How to Photograph Lighthouse Beams? | Landscape Photography

How to Photograph Lighthouse Beams? Well it's more difficult than you might think. An incredible cloud inversion blanketed the Isle of Man recently producing out of this world photographic conditions but typically I was in work wasn’t it?! On this landscape photography trip I set out on a freezing January night to try and make the most of these rare Winter conditions. My objective was to capture an audacious image of light beams in the icy fog filled air in a 360 degree arc round the top of a local lighthouse. On the face of it, it would seem an easy shot but this proves to be one of the most challenging photography ideas I’ve had in quite some time.

Main Exposure – f2.8, 10 seconds, ISO 1250, 14mm
Secondary Exposures for beams of the lighthouse - f2.8, 1.6 seconds, ISO 4000, 14mm
Post processed together using Lightroom and Photoshop

Nikon D850
Samyang 14mm 2.8 Lens
MeFOTO Globetrotter tripod

[eltinjones]

Just came across this video now - Well done 👍

[MikeBarrettPhotography]

Nice capture James. It worked well. Lovely image.

[davidmccormack]

Nice, detailed explanation of what went into capturing this cool image. Thanks! Best, Dave

[jimhamilton]

Well done James. Thats a cracking shot.

[ConstantinosPanayides]

Well presented and nice walkthrough James. Thanks!

[cppuk]

Hi James its great to see somebody photographing the Isle of Man so keep doing what you are doing and have fun. Great video and great info with a lovely end image. Thanks Chris.

[RalphGoldsmith]

A superb final image. Well worth the hard work and discomfort. A really nice explanation of how you achieved it as well. Great video

[paultaylorphotography]

Nice work mate makes me look forward to Milky Way season down ere love being out in middle of nowhere with the camera

[DouglasWeir]

That's a well planned and executed idea, the photo was well worth the effort and perseverance in bad weather. Your explanation behind the thoughts for the image was also great.

[Halfpint]

Nailed that final image, James. Lovely photograph.

[WesKriesel]

Nice image. Very ethereal, otherworldly.

[MiguelACoronaDM]

Brilliant image and walk through James.

[Paulus]

Recently found your channel after starting astrophotography. Your tutorials are amazing thank you. Subscribed

[JohnGreenwoodPhotography]

I enjoyed this James. The photo turned out well. The hardest part was going out in miserable conditions so well done!

[DavidFrancistrinbago]

Just ran across this video. Nicely done and explained. Do you have any video of how you actually composited the beams onto the base image? I'm trying to do similar, but can't figure it out.

[easywedge]

Subscribed! Can’t wait to try shooting a lighthouse. Nearest one is about 3 hours away…

[cuddysark]

James you commented on my channel and I thought you were from the states, not sure why. You do a nice job of putting your video together, that is still a challenge for me. Not big on Lightroom and Premier Pro. But your video is very good. Nice job of explaining what you are doing and how you set things up. My humble attempts at night shots have been a total failure. You nailed it.

[scotttilleyphotography]

Nice Image James, I could stand the hours in the cold getting the shots but the post processing may have killed me. You definitely have more patience than me in that department. Which lens are you using? I'm looking at the Samyang 12mm F2 for my Sony to do some wide-field astro images.

[JamesRBurnsVLOG]

Great detail James and an excellent end product. Love the b roll of the speeded up road and combined with the very calm background music. That worked very well. I must say I’ve never had a problem with dogging during a photography shoot. Interesting. Take care for now👍

[streetphotojourney]

Hi James, I really liked this informative video! SubSquad