NC Outerbanks - Lighthouses

Dixie · February 6, 2006

Here are some of my lighthouses taken on the outerbanks of North Carolina.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Click on the image for EXIF data.

Cape Lookout Lighthouse (you have to take a boat ride to get to this one).

Ocracoke Lighthouse

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Currituck Lighthouse

Phil U. · February 7, 2006

Cool set. I love lighthouses and you have the full NC collection.

I haven't gotten to Cape Lookout yet but I have the others.

Justiceiro · February 7, 2006

That first shot is super crisp. Well done. That's exactly the look I have been going for, but can't seem to get with my current tripod and 35-135 zoom. Can you tell us what type of tripod and lens you used?

Dixie · February 7, 2006

Phil U. wrote:

Cool set. I love lighthouses and you have the full NC collection. I haven't gotten to Cape Lookout yet but I have the others.

Pretty close to the entire collection. There are a couple of shoal lights which I'm really not interested in plus one on a private resident on the Roanoke River which I haven't shot. None of them are in the Outer Banks.

Then there's Bald Head Light "Old Baldy" on Bald Head Island and the Cape Fear River down near Wilmington.

There is a web site which you may be interested in called Inventory of Historic Light Stations.

Dixie · February 7, 2006

Justiceiro wrote:

That first shot is super crisp. Well done. That's exactly the look I have been going for, but can't seem to get with my current tripod and 35-135 zoom. Can you tell us what type of tripod and lens you used?

The tripod I use is the Bogen-Manfrotto 3051 Tripod with Grip Action Ball Head. More important is the lens I use which is the TS-E 24mm f/3.5L (tilt/swing). The tilt/swing allows me to correct perspective and help to keep the lighthouse from looking like it is falling away from me so bad. I also use Transform (Skew) to correct lean, etc. when I process the shots of the lighthouses in PSCS2.

Hope this info helps.

Angelo · February 7, 2006

All beautiful shots Dix. No surprise there.

Phil U. · February 7, 2006

Dixie wrote:

Pretty close to the entire collection. There are a couple of shoal lights which I'm really not interested in plus one on a private resident on the Roanoke River which I haven't shot. None of them are in the Outer Banks.

Then there's Bald Head Light "Old Baldy" on Bald Head Island and the Cape Fear River down near Wilmington.

There is a web site which you may be interested in called Inventory of Historic Light Stations.

I forgot about "Old Baldy" and wasn't including the other smaller lights. Thanks for that link - good info.

Guppy · February 8, 2006

All of them our very nice shots.

Dixie · February 9, 2006

Thanks, Angelo & Guppy.

Phil, I'm going to try and shoot "Old Baldy" this spring and maybe catch a few on down into South Carolina. I've also been talking to my wife about a return trip to the Outer Banks and will let you know when I'm headed that way.

ginger_55 · February 9, 2006

cool lighthouse shots..........

as I would know that you know that I know! And I am glad that you are liking that tilt lens. The time I saw you, it was new and you were excited about it.

Now that you see the photos, I am sure you are still excited about it!

ginger (I just had to say something nice! As very nice series, presentation and shots!)

ChrisJ · February 9, 2006

Wonderful shots, Dixie. I especially like seeing the Cape Hatteras light. The last time I saw it in person it was still on the coast.

Bald Head island is great. One of the most relaxing places I've visited. Just avoid the hurricanes!

grimace · February 10, 2006

Beautiful series Dixie!!

WaterfallRich · February 10, 2006

Beautiful images! I used to visit and fish the Outer Banks often when I lived in Raleigh. Miles and miles of unspoiled beach. Ocracoke Island was one of my favorite places - thanks for bringing back the memories!

Dixie · February 11, 2006

ginger_55 wrote:

cool lighthouse shots..........

as I would know that you know that I know! And I am glad that you are liking that tilt lens. The time I saw you, it was new and you were excited about it.

Now that you see the photos, I am sure you are still excited about it!

ginger (I just had to say something nice! As very nice series, presentation and shots!)

Thanks, Ginger. As you may recall, I told you that I was get the T/S lens to shoot lighthouses.

Dixie · February 11, 2006

ChrisJ wrote:

Wonderful shots, Dixie. I especially like seeing the Cape Hatteras light. The last time I saw it in person it was still on the coast.

Bald Head island is great. One of the most relaxing places I've visited. Just avoid the hurricanes!

Thanks, Chris. In fact, I was standing in the cleared area which they used to move the lighthouse back from the coast. It's a little strange since that was the area they had to level for the move and much of it still shows. The dune sand is slowly drifting and changing so I assume at some point in the future the "track" they used to move the lighthouse will disappear (hopefully, not because the coast has eroded more).

Dixie · February 11, 2006

grimace wrote:

Beautiful series Dixie!!

Thank you, Grimace.

Dixie · February 11, 2006

WaterfallRich wrote:

Beautiful images! I used to visit and fish the Outer Banks often when I lived in Raleigh. Miles and miles of unspoiled beach. Ocracoke Island was one of my favorite places - thanks for bringing back the memories!

Thanks, Rich. I really liked Ocracoke as well. Very quaint and seemingly unspoiled. It helps that you can only reach it by ferry so a lot of people don't go to the trouble to go there to see the lighthouse, the town, or the island.

ginger_55 · February 11, 2006

Dixie wrote:

Thanks, Rich. I really liked Ocracoke as well. Very quaint and seemingly unspoiled. It helps that you can only reach it by ferry so a lot of people don't go to the trouble to go there to see the lighthouse, the town, or the island.

We spent two nights there in a natl campground in the seventies, coming onto the Outer Banks and leaving three weeks later. The black flies were to write home about. We ended up at another natl campground closer to the lighthouse in your photo. Not the closest one, but next closest, all in the dunes with a topless shower!

I will never forget the last night on Ocracoake, playing in that bit of water that comes in. There were phosphorescent things in the water, my kids were in grade school, the younger ones. That is a great place!! And we splurged and ate our only real "meal" out. At the hotel/restaurant, or whatever, that is also on that water. As usual, I was juggling money, and we had enough for that splurge of a great meal.

Walked the town. Though we didn't stay on Ocracoake, we often took the ferry over, I loved it most of all!

ginger

erich6 · February 11, 2006

Dixie,

These are very good pictures! I noticed you were using a tilt/shift lens. I thought these were supposed to rectify the image so you don't get the perspective warp on tall objects when you point up...but I still see some perspective effects on your images, particulary the 2nd one. At any rate though, these are great!

Erich

GREAPER · February 11, 2006

Nice set Dixie.

I did not get two of those when I was down there last year. I did not get lookout as I ran out of time, and I never got a daytime shot of Currituck.

I never see anything different on Ocracoke Lighthouse. The way it sits on the property there is really not a lot of choices on how to shoot it.

On THIS page you will see a shot I took from about the same spot yours is from.

Looking at your pics has brought back the memory of mine. Thx.

Brian

Dixie · February 12, 2006

erich6 wrote:

Dixie,

These are very good pictures! I noticed you were using a tilt/shift lens. I thought these were supposed to rectify the image so you don't get the perspective warp on tall objects when you point up...but I still see some perspective effects on your images, particulary the 2nd one. At any rate though, these are great!

Erich

Erich, I really had not played with the lens too much before shooting these. What I've found out is tha if the lighthouse is in the center of the photo then the shift works fairly well. ...but if the lighthouse is to the left or right of center you do get some significant perspective warping. I used the Transform to try and fix some of them a little, but need to do more work on them. I used just the shift when i shot these, but don't know and haven't played with the lens enough yet to find out if a combination of shift and tilt would help with the perspective. Maybe someone who has worked more with a T/S lens could throw in some suggestions.

Dixie · February 12, 2006

GREAPER wrote:

Nice set Dixie.

I did not get two of those when I was down there last year. I did not get lookout as I ran out of time, and I never got a daytime shot of Currituck.

I never see anything different on Ocracoke Lighthouse. The way it sits on the property there is really not a lot of choices on how to shoot it.

On THIS page you will see a shot I took from about the same spot yours is from.

Looking at your pics has brought back the memory of mine. Thx.

Brian

Brian, you are quite correct about the limited shooting angles for Ocracoke. I do have some variations which I will work on but I won't be able to until I return from trying to get some snow photos in the Great Smoky Mountain NP on Wednesday.

Here is one which I already have on Smugmug so I can go ahead and link it now.

This particular was taken from near the ferry landing which is almost exactly 180 degrees from the angle your shots (very nice shots I should add) and the one I did above were taken.

Click image for EXIF data.