Whale's Last Touch
Whale's Last Touch
Sunset at Gray Whale Cove
Half Moon Bay, California
While digging through my archives the other day I came upon some of my Gray Whale Cove photos that I hadn't posted. I also noticed I had this photo which I had dismissed but a couple months later, I'm starting to digg. I've really been trying to get away from HDR now that I bought a set of ND Grad Filters but this shot became an HDR due to the fact that I *didn't* have filters during this photo shoot and I was going to miss the sunset in the sky if I didn't exposure blend. I love the movement of the water in this shot, but in my original version of this I thought the rocks had a little bit too much HDR feel. I went back and re-edited this to blend in the normal exposure rocks and make it more life-like.
Back in March I went on over to Gray Whale Cove in Half Moon Bay to shoot sunset. The photoshoot almost got cancelled because of the (sad) earthquake in Japan that had happened a couple days prior. The tsunami hit California in the morning of our photoshoot and most of the beaches were closed, but by sunset we were able to hit the coast and catch some big waves. I arrived at Gray Whale Cove and Willie was already setup with his super wide lens for the perfect photo. This is a blend of 2 photos (not an HDR): I took an under-exposed photo to get the sunset, and took a normal photo to get the water motion.
During this photo shoot I realized how useful a filter holder and set of graduated filters really was. Willie got some great shots and all I got was a blown out sky! It was this photoshoot that convinced me to go buy my set of soft ND grads.
After taking the photos by a set of rock outcroppings at sunset I decided I wanted to try a different spot with water going over the rocks. You couldn't really see much of the colorful sunset, since there wasn't much color in the sky, but I did take a couple photos and came out with this one. I liked the finished product.
Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S:
28mm, f/10, 0.6 sec, ISO 200, Tripod
2011aaron meyers photographycaliforniacoved300sgray whale covehdrhalf moon bayhigh dynamic rangelandscapemotion blurnaturenikonnikon d300soceanpacific oceanpenninsula photographyphotomatixphotomatix prosilicon valley photographysunwaterwest coastblurmotionseascapesunset
Jack
on August 14, 2011That's a real nice shot
Steve T
on August 13, 2011Beautiful scene and great blurred water. But a bit overcooked on the HDR for my taste. That probably means it's perfect for most people!
Laura M
on August 12, 2011Beautiful shot, Aaron! Love the long-exposure wave action, and the wonderful warmth the bit of sunset adds.