Second Beach, Washington Coast
Faint rays beaming through
From an unknown source afar
Warms the rushing tide
This faint light lasted just a few moments as the sun set below the horizon. I was too busy enjoying the wonder. I almost missed the opportunity!
Translucent Waves
Waves roll in one after another
Translucent green and mist of white
Crashing into the sandy beach
Bandon Beach, Oregon
Part of what intrigues me with Black and White long exposure photography is the ability to really work with tones to create different moods. I shot this image underexposed to present a deep calm mood. In post-processing a dodged the sky slightly around the center sea stack and burned the corners of the frame slightly.
“Sunset on Bandon Beach, Oregon”
When an unique opportunity presents itself to me, I try to drop whatever I am focused on and create an image from that special gift. This evening, I was practicing Black and White, long exposure photography. I was struggling with the waning light. As the sun dropped below the horizon, this wonderful gift appeared before my eyes. I immediately pulled off my 15-stop neutral density filter, refocused, reset my exposure and was able to capture and create this special moment. This wonderful light lasted for just a few seconds.
Lesson Learned: Always be ready to immediately step back and take advantage of the wonderful gifts that are presented to me
“The Face in the Mist”
On one of our workshop days we went down to Bandon beach early in the morning. The fog covered many of the sea stacks. Gradually the fog lifted and I was able to get this exposure. My intent was to create a mood of a misty morning filled with gentle soft light, an awakening of the Indian maiden in the sea.
Second Beach, La Push, WA
I took a special trip to the Washington Coast to experiment and practice long exposure photography. My first day of practice resulted in a disappointing set of images with many, many, pure white and pure black frames. I am thankful tor digital photography! I knew the steps I needed to take. However, my excitement took over and I made multiple mistakes. Toward the end I started to engrain the process into my sequence of shooting. The next morning, I slowed down and did much better. This image is from that morning. I have a lot more of experimenting and practicing to do.
Bandon Beach
I just got a new B&W conversion SW plug-in (Macphun Tonality). I picked out some photos of the beach near Bandon, Oregon to work on. I played around to explore some of the secondary features. After converting to B&W I added a “misty/dreamy” look. I then added a paper texture and a vignette. Sometimes I just need to play to get my creative juices flowing.
Canon 5D MkIII, EF70-200mm f2.8L IS @ 200mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 800
As I look out the window to a a cold snow covered landscape, I recall the warm South Carolina beach were we spent late February/ early March last year. My mind went out to the warm walks on the beautiful Hilton Head beach in front of the Surf Watch resort where we were staying. We hope to be able to return there this year.