When it comes to cameras it’s not the size that counts! It’s what you do with it.
That is the truth ! Although I did learn the 7D is able to provide better focus and sharper shots that the 60D or lower. Worth the investment.
I’m still using my 20D but it’s really acting up and showing its age. Guess I’d better save my pennies!
Absolutely you should ! The technology is SO much better now. If you love Canon, go at least for the 7D with the 24-104mm L lens, you won’t regret it!
What a great little lighthouse! These are some really great pictures, too; it makes me want to be there right now.
Thank you! It is such a treat to be able to be here for a week to relax and enjoy.
I really enjoyed these and appreciate your stopping by my blog.
It’s my pleasure and I really enjoyed your photography. Look forward to sharing more with you.
Absolutely stunning. You have such an eye for how to construct the different objects and elements within a photo. Its a real talent. Thanks for sharing it!
Cat
Cat ! Can’t believe you actually think I know what I’m doing! You have no idea how much I’ve been trying to learn the art of photography and already see a marked improvement from last year and this year. You are so very kind. Have a wonderful day!
I love these images! You have some great pictures from areas I have never been to. I don’t know how you feel about sharing your pictures but if you ever want to submit one of your favorite travel photos to my travel site, SKEdaddle let me know. Here are the submission requirements – http://bit.ly/SRfTUP
Hi SKEdazzles ! Your invitation is too very kind and I will absolutely take you up on it. I’ve got a few places in my back pocket I’ve yet to share on my blog. I’ll see what I can do to match your deluxe vacationing theme though.
Have a wonderful day! Bella
Lovely lighthouse, is it for sale…? ‘big smile’
Let’s go and do a hostile takeover and kick out the coast guard Drake !
It will probably not work that way… ‘big smile’
I have a good friend – he and his wife, they for many years living in an old water tower – it was written a lot about in the danish media – it was a wonderful home… 😉
How wonderful and romantic! A little tidbit, in America, the government went and sold a number of lighthouses to private buyers a few years back. Wish I had the $$$ to have gotten one. Of course a boat may be in order as well.
Very nice use of space and I enjoyed the photo excusion documentary!
Thank you so much ! I managed to get back to the lighthouse today under foggy conditions. It was fabulous!
It’s very pretty! =)
Thanks!
Beautiful pics! I love the leading shot especially! I have an app I use for showing sun and moon rise and set times. It also shows you the angles and gps coordinates. You can download it here: http://photoephemeris.com/ The desktop version is free and you can purchase it for android or ipad and iphone. It is valuable for natural light photographers. When I shot the super moon I was able to put the gps coordinates in my Garmin and stand right where I wanted to be!
I had just recently heard of this app, but didn’t connect the gps feature of it. I’ll definitely check it out and see how it works. What awesome stuff!! Thank you for the advice. Bella