Port Melbourne Golden Hour ~ May
These shots were taken between 5:30 and 6:45 in the evening. Photographers call this the "Golden Hour" because of the great light quality produced by the sun filtered through clouds.
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This is a "stack" of 64 exposures looking west to Princes Pier. The water surface and clouds are flattened by the effects of in-camera flattening.
A splash of light and colour - golden hour produces great photo opportunities. This is another example of stacking multiple photos to flatten out the surface of the water and lengthen the appearance of clouds.
Modern apartments line Port Phillip Bay near the Princes Pier. Fortunately, the city of Port Phillip has retained public access along the foreshore. It's a great place for an afternoon or evening walk. The visitor has many fine restaurants to choose from in this area.
The sun's effects change rapidly during the golden hour. The photographer has to learn to be patient and wait out these changes. What can at first look like a boring sunset can change rapidly into something quite beautiful and/or spectacular.
Facing east after a passing downpour which created this interesting cloud formation and reflections in the puddles on the deck of the Princes Pier. There's a good lesson here. Many photographers will spend all their time facing west in hope of capturing a great shot, thus sometimes completely missing what is going on behind them.
Melbourne port for the Spirit of Tasmania. These large ocean going ferries make two departures each day to Devonport Tasmania.
Princes Pier is a 580 metre long historic pier on Port Phillip Bay, in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was known as the New Railway Pier until renamed Prince's Pier after the Prince of Wales who visited Melbourne in May 1920. Over many decades, this pier has played a critical role in commerce, wartime embarkation and migration. With the advent of modern commercial air travel, arrivals to Princes Pier gradually declined from the 1970s. Closed in 1989, Princes Pier had been disused until its recent refurbishment. The redeveloped Princes Pier was launched as a public space in December 2011.
So many photographers have taken this shot, but I couldn't resist. These pylons once formed the foundation for the Princes Pier. The deck has been removed and only the first 1/3rd restore. I was in a rush to get this shot as the sun was just about to sink below the horizon, the the last touch of colour disappeared from this pylons and ladder rails. Make sure you enlarge this shot to full screen size. You will note rain drops have beaded to the chrome hand rails.
Well over 1000 pylons support the deck of Princes Pier. The structure has been protected from the continuous effects of wave erosionof Port Phillip Bay by the construction of this granite sea-wall on the right.
I had to wait until the precise moment for this photo. Any sooner and the sun would have produced a hot spot. In this shot the sun has tucked behind a small dark patch of cloud just as it touches the horizon.
The Spirit of Tasmania departed just minutes after I took this photo. Given the strong south-west wind, I imagine it encountered a rough crossing once through the "heads" and out on Bass Straight.