California Coast, near Santa Cruz

PrevailingConditions

I've been in lurk mode for quite some time, but posting in the long exposure thread spurred me into posting these.

These are from a recent trip north of Santa Cruz off of Highway 1 (but before you get to Davenport.)

#1

Larger Size

#2

Larger Size

#3

Larger Size

How do you make the images clickable to get to the larger size?

I welcome your feedback and comments.

Thanks,

Mike

Stumblebum

Thanks for sharing Mike! Centering is working for you! Lots of places to pull over........motivation for me to keep exploring! Cheers!

anonymouscuban

These are beautiful Mike. The light and clarity are outstanding. Love the compositions too. I noticed that all three are taken from very low perspectives. Its interesting because I too prefer to shoot low to the ground most times. Although. I recently got a new tripod, that is tall enough for me to shoot completely upright so I've been exploring that perspective in my last few outings. Just interesting to me because I often see most people shoot from head level. Like that I'm not the only low-rider. HAHA.

BTW, how far past sunset were these shots taken? Or were they before?

PrevailingConditions

Stumblebum wrote: »

Thanks for sharing Mike! Centering is working for you! Lots of places to pull over........motivation for me to keep exploring! Cheers!

Thanks for commenting. Definitely keep exploring. There are a bunch of beautiful spots along that section of the coast. This is also the right time of year for shooting the coast. If you wait until summer you get nothing but fog. I'm hoping to head back there very soon - ideally right after a storm. I've also seen some star shots from here that were amazing, but that's going to require some pretty unique conditions.

anonymouscuban wrote: »

These are beautiful Mike. The light and clarity are outstanding. Love the compositions too. I noticed that all three are taken from very low perspectives. Its interesting because I too prefer to shoot low to the ground most times. Although. I recently got a new tripod, that is tall enough for me to shoot completely upright so I've been exploring that perspective in my last few outings. Just interesting to me because I often see most people shoot from head level. Like that I'm not the only low-rider. HAHA.

BTW, how far past sunset were these shots taken? Or were they before?

Thanks. I heard something somewhere that most "interesting" photos are taken from a non-standard perspective. By that, I think it's about getting a view that's different/better from what you would see if you were standing there. This is why I also think wide or telephoto works better for landscape work - they're not what you normally "see". I hope that makes sense. Of course, some scenes are just amazing as-is, but I generally like to get lower or higher when possible.

I also chose to shoot lower on some because that would help me catch the reflections in the water that was pooling on the rocks.

These were all shot at sunset or within the hour following. I got here (Shark Fin Cove BTW) well before sunset to figure out where I was going to shoot from. It was dark enough when I left that I had to use a flashlight on my way out.

Hope that helps.

Mike

CatOne

I like the top two. The top one would be my favorite, except for the two people in the photo. One is leaning in front of the other one, so it mostly looks like they are incidental to the picture. In many cases having people in an image helps a lot, but as a viewer I'm left wondering "why are they there, and what are they doing?" rather than knowing for certain that they belong where they are in a picture. Perhaps if they were both staring into the distance. But I don't think with their current pose that they're in the best position for the picture.

For this reason, the second picture is my favorite in this bunch. The composition is nice, with the gap in the rocks leading you into the frame, and then the long exposure in the water bringing you further in. The exposure time is nice as it give you a sense of motion. The colors in this shot are also great.

The last shot is a bit overdone on the HDR for me personally. The sun is behind that rock that's in the middle of the frame, so there's no reason the back side of the rock should be lit as if it were daylight :-)

Looks like a gorgeous area with lots of possibilities! I'm only about an hour from Santa Cruz; I may have to go check this location out one of these days

kaneohebud

Nice work!
Mike:
These are very nice and a great look at what can be very boring scenery. You've inspired me to bring my camera gear and my Lee Big Stopper to SC the next time I visit my family. I also saw a lot of great photos in your galleries. Well done work!

Aloha, Bud
http://www.budralstonphotography.com

kdog

Excellent, Mike. I like all three of these. Although since CatOne mentioned it, the back of that big rock does look a bit strange being so bright. Very pleasing set overall. I appreciated your perspective on shooting them as well.

byoshi

Nice seascapes. I like the low perspective.

PrevailingConditions

CatOne wrote: »

I like the top two. The top one would be my favorite, except for the two people in the photo. One is leaning in front of the other one, so it mostly looks like they are incidental to the picture. In many cases having people in an image helps a lot, but as a viewer I'm left wondering "why are they there, and what are they doing?" rather than knowing for certain that they belong where they are in a picture. Perhaps if they were both staring into the distance. But I don't think with their current pose that they're in the best position for the picture.

For this reason, the second picture is my favorite in this bunch. The composition is nice, with the gap in the rocks leading you into the frame, and then the long exposure in the water bringing you further in. The exposure time is nice as it give you a sense of motion. The colors in this shot are also great.

The last shot is a bit overdone on the HDR for me personally. The sun is behind that rock that's in the middle of the frame, so there's no reason the back side of the rock should be lit as if it were daylight :-)

Looks like a gorgeous area with lots of possibilities! I'm only about an hour from Santa Cruz; I may have to go check this location out one of these days

Thanks for commenting. On the first one, I have some others without the people, but I liked having them there. They were actually taking photos of themselves. I caught them chimping their selfies.

Yes, the last shot was pushed. I blended three different exposures to try to bring out the rock, but probably pushed it too much for most. I intended it more for fun than journalistic integrity.

Thanks again,

Mike

PrevailingConditions

kaneohebud wrote: »

Mike:
These are very nice and a great look at what can be very boring scenery. You've inspired me to bring my camera gear and my Lee Big Stopper to SC the next time I visit my family. I also saw a lot of great photos in your galleries. Well done work!

Aloha, Bud
http://www.budralstonphotography.com

Thanks Bud. I actually find the Santa Cruz coast to be pretty interesting scenery. It's just really hard to catch it at the right time. I have some others on flickr that cover more areas.

kdog wrote: »

Excellent, Mike. I like all three of these. Although since CatOne mentioned it, the back of that big rock does look a bit strange being so bright. Very pleasing set overall. I appreciated your perspective on shooting them as well.

Thanks! I'm glad you like them.

byoshi wrote: »

Nice seascapes. I like the low perspective.

Thanks for commenting.

Mike

T H O R

Wow, those are great! I really like the depth leading me into the photos / scene. Good work here.

Todd