We finally had a very clear night along the coast and we went to work just south of Seal Rock – where there’s lots of great rock formations and pools of water that sit around them when the tide retreats. Low tide on the beaches here is great – even without a minus tide you have so much to work with. I am always struck by the difference between the sun setting and the post sunset glow – and much prefer the post-sunset colors and mood. We had the added bonus of a fingernail moon – although not included in this image because it wasn’t in the right position. Others I may post will show the moon.
I used a 3-stop hard graduated filter from Singh-Ray for this image to balance the sky against the land. I didn’t want detail in the rocks, in this case – at least not very much – as it was supposed to be a silhouetted scene. But the grad filter allowed me to pull up the details in the dark sand around the rock and the edges of the water. Processed using Lightroom and Nik Viveza.
Our dog Mocha sat waiting patiently as we worked the scenes. This is a quick process of just one image – working off my laptop in the shade of a Douglas Fir in a park near Florence doesn’t allow for accurate processing – but it’s what we have available as we’re camping in a place without cell service!! Hope it looks as nice as it does on the laptop…
I love the post sunset glow that occurs – and we had the added bonus of a fingernail moon – although not included in this image. I used a 3-stop hard graduated filter from Singh-Ray for this image to balance the sky against the land. I didn’t want detail in the rocks, in this case – at least not very much – as it was supposed to be a silhouetted scene. But the grad filter allowed me to pull up the details in the dark sand around the rock and the edges of the water. We’re hoping for more great light tonight.
P.S. I use NIK Software for many of my images. If you are interested you can get a 15% discount on all purchases at NIK SOFTWARE – Use the code BTHARP at checkout.
Love the organic shape of the pool. The ocean is just the best isn’t it? And so well capture by you. Love the distant sea stacks, like a mountain range in the water. Well done, BT. (hey, we have the same initials!)
You are too funny, Bob, ‘bt’. I’ve known that since we met online!
Thanks for the comments. I’ve tried to find this sort of scene in California but our coast is so different. There’s a bit of rocks/ stacks in Big Sur and up in the north, but it’s not the same. The beaches in Oregon are soooooo wide that you have lots of things to work with at lower tides.
Cheers,
Brenda
The perfect shot – absolutely beautiful.
Thanks, Ron!
It is a beautiful coast isn’t it Brenda. I live about 70 miles away and don’t get there near as much as I should. Catching a clear sunset is usually the hard part (no marine layer coming in – even then some great shots to be had). Wonderful shot – love the blending of color. I’ll have to catch you sometime when your up this way and say hi in person.
Yes, Stacey – it’s ironic – living on the CA coast we have the same type of weather patterns – with marine layers – but those can be beautiful too, so you show up in the hopes that…
I just wish we had more time to ‘hang out’ and visit with friends and colleagues on this journey – we were late getting out of town due to a large renovation project going on in our townhouses and Jed was involved in the issues – otherwise we’d have made a month of this trip instead of two weeks!
This picture makes me sad. I don’t know why. Wonderful composition 🙂
Sometimes the solace of a scene can make one sad, Kalani. Or introspective, meditative, even. But each person responds to something differently and it could be that this brings to mind some memory, subconsciously. But I’m glad you like the composition.
Great photo, Brenda! I’m tempted to run out to the coast and try to find you to say hello, but am headed for the North Cascades later today. Hope you’re finding the book useful on this trip.
Heh, Greg! We are pretty familiar with the coast already, but we were in fact using your book, Photographing Oregon, to refer to for places we might get to beyond the coast – but there’s just never enough time to do it all! But reading it did inspire us to return to several other places in the state. We can’t wait to come back. Hope the North Cascades trip is great!
Brenda, a gorgeous shot, and I see that you and Jed are working/potentially scouting for next year’s workshop! I hope I can join!
Hi Howard – yes, we were essentially just getting our timing worked out between places, hotel to beach, etc., and choosing the beaches we’d like to work the most, setting up hotels, etc. In between we played with the dog, walked on beaches and overall had a real vacation! We hope you can join us next year!
Beautiful image. Totally agree that the pre dawn light and the post sunset light is much nicer. Looking forward to seeing more in the series as they do inspire me especially when you notate some details as to how you made the image.
Thanks Ian – I will review and post another one or two from that night – we got hit with flat light and thick fog the next few after that and were ‘shut out’ of more sunsets, ironically. So this day was even more special because of it.
Beautiful sunset, these are great, thanks for posting them.
Thanks, widi- I think it’s universal, the emotions that can be felt when looking at or experiencing sunsets – something about the end of the day, and we’re still here, still alive to witness the beauty, feels darn good!
A very well composed and thought out image. I really like the sweeping water puddle. Editing in the shade of a Douglas Fir sounds a lot better than a dim room at home.
Yes, it was fun to edit at the picnic table – with cooling breezes, fresh air smells. It reminds me how much I love being outdoors than in my home office/studio!
Brenda, as usual – stunning! And, no worries – the image is gorgeous so no concern necessary that you edited on a laptop. Just makes me want to be there!
Thanks, Sheila – I appreciate the comments about the concern – I like to post quality work and while it looked good, I knew I’d want to do a little more to it when I returned…and you never know what people are viewing it on these days either!
I adore this image. Thank you for describing your process. Stunning work!
Thank you Sandra.