Light Wave
Canon 5D Mark II, 400mm F/5.6, f/22, 1/10, iso 100
We are back from our 8 day trip to Monterey, the (CA) Central Coast and Long Beach/LA. I had two main photographic goals on the trip. First, to capture some "moving wave" images. The second was to help out my buddy Ben with some flying and airplane images with his California Cub airplane. On this latter goal, we scored!
Let me give you the background on the first goal. On a website, I had stumbled across images that really took my breath away. I was inspired! The photographer described that he was panning the waves, using 2 to 5 second exposures. His shots were not of breaking waves, but his panning created the most beautiful flowing lines. Like you see in the bottom area of my image above.
I could tell that a sunny morning or evening was required for these shots, lots of pretty reflected light on the water. And you want small waves, not breakers. Our first morning in Avila Beach looked perfect for this type of shot. So you know I was on station.
But what I found was that I was not able to get a long enough exposure to create the effect. (you can see I used low iso/small f/stop.) Before Christmas I had thought about purchasing a Singh Ray Variable Neutral Density filter that would have been perfect in this case. But I didn't follow through with that.
But I gave it the old college try as they say, and although I was not able to achieve a shot like the inspiration shot, I did get a few winners of my own. The above one being the best of the lot I believe. Now he didn't have anything like this, and I think it is quite a pleasing image. Somehow I got the smooth lines even without the desired length of exposure.
After the shoot, I realized I could probably rig up something with my Galen Rowel split GND's that would give me a longer exposure. The next day was overcast in the morning though, and on the following morning, which was perfect (argh!) I was off for my airplane shoot.
As for post processing, just some Lightroom Vibrance and Saturation brought out the colors in the water.
I need to get my GND filter stuff together and try again. Meanwhile, I'm happy to have created something unique and hopefully others like it too. Let me know what you think of this one. Also, on the continue link (you ARE going to click, aren't you?) I have a picture showing the overall scene I was shooting.
Just a typical December morning on the Central Coast. Okay, any questions about why we want to move there? The sun is at my back, and the big hotel at center/left creates pinkish reflections in the water. Our hotel is the next one over to the right. (Avila Lighthouse Suites if you should ever find yourself in the area, highly recommended.)
