A Different Perspective Can Gather More Photo Opportunities

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This week we headed north to Berwick for an overnight stop in England's most northern town.  Berwick on Tweed is a wonderful place with a rich history that can be seen in the medieval fortifications that still surround the town.


Seaweed on the beach near the pier in Berwick on Tweed
A beautiful sunset had us heading down to the pier at the mouth of the River Tweed and I decided that a return trip was worth the effort of braving an early start in the biting northerly wind that had air temperatures hovering just above freezing.  However I was rewarded with a stunning sunrise that has me looking for opportunities while the light lasted.
 
I decided to use the Lee 'Big Stopper' 10x ND filter to smooth the sea and let the clouds smudge a little as they scuded across the sky.  While the Nikon D700 was attached to the tripod completing the 2-minute exposures, I started to look for other opportunities with my Fujifilm X100 while I waited.  There was plenty of debris on the beach and then I spotted a piece of seaweed lying in the surf and decided this could make an interesting subject with the pier and lighthouse as a backdrop.
 
There was no way I was lying down on the cold and very wet sand but using the rear screen on the X100 I was able to put the camera on one of my gloves to keep it off the beach and take the shot.  I decided on a shallow depth of field to throw the background out of focus and consentrate the viewers attention on the subject, so selected f4 on the 23mm Fujinon lens and set the camera to Aperture Priority.  I also used a 0.6ND graduate filter to balance the scene. 

Three shots were taken and I was very pleased with the result which shows you can take pictures of the most mundane items if you select an unusual perspective.
 
This is the shot I took with the Nikon, which was a 2 minute exposure.
 
The pier in Berwick - 120s exposure using a Lee 10x ND filter
 
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