Delta Blues

I thought I'd post the results of my first little jaunt around Spain - photographing the Ebro Delta.

Spain's largest river empties into the Mediterranean in the province of Tarragona, and over centuries has created one of the largest wetland areas in the western Mediterranean. coming back from a trip up the coast, I managed to time my stopover just as the sun was sinking.

Reminiscent of the Broads, or the fens, the Ebro Delta National Park is an echoing expanse of mud and salt. Overlaid with a tartan frame of drainage ditches and roads to nowhere - several hundred acres of the flattest land you can imagine, pushing apart the mountains and the sea.

One of the main photographic draws of this part of the world is the birdlife - huge flocks of migratory birds and rare waders but this was the wrong time of the year, and the wrong time of the day so I concentrated on some eerie, haunting shots and watery sunsets.

The main thing was positioning - I was paying close attention to composition, thinking about rule of thirds, lead in lines and vanishing points.  Foreground detail is also important in these shots (if tricky when most of the foreground is mud..!). Both of these involved lots of low points of view (getting down in the mud!) and small aperture to get maximum depth of field. Small apertures also help to control lens flare when shooting into the setting sun - not that I wanted to cut it out, just control the amount and direction as much as possible. I'm really pleased with the sunburst flare on some of these - just enough for drama, without being overwhelming or losing the colour detail in the sky.

I also did a little HDR processing on this last one - I just wanted to bring out the detail in the sea wall in the foreground without it feeling unrealistic.

There are more images from the Ebro on my website at http://www.mickieimriephotography.com/gallery/images_of_spain.php (where they can also be bought as prints or canvases... {shameless plug!!!} )and I think they hold together nicely as a set - lots of warm blues and dynamic compositions. Perhaps I should plan to produce more photo series - next up is Murcian windmills I think!