A surfer heading out during a summer sunset on a Southern California beach.

I recently lost another friend to cancer. I attempted to put up a tribute post two weeks ago, but decided to keep it private. Photographically speaking, I am hitting a motivational wall. My camera is sitting in a corner collecting dusts. I don’t even want to turn on my computer when I get home from work. This image is from my 2009 photo archive. This picture reminds me to get out there more often as I always find my escape and my balance on this beach.

Thanks for visiting, and have a wonderful summer should I don’t post again until the fall.

A 100 seconds twilight exposure of a Southern California beach shot with a BW ND110 filter.

I haven’t been out on the local beaches as often as I did in the past years. I really missed shooting these shoreline twilight scenes.

Last Friday, I left work early and went straight to the beach. During my rush, I left my remote cable release and Lee filter holder at home. I ended up hand-holding a Lee GND filter with one hand and pressing down on the shutter release button for 100 seconds with the other hand. I wanted to make a longer exposure, but had to cut my exposure time short because I knew that I couldn’t make a sharp enough exposure without my remote cable release. I underexposed this shot by about 1 stop. Thanks to RAW and post processing works, I am able to salvage this shot.

A 110 second winter twilight exposure on a Southern California beach.

This long exposure shows the cloud movements and the small pebbles rolling around the sand with the tides.

I shot this over a month ago during my experiment with ND110 filter. I also used a 2 stop hard-edge GND filter on this shot. The BW ND110 added too much saturation to my long exposures. The sky was colorful, but not that intense. The actual scene was much darker. I thought about toning down the colors, but decided to leave it. When I get a chance, I’ll post another version shot without the ND110 filter.

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[Edited 3/1/2010]

After the above long exposure was recorded, I removed the ND110 filter and took a 1/6 second exposure of the same scene at the same aperture (F16) and ISO (200). These two images were shot about 3 minutes apart (counting the 2 minutes exposure time for the first shot). Both raw exposures were converted to JPGs using identical steps.

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. — Ernest Hemingway

As I mentioned in my previous post about a twilight surfer, I lined up my tripod to make a vertorama, and this image was what I had in mind. I rushed the last shot out because I did not have time to finish processing this image.

Today’s sunset – first time that I saw a nice sky in months! It felt good to be out in the warm summer water and to breathe the fresh ocean air again. It’s been one stressful summer, and I can’t wait for the fall.

I don’t have time to write much since I’m packing for a short trip to San Diego for a friend’s wedding. Have a great weekend.

PS: This is a vertorama composite of two horizontal images shot a few seconds apart using the same exposure settings and focal length.

To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude. — Jeanne Moreau

Surfing through my photo archives again … Photographically speaking, the summer months are my least productive months.

This is one of those shots where reverse ND grads would come in handy. A 3 stops Daryl Benson Reverse ND grad is on my list of filters to purchase this winter. For this shot, I wanted to retain the sun’s highlight; thus I decided to keep the sun in check and let the sky be much darker than in real life.

I did create another version where the sky was much brighter to depict a more realistic capture of the scene, but I felt that the bright sky dominated the viewer’s attention. With a brighter sky and foreground, the stone and the sun got lost in the brilliance of the clouds and their reflections. Thus I decided to post this darker version where I get the vignetting effect without introducing artificial vignetting.

This unreal twilight sky and its reflection on the wet sand is a vertorama composite of two horizontal images shot last December. There is a little crescent moon lost in the cloud. I wish I could post the full size 4000×4000 pixels image to show all of its details.

I like to create these wide angle vertorma images because they expand the capabilities of my equipments. Recently, I answered an email from a viewer who wanted to know my opinions on digital post processing. One of my points in my response was to consider vertorama and panorama images: how to produce them using “pure” darkroom techniques? Without a medium format camera and a tilt-shift lens, I am able produce this type of images with my modest 17mm lens thanks to photoshop’s auto merge feature.

If you haven’t attempted to create a vertorama, try it. It will add another dimension to your works. Think panorama done vertically using two horizontal images. Depending on the light, getting consistent exposures for both images might be a little tricky. For this case, it was really simple, I took spot meter reading from the sky away from the brightest area, and lined up my split neutral density filter to match the horizon for each shot.

I have way too many things on my mind lately, but first thing first … I found out that one of my friends has been battling brain cancer for six years. All of these years that I know her, I never knew. I knew that she was going through some physical pains, but I never asked out of respect for her privacy. Last week, she decided to reveal her story via a rare self-portrait. I sat there for a while staring at her photo and remembering her comments on some of my photos …

We all take photographs and share them for different reasons. Some choose to communicate through their photographs when words are inadequate. Some instantly feel a connection with a photograph that resonates with their life experiences. I remember deleting one of her comments on one of my photos because the comment was so spot on, and I was not comfortable sharing that level of personal info out in the public view. I later renamed the photo and deleted a bunch of other very supportive comments out of respect for another person’s privacy. When I photograph a scene, I always attempt to inject my emotion into the shot. Some of my viewers immediately get what I am saying through my photographs just because we share common life experiences that influence how we perceive the world around us. Although some of my good friends don’t leave comment, I know that they know that I know we know what we are saying to each other without saying anything. David Tyson Gentry’s quote that I use for the title of this shot says it best, “True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable”.

Back to the topic of terminal illness, I personally see many around me going through the struggles. Many choose to fight alone because they don’t want to burden their love ones. All I can do is to stand back in the distance and say, “I’m here; I see you and I feel your struggles.” Sometimes, that means more than anything else to them. So to my friend, Laurie (or some of you in the Flickrverse might know her as fouramjava) and to others who are fighting for your survival, this photo is for you. I’m here, and your friends are here for you. You stay strong.

….
My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each days a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned
Leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride

If today was your last day
If tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past …

– If Today Was Your Last Day lyrics by Nickelback

California Central Coast winter twilight reflections on the wet sand.

This is a vertorama from two horizontal images shot just a few hours ago. I just love the winter here. I get to see some of the most spectacular twilight shows.