Ventured out this morning to take a look at an old shipwreck in East Lothian. As always, I checked weather forecast, tide times, sunrise and wind speed (I don’t want my camera to shake during a long exposure). All the elements seemed to be in my favour, apart from the sunrise which was rising behind where I wanted to shoot, and the Met office said there was to be clear skies.

I have a sun app called “Sun Surveyor” (which I have to say is fantastic) which lets you know the exact position of the the sunrise and sunset from anywhere, even having a live or street view mode.

Anyway, I took the chance that I would have some nice light as its not often that the tide times and sunrise happen at the same time as you want, especially with the Scottish weather.

After shooting at a couple of different angles, I decided that this was the best for me. The tide was coming in fast, so I had to react quickly before the wreck disappeared. I was using my 24-70 lens and zoomed all the way to 70. I chose to shoot at F8 as the would give me maximum DOF and the sharpest image. I had a polariser on to stop the glare and a Lee little stopper on to slow down the exposure time to 10 seconds. I think it gives a nice ambiance to the overall image.

The Wreck is located just before Longniddry. The best way to find it is to park at bents 1 car park on the coastal trail and it is located about 300 yards to the left as you enter the beach. You will definitely want to be there about 2 and a half hours before high tide if you are looking to take shots, but beware!, the tide comes in extremely fast. I was set up for this shot and within half an hour, the wreck was barely visible.

Any questions on the location or settings, please feel free to contact me.

Longer exposure creating a more dramatic effect.