Perhaps you’ve seen photos of those castle-like columns on Instagram. Or you’ve heard other photographers sing the praises of Kiama on the South Coast of NSW.
Either way, Bombo Quarry remains a world-class seascape photography location.
It’s true that some viewpoints have been shot many times before. But if you take time to be creative or study the weather conditions, you’ll walk away with stunning new photos to call your own and add to your portfolio.
Sunrise looking down the southern channel—see the map in Section 3
Having grown up on the South Coast, Bombo Quarry is where it all began for my landscape photography journey.
After a decade of photographing the quarry, I want to share my tips on composition and conditions—like tides, swell and timing—to help you capture this surreal seascape in the best light.
So let’s explore everything you need to know (and more) about photographing the seascape icon that is Bombo Quarry.
1. Location and landscape
Kiama’s coastline is a dream location for seascape photography. (And less than two hours south of Sydney.)
While other nearby locations like Cathedral Rocks and Minnamurra Island are worth visiting, Bombo Quarry is the destination that international seascape photographers seek out time and again.
Located just north of Kiama (Google Maps link), the original Bombo Quarry opened in 1881. To excavate the giant basalt columns, workers drilled into the rockface by hand a chisel and hammer—where they then blasted explosive powder. The boulders were then crushed manually and shipped as blue metal to Sydney.
A smaller scene with a telephoto lens where each surging wave became ignited in a golden glow.
The quarry closed in 1940 and in the 1980s the area was conserved for recreational use. Now the quarry is used by, among others, photographers, fishers, walkers and many (many) car companies to film commercials.
After the main site was excavated, a vast amphitheatre was left behind. And the all-important ring wall of basalt columns that snakes around the coastline. I’ll explore more about the angles to shoot in Section 3.
You can access Bombo Quarry via train to Bombo Station or by parking at the northern end of Bombo Beach. From the carpark, it’s a gentle 10-minute walk to the quarry.
Tip—Take a shortcut: If you want to get there sooner, the route I’ve outlined on the map below cuts through the bush (the green arrow) and will save you a few minutes. (Which, from personal experience, can prove vital when you’re running late to sunrise.)
Parking and walking access to Bombo Quarry
2. Seascape safety
Discussing safety so early in this guide isn’t sexy. But it is important.
Bombo Quarry is a rough and raw landscape. (Which makes it so alluring to photograph—and a safety hazard at the same time.)
It can be particularly challenging at sunrise if you’re navigating unfamiliar terrain when visibility is low. With jagged rocks. Crashing waves. Slick boulders. And exposed cliffs.
So before you go in for the shot, do the safety dance:
Wear proper footwear and be careful on wet rocks.
Pay attention to the swell as monster waves often crash over the basalt walls.
Study the sea spray before moving closer to the water.
Take a headlamp if it’s dark before sunrise or at night for astrophotography.
Common sense goes a long way. Now that’s all out of the way, it’s time to take some photos!
3. What to photograph: Angles and compositions
If you’re yet to visit Bombo Quarry, you’re in for a treat.
Chances are you’ve seen a photo from either the southern channel or the northern channel. While the entirety of the twisting coastline offers many angles, these two compositions have become the go-to locations for many photographers. (And rightly so—they’re stunning seascape frames.)
Bombo Quarry location map
The southern channel runs east out towards the sea. From the southern rock shelf, you’ll gain a stunning view back towards the main rock wall from April through to September as the sun rises to the north. You can also position yourself at the entrance to the channel to capture waves snaking back through the jet black boulders.
The northern channel, flanked by two basalt spires, runs southeast and is best positioned in the summer months, from October to March. Waves build momentum through the narrow opening and often crash over the plateau at the mouth of the channel. So be wary of larger waves sending sea spray many meters inland.
Between the two main channels is the snaking basalt wall. Keep an eye out for more unique compositions down by the giant boulders and rock pools. Likewise, this sheltered stretch (away from hazy sea spray) makes for great astrophotography midground—see Section 7.
Regardless of which area you’re photographing, take a moment to review the compositional elements in your frame. Here are some ideas and tips to consider:
Include layers to create depth through the scene. (For example, compose a four-layer scene by starting with rocks at the base of the frame, followed by moving water above, then the rock wall, then the sky overhead.)
Use rock cracks or running water as leading lines.
Avoid distracting bright patches in the periphery. (You may want to avoid a reflective rockpool in the corner, which could direct the viewer’s eye out of your frame. These brighter areas can be selectively darkened in post-processing.)
Consider balance across the frame. (For example, if you place a big basalt column in the top left, try including a boulder in the bottom right.)
A summer sunrise down the northern channel
4. What to bring: The gear
For many years, I questioned which lens was the right one to use. Or, more specifically, which focal length.
But at Bombo Quarry, the answer is simple: a wide-angle will be your workhorse lens of choice. A standard 16-35mm lens will get the job done.
While you’ll find yourself mostly sticking to that 16-24mm range, don’t go wide just to get all the sea stacks in your frame. Instead, use the broad field of view to get in close to foreground boulders and rocks, helping to emphasise textures in the rugged coastline.
(Just remember that if you want to go in close, take time to observe the waves and make sure you have stable footing.)
While the channels are made for wide-angle photos, that’s what everyone else is shooting too.
So if you’re willing to be a bit more creative, switch to a telephoto lens after you’ve got your wide sunrise shots in the bag. Use a 70-200mm lens and start experimenting.
Zoom in on golden light bouncing off the rock columns. Take abstract shots of the rock fissures. Or focus on the wave-worn boulders at the mouth of the two channels.
Finally, because you’ll likely be shooting long exposures (either at sunrise or night for astrophotography), you’ll need a sturdy tripod. Likewise, a cable release will help you pinpoint the exact moment of wave crashing against rock without physically pressing the shutter.
Tip—Don’t forget this piece of gear: One last essential piece of gear to bring: a lens cloth. (And a large one at that.) The sea spray travels far inland. And if left on your lens, it will wreak havoc on your images—particularly if you’re shooting into the direct sun.
5. Technical tips
In How Australia’s Geography Shaped My Landscape Photography, I reflected on the influence overseas photographers had on my early development:
On YouTube, British photographers would pull out their pitch-black 10-stop ND filter and smooth out the reflections in a tranquil lake or a calm coastal seascape. So that’s what I tried down by the rugged Bombo Quarry. However, when applied on the rough Australian coast, all the energy of our coast was lost and so too was the emotional impact. It turned our dynamic coast into a milky bath.
So I did something different:
Where once I’d reach for an ND filter to slow down the shutter, I’ve since embraced ‘fast’ long exposures of 1/4 to 1/10 second. I’ve found that these speeds still retain detail in the moving water, highlighting that sense of motion and energy in the incoming waves.
The takeaway from this guide?
Don’t let your long exposure become too long and lose the action that’s on offer when a wave slams into the basalt columns.
Your optimal shutter speed will vary depending on the swell and water speed. So start with a shutter speed of around 1/4 second—even if that means raising your ISO to 640. Then review the frame on your camera and adjust your shutter speed to achieve the effect you’re after.
(Once the sun has risen and the scene has become brighter, a speedy long exposure of 1/15 second will still create water streaks as waves break and crash.)
Sunrise from the southern channel looking northeast
Dynamic range is another challenge you need to be mindful of—particularly if you’re shooting into the rising sun.
A graduated ND filter will darken the sky and reign in the total dynamic range. But the tinted glass will cause the cityscape-like columns that rise above the horizon to become unnaturally dark and muddy.
So instead of using an ND filter, I encourage you to embrace exposure blending—and you only need two frames:
Shoot one main frame that is slightly underexposed for the rocks, water and about 80% of the sky.
Then bracket a second darker exposure (-2 stops) for the remaining 20% of the sky that was blown out in the main frame.
The darker rocks and midground in the main frame can be recovered in post-processing, while the bright sky can be saved with the separate -2 exposure using a luminosity mask.
(If you’d like any tips on blending exposures like this in Photoshop, please get in touch.)
6. Weather conditions
Coastal scenes are a dynamic environment—with wind, waves and tides constantly shifting. And that variability is precisely what makes seascape photography such a rewarding pursuit.
When the conditions align just right, you’ll be treated to scenes of unparalleled awe and wonder.
As mentioned in Section 3, the shifting angle of the rising sun throughout the year will influence which direction you photograph. Here are some other core elements to keep an eye on and research before you visit:
Tide: High tide will cover messy barnacles at the waterline—and snake between the higher boulders in each channel. While low tide often results in more energetic wave action, with incoming waves interacting more closely with the seafloor below. (Here’s the WillyWeather link to the current tides at Bombo Beach.)
Swell: Big swell. Big waves. Banger shots. (WillyWeather link to forecasted swell at Bombo Beach.)
Clouds: Use free weather services like Windy.com to track cloud systems moving across the NSW coast. For colourful sunrises at Bombo, you’ll need medium to high cloud moving east—with no low cloud out over the Pacific Ocean. This will allow the rising sun to shine through the gap on the eastern horizon and ignite the clouds overhead.
Wind: While wind is a less influential consideration here, strong winds have one pro and one con when it comes to seascape photography.
The con? You’ll need to ensure your tripod is firmly set and your shutter speed is fast enough that your exposures stay tack sharp.
The pro? As waves break and crash, powerful winds will send the seaspray swirling, creating textures and shapes in the air for you to capture.
Rain: Keep an eye on the recent rainfall around Kiama. After a prolonged downpour, water and sediments will drain out to sea and turn the ocean milky brown, often producing seafoam.
7. Astrophotography at Bombo Quarry
The Milky Way rising over the main rock wall
While the lights of Kiama are 2km to the south, Bombo Quarry remains a stunning location to photograph the stars and the Milky Way at night.
The town provides soft ambient light to slightly brighten the foreground rocks, while you still have complete darkness looking east out towards the Pacific Ocean.
You’ll find more in-depth astrophotography tutorials online. But I did want to share a few star photography tips that I’ve learned, having spent dozens of nights gazing up at the Milky Way out at the quarry.
Time of year: Milky Way season—when the brightest cluster of stars, the Galactic Core, rises above the eastern horizon—runs from around April to September. Use an app like PhotoPills to plan when the Galactic Core rises and track the path of the Milky Way throughout the night sky. From May to July, your optimum shooting window will be from about 7pm to 10pm.
The moon: The moon’s phase will alter how much (or how little) of the Milky Way you’ll be able to see. A full moon at 100% brightness will be too bright, overpowering your camera’s ability to see the stars. While a moon at 10-40% brightness will provide enough ambient light to help illuminate the rocks in the foreground of your image.
Settings: The wider your aperture (like f/4, f/2.8 or lower), the more light your camera lets in. While the more zoomed-in your lens is, the shorther your shutter speed will need to be to freeze the stars as dots—not streaked trails. Here are my defaults camera settings for astophotography that I’ll then tweak on the night:
Focal length: 16mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 15 seconds to freeze the stars and 30+ seconds to expose the darker foreground rocks
ISO: 3200
Focus: Manual focus just back from infinity
2-second shutter delay to prevent camera shake
(Remember: Turn your off headlamp and phone torch when other photographers are nearby taking a shot.)
Tip—Speed up your set-up: Because it’s nighttime, you’ll likely struggle to see the composition you’re framing and whether it’s level. This means you’ll need to take a few test exposures and tweak your frame blindly after each one.
But instead of taking 15-second test exposures and spending 10+ minutes on this process of trial and error, speed things up.
Boost your ISO to something like 32,000 and shorten your shutter speed to a second or two. Then tweak your framing until you get the composition just right. Just don’t forget to return your ISO to 3200 once you’ve finalised your composition.
8. Look for the finer details
In the gear section, I shared that a wide-angle is your lens of choice at Bombo Quarry. But that doesn’t mean you can’t shoot telephoto frames here. In fact, I encourage you to.
A magical moonrise over the northern channel
After you’ve got your banger sunrise shots, have some fun exploring the smaller details in the landscape. Look for:
Textures
Colours
Splashes
Patterns
As you do, give yourself the time and freedom to experiment.
Not every frame will be a new addition to your portfolio. But by trying new things, you’ll fuel your creativity and open your eyes to entirely unique frames.
I don’t want to be too prescriptive here. The idea is for you to walk away with something new that you can call your own. So muck about and have some fun.
Final thoughts
For me, Bombo Quarry is where my photography journey all began.
And if you’ve taken the time to read this guide, you’ve also had a spark of inspiration to explore and capture this iconic seascape destination.
From the castle-like crenellations to the ever-changing sea, Bombo Quarry is nothing short of a photography playground.
So start planning your trip. Research the conditions. Be safe. And create something special.
Want to sharpen your skills and take stunning landscape shots? Check out my 8 essential guides and lessons, packed with insightful theory and practical tips.