An early morning rise to visit the Peacehaven Cliffs in East Sussex. The weather forecast was overcast, windy, rain but with some occasional breaks of sunlight. This can make for some dramatic seascape photography.

Hidden Peacehaven

Never visited Peacehaven cliffs before even though living not far away in east Sussex. Its a nice walk from Peacehaven to Newhaven’s Castle Hill. Guess it gets overlooked by nearby Cuckmere Haven, Seven Sisters and Beachy Head. Learned about the walk along Peacehaven cliffs from a Facebook group called Hidden Sussex. These Facebook groups can often be a good source of inspiration and new locations to visit. Even got recommendations on where to park for free like along Seaview Road.

It looked an interesting cliff walk on OS Maps. Including an almost 100 step decline on to the beach. Timed the visit to Peacehaven with low tide so hopefully would get onto the beach. The lighthouse at Newhaven should make an interesting focal point all along the way.

Scouting and new Gear

Another reason keen on this walk was to try out a new tripod from Benro the mach 3 and G2 ballhead. Had nothing but grief with the Manfrotto 190 where the clips keep snapping. Also some new Berghaus hiking pants and gortex coat for the winter conditions we now find ourselves in. This visit to Peacehaven cliffs was both a scouting trip as not been before but knew there would be some good compositions and possible light that seascapes along the east Sussex coast often provide.

Peacehaven Dawn Overcast

Arrived at Peacehaven as day was just breaking. Just followed the footpath not knowing what to expect having not been here before. Unfortunately during sunrise there was no dramatic light due to think overcast clouds.

The sky is totally uninteresting in the above composition but the bright light of the lighthouse in the distance at Newhaven makes a good focal point. The cliffs beyond the lighthouse are Seaford head and yet to do a photo scout there.

Friars Bay low tide

At the cliff walk beginning are the near 100 Bastion Steps down to Friars Bay. Headed down to try and get some different compositions from ground level. Should have put my wellingtons on.

The sky was breaking up some, the composition was good but the light was not there, not yet. Was considering put on a ND filter to smooth out the sea water more but decided to head back up onto the cliffs. Killer of a walk going back up the Bastion steps! Going west from here takes you towards Brighton and the Telscombe Cliffs view, another on the todo list.

Ferry and dramatic Sunbeams

Back up on the Peacehaven cliffs walk, what I had anticipated began to happen as fleeting and dramatic sunrays, sunbeams broke through the morning clouds.

Just at that time the sunlight broke through a ferry was heading back into Newhaven. With this high dynamic range of light not want to blow out the highlights, so was bracketing 3 shots two stops apart. Wanted the ferry to be directly under the spotlight but not happen. Few minutes before the clouds moved back in.

HDR Post Processing

Post processing these high dynamic range shots just used HDR in Lightroom rather than luminosity masks in Photoshop. Lot less effort and the results are good.

Newhaven Lighthouse

Followed the footpath all along the Peacehaven cliffs towards Newhaven with the lighthouse getting closer and closer. The lighthouse was the star of the show or the main focal point. Needed to time it right to get the shining light of the Lighthouse included.

The dramatic morning sunlight breaking through the clouds makes all the difference to the composition. Given a good composition really need to wait for the light. A passing seagull puts in a welcome appearance, for this not to blur need a shutter speed of 100/1.

With low light, high dynamic range and telephoto are the most challenging in landscape or seascape photography. With focus and sharpness often being the cost if not get right. Am obsessed with focus still and still room for improvement or do I now need to go full frame and new set of lenses? Very expensive!

Dead Space

With a wider angle the above seascape photo included lots of dead space of Newhaven beach which is uninteresting. From this vantage point high tide would be better if it covers lots more of that uninteresting beach shingle. Crashing waves over the lighthouse would be great too.