David Noton

The rise of the budget airlines means onceexotic corners of Eastern Europe are merely a skip away. David Noton takes full advantage

Our Dave hits the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia and the World Heritage Site jewel of Dubrovnik.

The thing I love most about Europe is its diversity.

Travel just 50 miles and the landscape, architecture, language, cuisine and culture can change radically, whether or not we’ve crossed a national border. For some years now we’ve taken it for granted that we can jump on a flight so cheap the airport parking is often more expensive, and fly in a couple of hours to somewhere like Bordeaux, Barcelona, Perugia, Kraków or Split at the drop of a hat. It’s a luxury our ancestors could never have even dreamt of.

So why not split to Split? That’s exactly what we did on an easyjet flight from Bristol to the Dalmatian coast. Cheap flights have their drawbacks of course, especially for anyone who wants to take more than a toothbrush and a spare pair of pants. For we photographers the baggage restrictions on budget airlines are a recurring headache, but with a cooperative partner’s carry-on allowance I could just about take what I needed; multiple bodies, multiple lenses, the tripod, multiple pants, toothbrush, and cool shades.

A few key things to know about Croatia; it is an Eastern European country with a long coastline on the Adriatic Sea, encompassing more than a thousand islands, crossed by the Dinaric Alps and dotted with castles. Croatia has a warm, Mediterranean climate, and the calamari is to die for. The major coastal city of Dubrovnik is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with massive 16th-century walls encircling an old town with Gothic and Renaissance buildings.

Dubrovnik is a well-known tourist attraction, and a must-see port of call for most Mediterranean cruise ships. That’s a distinct drawback in my book; the congested streets of the old town are heaving with huge tour groups just off the liners during the day, all of which serves to make it best seen from afar, as opposed to down in amongst the hordes. How afar? From the hill above, and that’s just where we stayed, in a quirky room with a view but full of stuffed birds. I shot Dubrovnik from up there as dusk fell and the lights came on, waiting for that moment when the residual light in the twilight sky balanced the lights in the town. Typically, that window lasts maybe ten minutes, at best, before the sky turns too dark. As always with such shoots, I leave my camera set resolutely on Daylight white balance, even when I’m shooting at night. That’s because the contrast between the varying colour temperatures of the different light sources, ambient and artificial, is all part of the appeal of shooting at this time of the day. In fact I virtually always shoot with Daylight white balance set, whatever the lighting situation. Of course, as I’m shooting Raw I have the luxury of adjusting colour temperature to taste subsequently in Lightroom, but I hardly ever do. My attitude is you can’t beat Mother Nature, and who am I to fiddle with her colours?

The exposure lasted 15 seconds, enough to blur the swell of the Adriatic, but not so much it was rendered a sea of milk.

That’s a look I’ve become weary of; we’ve all done it, but I like to see texture and detail on the surface of the sea. The lens used was my workhorse EF 70-200mm f/2.8l IS USM, a fabulous optic that has earned its keep many times over, although it has to be said these days my new 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6l IS II USM is giving it a run for its money. The aperture wa sf /8; amid-range choice to optimize lens performance. All things being equal, and depth of field considerations apart, I like to work at either f/8 or f/11; although depth of field considerations always take precedence.

My attitude is you can’t beat Mother Nature, and who am I to fiddle with her colours?