Photographing The Long Piers Of Florida

One thing Florida has plenty of is coastline on both sides of the state. And wherever there is a long stretch of seacoast you can usually find a long pier that juts out into the water for fishermen to enjoy.

On the west side of Florida, the side that faces the Gulf of Mexico, you also get the advantage of having incredible sunsets over the water. And since you don't have anything in the way between you and the horizon when the sun sets over the gulf, you often get this incredible big ball of a sun just before it actually dips below the horizon and disappears.

Then if you add a long pier in the shot for foreground interest, you can get some pretty spectacular sunset shots. Also, many of the larger birds like to hang around the pier to feed on the small fish hiding in the shadows underneath and also the spoils that the fishermen leave behind, so if you happen to catch them flying around the pier at the same time that the sun sets, that's a great image to capture as well.

One of my favorite piers to photograph on the gulf coast is the Redington Long Pier. The owner has a a reputation for not being very cooperative with photographers, so you may have to search for a good parking space, but usually one is available on Gulf Blvd. within pretty easy walking distance.

Another pier that I visited just a few weeks ago is the Venice Long Pier. It's situated really close to a public parking area, so getting a close parking spot is easy to do.

Taking photos of these piers can be done in a wide variety of ways, ranging from wide-angle to telephoto. The key is knowing how much of the pier to include in the shot, because you can rarely get a good composition that includes the entire pier.

Here are a few shots I have taken with different lenses, of the piers I mentioned above:

Redington Long Pier during a cloudy sunset (notice the birds flying)

The sun setting behind the Redington Long Pier on a clear day

The Redington Long Pier after sunset during blue hour

A telephoto shot of the Venice Pier at sunset

A long exposure shot of the Venice Pier just after sunset

As you can see, you have a lot of options for shooting long piers and they don't have to be at sunset either. In fact, when the sun goes down and the lights come on, that can produce some of the best long pier shots when the orange and red of the sunset is still visible just over the horizon.

And long exposure shots can be spectacular if you have the right combination of weather conditions and cloud formations helping you along. So if you have a long pier in your area, why not scout out a good spot for sunrise, sunset or blue hour shots including the pier?

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