Photographing Port Sanilac Lighthouse

Port Sanilac was built in 1886.  Today it is a private residence but the light is still active for navigation.  I found it to be a bit challenging to get good photos of the lighthouse.  First of all it was June when we visited and the trees hid the lighthouse from the front and secondly when we got to the lighthouse the sky was very cloudy and gray looking.  In the two photos below you will note the sky.  I walked out on the breakwater and was able to capture these two shots without capturing too much of the sky.

We decided to hang around for a while and see if the clouds would lift.  After about 1/2 an hour I was able to capture some blue sky in the photo above taken from a parking lot on the side of the light.  I like the wooden fence that I was able to photograph in the forefront of the photo.  It gives a nice leading line to the lighthouse.

After the breakwater photos and the wooden fence photo, we drove around the town a bit and then decided to try to photograph from the marina just below the lighthouse.  The cloud cover lifted and we were rewarded for our patience as you will see from the photos taken from the boat dock!

Photographing from Breakwater

Photographing from Boat Dock

 Finally  -- Blue Skies

It only took 2 hours, but I finally got a shot with blue skies.

In this book the author gives great tips about places to get good photographs of lighthouses.  I like how he tells if the light is best in the morning or afternoon and what places are good for sunrise/sunset photos.  It also gives directions to each lighthouse and sample photos of the lighthouses.

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