Oregon Coasting

NorthernFocus

Haven't posted in quite some time. Finally took a break from work this past week and got the camera back out. We went down to the Oregon coast for a week. Skies were too clear and it was definately TOO cold. Came away with a couple interesting images none the less.

Pre-dawn light at Cannon Beach



Had Heceta Head lighthouse to ourselves for a sub-freezing sunset.



Closeup

scole

These are are fabulous, Dan. Really love the overall composition and mood of #1 but I'm also drawn to the backlit spray of the crashing wave in #2. Also like how you used the lighthouse to shield the harsh direct light.

Well done!

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comment, Steve. With no clouds that day the only way to get the color of the sunset was to shoot towards it. Blocking the direct sun with the lighthouse was the best option. The wave was my "assistant's" idea

acowan

The first picture is very nice! I love the soft color and gradation of the sky and dark blue of the water...nice silhouettes too

squirl033

i'm with Steve... love that backlit wave that picks up the colors of the horizon, and the sunset through the lighthouse lens... nice!

schmoo

The colors in these are just spectacular. I have nothing really useful to add, but man, it's so beautiful in these shots.

Wiren

Wow!
I love the Oregon Coast and never get there when sites like these are around to see! Love them all, but the deep colors of #1 are really neat, I love Canon Beach! Great shots, got any others?

Lee

kdog

That first one is just gorgeous, Dan. Amazing colors. thumb

Glad to hear we weren't the only ones out in the cold last week.

Cheers,
-joel

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments, folks. These were pretty much the useful shots for the week. Ironically the best shot of the week IMO is the first one in this set which was the first image I captured on the first morning of the trip. Funny how that happens

There were a bunch of sea lions around Heceta Head though. The white stuff on the hillside is icicles

Phil Tompson

Great colors on the light house pics. Woot!

anwmn1

All three are very nice shots. Well done.

kres

Great shots, top to bottom. #1 is my overall favorite.

So, as a guy learning to warp reality in his shots, I have a question for you:

In shot #1, just how far did you push processing to get those vivid colors?

Just wondering what the baseline looked like.

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments, folks.

kres wrote:

Great shots, top to bottom. #1 is my overall favorite.

So, as a guy learning to warp reality in his shots, I have a question for you:

In shot #1, just how far did you push processing to get those vivid colors?

Just wondering what the baseline looked like.

I'm not sure what you mean by warping reality. For that matter I'm not sure what reality is. After all, we see with our brains, not with our eyes, so we each have our own reality of a given scene. To me photography is about capturing images that 1) capture the image in your own mind's eye, or 2) capturing/creating images that illicit emotion in the mind of the viewer. I'm in the first camp.

From a technical standpoint, it was a hazy/foggy morning plus I wanted a long shutter so I used a polarizer. That helped make the original image pretty rich. I didn't do much PP. In Capture NX I tweaked exposure -0.3EV and then adjusted contrast with a levels layer in PhotoshopE. The result pretty well represented my memory of the morning. That said, since you asked the question, I reopened the original NEF file in NX and changed the white balance from "as recorded"(in auto) to "daylight", "cloudy", and "shade", and the results are dramatically different with each change. So if that qualifies as warping reality, you might try giving that a shot