Portmellon lies just south of the tourist hotspot of Mevagissey. About a mile to the southeast lies Chapel Point, the southern extremity of St Austell Bay; an exposed spot, but a stunning location for three private houses built in the 1930s by Scottish architect John Campbell. There is a fascinating history to these houses, told in this Daily Telegraph article: Property in Cornwall: revamp for a 1930s architectural gem, including the unfortunate death of the architect in a fall on nearby cliffs.
It is quite a remarkable spot and quite unlike anywhere else that I know on the Cornish coast. Being in South Cornwall, and in such a dramatic location, Chapel Point of course makes an appearance in a Daphne Du Maurier novel, this time “The House on the Strand”.
We encountered Chapel Point whilst walking the Southwest Coast Path between Mevagissey and Gorran Haven on a decidedly grumpy day. I managed to grab this shot, between frequent showers, of dark clouds behind the houses bringing fresh rain in.
Chapel Point, Portmellon, Cornwall, UK
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikkor 16-85 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length: 22mm
Aperture: ƒ/10
Shutter Speed: 1/125s
ISO: 200
The shot was accidentally underexposed so I needed to bring the exposure up by 1 stop in Lightroom before sending the image to Photoshop. Here the image was worked on in Nik Color Efex Pro. The image was warmed up a little and the Pro Contrast filter worked its magic to improve the toning . I was looking to add some drama to the clouds to bring back my impression of the scene at the time so a graduated neutral density filter darkened the sky and further vignetting was added with the Darken / Lighten Centre filter. Finally the image was run through Uwe Steinmueller's Optimal Sharp script to really bring out some detail in the grass.
1 Comment
Chapel Point is not on the extremity of St Austell Bay, it is in fact in Mevagissey Bay