Commentary:
The
In mid May I fetched-up at Derwent Dam on a family outing. Coincidently it was the anniversary of the famous Dambusters Raid. The commemorations were very simple; a wreath, a bouquet of flowers and a pair of flags next to the plaque in the gate house to the dam. It was a humbling moment and a poignant reminder that this area of the Peak District had played a significant role during the preparations for the Dambusters Raid during WWII.
Photographically, it was interesting scene too; the strong colours of the flags, the flowers and the wreath as well as the buildings beyond were striking. But the dynamic range was huge; several stops different between the sun-light dam building and the dim interior of the gate house. The solution was either HDR or synchro-sun. I had a couple of constraints to consider; firstly I didn’t have a tripod and given that there was a steady stream of visitors walking to and fro along the dam I didn’t have a deal of time to get the shots. If there’s a one-shot, in-camera solution then, as often as not, I’ll take it. The decision was made, syncro-sun.
I switched to manual exposure and set the exposure for the ambient light on the sun-lit buildings using matrix/spot metering. I popped the built-in speedlight on the D300 and set it in commander mode dialling in a negative compensation of a couple of stops. A single SB 800 dropped in the corner of the gate house was set in TTL-BL as a remote flash with the head zoom right in to the max of 105mm. A dozen of so shots varing the camera angle and composition and it was in the bag.
I’d say the shot could definitely be improved but in the short time I had between groups walking to and fro across the dam and the minimum gear that I had with me, I’m reasonably happy with result.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300, 12-24mm AFS f4, 1/200 secs @ f9, ISO 200, manual exposure, matrix metering, Active D-Lighting, D300 in commander mode with single SB800 triggered wireless as remote strobe
Keywords:
Peak District, Derwent Dam, Dambusters Raid
