Has a little rain ever put you off heading out with your camera? No weather is going to stop Pawel Zygmunt (AKA @breaking_light_pictures) from capturing incredible landscape photography. This incredible photograph of waves crashing against craggy rocks was captured at Dunmore Head on the Dingle Peninsula in the Republic of Ireland.
And Pawel's got the camera gear to weather the storm, too. He used the mighty Nikon Z9 and a pro-grade Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S to capture this image, providing a formidable weather-sealed setup. But even if you have one of the best Nikon cameras, I'd still advise using one of the best rain covers as no camera is impenetrable.
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Pawel travelled specifically to capture this image. He tells me: "I heard about a storm coming to Ireland, so I decided to travel to the west coast and visit some of the County Kerry beaches." As you can imagine, the shooting conditions weren't easy. "Super high winds were the challenge, however, being low on the beach helped," he says.
But photographing wild weather can be a dangerous business, especially near the coast, so always use extreme caution, pay attention to any warning signs, and research tide times before a shoot. While the image looks like Pawel was right in the thick of it, he sensibly stood back inland and framed the image with his Nikon telephoto lens. He was actually shooting from a higher vantage point: "There was a small walled road going down to the beach. So I was a bit above the ocean level, " he explains.
"Super high winds were the challenge, however, being low on the beach helped"
Standing so far back meant that Pawel couldn't quite fill the frame with his subject. The solution was found in Adobe Photoshop: "I cropped it to square format to make the details on rocks and waves stand out," he says, before performing various tonal adjustments using the Contrast, Highlights, and Shadows sliders, with a little sharpening.
Pawel's top tips for stormy seascape photography
Pawel suggests using a "good zoom lens" and a fast shutter speed. This will mitigate camera shake, especially if you follow the reciprocal rule, while also freezing the crashing waves. And finally, he says: "Stay a safe distance from the water."
To see more of Pawel's work, visit his website.
Check out previous Photo of the Day images, and the stories behind them. If you have an image you'd like us to consider for Photo of the Day, email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com
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If you want to improve your outdoor photography, here are 9 landscape photography tips I think every photographer should know. And if you're into all things Nikon, I bought a Nikon Z8 two months before the Z6 III launch. When it comes to older kit, the Nikon Df is the DSLR I'd buy today.
