AstroLandscapes #27 - Dovercourt Harvest Moon

[FenlandPaul]

I've never visited Dovercourt before but I'd seen some stunning black and white long exposure images of the "outer" lighthouse standing alone in beautifully smoothed-out water.  So I thought it would be fun to head over to Harwich after work on Tuesday to try to capture the Harvest moon rising behind it.

The outer lighthouse is one of three decommissioned cast iron structures that worked in unison to guide ships through the deep water channel into Harwich and Flexistowe docks.  The outer lighthouse sits about 200m from the beach, but the base is exposed at low tide.  Fun fact: just the other side of the sea wall is the holiday park in which Hi-Di-Hi was filmed - a sitcom I was aware of but a bit too young to appreciate.

The adventure was a lot more stressful than I'd anticipated.  I was driving up after a day of meetings in central London with, I thought, plenty of time to spare.  But road closures and tractors meant I arrived only 10 minutes before moonrise.  Thankfully I'd used PhotoPills and Google StreetView to scout out how to get down to the beach and where I needed to be, but as I set up I noticed a cloud bank in the east and began to think this whole 4-hour round trip was doomed!  As the clouds dispersed, a gaudy, brightly lit car ferry maneuvered itself into position exactly behind the lighthouse, utterly ruining the composition.  There was nothing I could do but wait and, thankfully, with a minute to spare it moved out of frame.  I'm used to landscape astrophotography being quite a relaxed pursuit; this couldn't have been further from that!!

Anyway, I hope you like the final result.  I didn't notice at the time but the colours from the belt of Venus were stunning - so pleased to have captured those.

I used my Canon 6D and the Sigma Contemporary 150mm-600mm lens, at 300mm.

[davew]

Good job I'm writing because I'm all but speechless ! What a lovely shot and nice write up.

I have a feeling that shot could sell as it's a beauty.

Thanks for the effort put in Paul,

Dave.

[FenlandPaul]

12 minutes ago, davew said:

Good job I'm writing because I'm all but speechless ! What a lovely shot and nice write up.

I have a feeling that shot could sell as it's a beauty.

Thanks for the effort put in Paul,

Dave.

That’s very kind, Dave. I wish I could revisit and correct the things I’m not happy with - I think we all feel that with our work! But that’s all part of the learning process I suppose, and this is such a safe forum to share things on and to get constructive feedback. 😊

[davew]

38 minutes ago, FenlandPaul said:

That’s very kind, Dave. I wish I could revisit and correct the things I’m not happy with - I think we all feel that with our work!

I know exactly what you mean. 

I had a long look at it close up and also stood up behind my chair to get the overall view and it still holds up for me. I thought about light painting the Iron work ... Nah. A long exposure for the water ... No. Higher or lower with the tripod ... again no.

I rather like the " Haze " round the moon through the thin clouds too.

Dave.

 

[FenlandPaul]

3 minutes ago, davew said:

I know exactly what you mean. 

I had a long look at it close up and also stood up behind my chair to get the overall view and it still holds up for me. I thought about light painting the Iron work ... Nah. A long exposure for the water ... No. Higher or lower with the tripod ... again no.

I rather like the " Haze " round the moon through the thin clouds too.

Dave.

 

How about a car ferry in the background?! 🤣

My main gripe is the sharpness of the structure. I focussed for the moon, but the lighthouse is slightly within the hyper focal distance so isn’t as sharp as I’d like. I think it still works because the thin cloud makes the skyscape quite dreamy, and so a slightly soft foreground kind of works. If I return to do a MW shot at some point next year (notwithstanding the light from Felixstowe docks) I’d definitely like the foreground to be sharper and would think about light painting too if the ambient light is insufficient.  High tide next time too!!

Really appreciate your informed feedback!