On a recent family vacation to Charleston South Carolina I decided to get up before daybreak each day to shoot pictures of the city. I did this for a several reasons: There is great light in the mornings, There are fewer people & cars to get in the way, Shooting in the mornings doesn’t compete with other family activities. As an added bonus our hotel was in a very central location with easy walking access to both the riverfront and historic downtown so getting around early in the morning wasn’t a problem. Of course the downside of all this was… getting up really early…
Day 1
Waterfront Park
Our hotel was less than two blocks from Waterfront Park, which made it the logical destination for day 1. I got to the pier while it was still dark and set up to wait for the sunrise over the Cooper River. I was not disappointed as there were just enough clouds in the sky to create some beautiful color.
This panorama was taken from the pier at waterfront park. To the left is the Arthur Ravenel Bridge that connects Charleston with Mount Pleasant. To the right is the USS Yorktown. Named after the original Yorktown that was lost during the battle of Midway, the USS Yorktown saw action in WWII as well as the Korean & Vietnam wars. Her last mission was as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission.
For this image I used a six second exposure to smooth out the water.
US Custom House
After taking shots of the sunrise I made my way over to the US Custom House. The front of this building faces East Bay Street while the back faces the Cooper River. The two sides look identical but the East Bay side is a little more ornate and has a checkerboard concourse in front of it that the other side lacks. Construction started on this building in 1853 but was not completed until 1879 due to the Civil War. The building still serves it’s original purpose of housing the customs offices that are responsible for inspecting ships entering the port. I used a composite of five exposures to achieve the dynamic range in this image. I really liked the checkerboard pattern in front of the building so I shot it from a very low angle at 13mm.
Day 2
St Michael’s Church
On the second day I decided to head into the city. There are many beautiful churches in Charleston but one of the most beautiful is St Michael’s. Construction of the church was started in 1752 and it was completed in 1761. Both George Washington and Robert E. Lee visited the church (not at the same time of course).
I was fortunate that the moon was still up as this shot was taken. The image was taken at 14mm for 20 seconds. Shots like this are where getting up early really pays off; note the lack of cars & people.
Day 3
Focus Stacking
Focus stacking refers to shooting the same image several times varying the focus point each time. The images are then merged together in Photoshop to produce a single image that is in focus from front to back. These flowers were very close to the river and the morning sky provided an ideal scene for focus stacking. I focused in three places; the front flower, the back of the foliage, and infinity. At each point I took five exposures for a total of 15 source images. The five exposures from each focus point were merged together in Lightroom to form three single images that were then stacked in Photoshop. This was a challenging shot because the wind was blowing slightly causing the flowers and foliage to move slightly between frames resulting in some distortion where the different images overlap.
Pineapple Fountain
Charleston’s Pineapple Fountain (pineapples represent hospitality and are common throughout Charleston) is the focal point of Waterfront Park. This image is a composite of five images; the longest exposure in the group is two seconds which is enough to give the water a soft look.
