An adrift half-shell on the wave-streaked sand rippling with ribbons of light under a tempestuous sky …

My first post for 2012: this image was shot a few hours ago. I still have some more photos to post from my last Canadian Rockies trip, but since we’ve been getting dramatic sunset skies, I went back to my local beach with my camera. Will resume posting when I find free time.

Happy New Year!

]]> http://www.photofool.com/2012/01/03/adrift-on-ribbons-of-light/feed/ 63 http://www.photofool.com/2011/09/22/ebbs-and-flows-in-slow-motion/ http://www.photofool.com/2011/09/22/ebbs-and-flows-in-slow-motion/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:39:04 +0000 photofool http://www.photofool.com/?p=3962

Surf motion during a spectacular summer evening afterglow – Santa Barbara, California

Last week, I took my camera gears to the mountains, hoping to shoot new photos, but for three days, I saw 50 inches of fresh snow and no sun. A day later, I was back on my local beach watching this beautiful scene unfolded right in front of me. What a difference a day makes: from a whiteout blizzard at 8000 feet to a colorful sunset at sea level.

As for the tittle of this shot, I could write a long post about it, but I am leaving possible interpretations to my viewers.

Wanting to get some cardio works done, I took my mountain bike out on my favorite trail. At the end of my ride, I caught this spectacular sunset on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific ocean.

Getting the final image required a little works. The setting sun was still too bright and the right side of the frame was in dark shadows. To balance out the extreme contrasts, I ended up stacking two GND filters (3 stops + 2 stops). During post processing, a digital blend and a little dodging were done to bring out some colors on the bluffs and to lighten the upper sky. This is a vertorama composite from two horizontal shots.

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.

I’ve been waiting for beautiful skies to return to our local beach. Tonight, I was lucky enough to capture this classic Southern California summer lifestyle. At the end of the day, there is nothing better than breathing the fresh salty air, feeling the cool water, and watching those magical clouds getting lit up by the setting sun. Life is pretty darn beautiful if one chooses to experience it … as the locals say, it’s chillaxing.

This image was not what I had in mind when I started shooting. I lined up my camera to shoot a few long exposures to create a vertorama, but when I saw this surfer in my frame, I flipped all my settings to shoot a single frame with a faster exposure time, hoping to catch him before he disappeared into the waves. I wished I had time to frame the surfer a little further into the scene, but for a candid shot, I’m quite contented with how it turned out.

Sometimes, my camera allows me to see what my naked eyes cannot see …

This image was shot a few minutes before these two: Ocean in Motion: Ebbs and Flows and Stillness Amid Ebbs and Flows. Obviously, the light intensity in this image was not as strong as the other two. To leave a softer feel for the image, I also didn’t apply my usual level and curve adjustments.

Although this image isn’t as sharp as the previous Seven Rocks image (the incoming tide shifted the sand under my tripods), I like it more than the first version.