A bright but hazy day along the Oregon Coast. There was so much contrast between the dark rocks and the foam of the waves, that I thought this would be a strong black and white image. Taken with a telephoto lens at 135 mm, 1/400th of a second. Converted to black and white with Nik Silver Efex Pro.
Waves
18
Jan 10
Southern Oregon Coast
12
Jan 10
Big Sur’s Pfeiffer Beach Arch Rock
The arch opening in the rock formation just offshore from Pfeiffer Beach creates opportunities for dramatic images, but the great dynamic range of light poses a challenge. The interior of the arch is in complete shadow while the waves, foam and rock face are in direct sun. The camera can’t capture detail in both the shadows and the highlights. This capture is a RAW image exposed at 1/400th of a second at f/5 in order to freeze the action of the wave. The RAW image was reprocessed two more times, two stops above and two below the original. The resulting three images were combined into a High Dynamic Range image with Photomatix Pro.
11
Jan 10
Freezing Motion
I include this image for a change of pace from the Motion Blur series posted earlier. Rather than intentionally blurring the scene with a long exposure, this was 1/1000th of a second at f7.1. I used a 35mm lens. The location is along the Recreation Trail in Pacific Grove, California. Although the day was clear and bright, unusually large swells from a storm in Hawaii were crashing against the rocks.