In all genres of nature photography we often get far too obsessed with dramatic light. There’s nothing wrong with it and it does produce amazing shots, but in our obsession with golden light we miss many other opportunities. This week I’ll be posting my favourite ‘blue’ shots with no hint of dramatic colour. I’ll explain where, how and when I captured them and what the planning behind the shot was.
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Getting really ‘fresh’ shots is a lot more challenging than most people imagine. You only think the sky is perfectly blue, the sea perfectly calm and water nice and clear until you want to take a photo of it all. In 2012 I was on a serious mission to get nice stock photography of Cape Town’s landscapes and many drives from Stellenbosch to the Cape were wasted on bad weather.
These two shots were quite a stroke of luck. I was headed to Chapmans peak on a forecast that looked promising for a sunset to the West. As I drove along the Macassar cliffs, I saw the water was crystal clear and lovely turquoise colour, which happens very seldomly. The clouds were looking amazing as I drove into Muizenberg so I decided to pull off and take a few snaps. I walked along the elevated promenade and took about 5 normal shots and one pano sequence, without much appreciation for the conditions.
Those couple of shots have now been made into two book covers, featured on several calendars and websites and it was recently licensed as the cover for a beach product. All I can say is expect to see Muizenberg all over the beaches of the U.K in the coming European summer. It probably wasn’t all luck, considering that I was shooting around the Cape for 75-100 days in 2012!
I’ll be posting a shot every day this week, so follow me on Facebook or 500px for more on how to get the perfect blue shots 
Muizenberg Spring Panorama
Muizenberg Spring
