Sea Smoke

eoren1 · January 15, 2012

I had never captured (let alone seen) sea smoke before this morning.

When I saw the temp was supposed to be near zero today with negative wind chills in the morning, I decided to try my hand at capturing this phenomenon. I woke at 6, dressed in a million layers and grabbed some coffee on the way to the harbor. There I found my vantage point and setup.

I started shooting before the sun came up and liked what I was getting. There was a thick low lying cloud cover and the sun took a while to come up behind it. When it did, it produced these beautiful touches of light on the smoke and water. I grabbed three frames before the sun overwhelmed the scene and this was my favorite of the three.

Have a lot more to process from this morning's shoot but wanted to share this one.

cj99si · January 15, 2012

I like this a lot! Betting it would be killer in black and white!

eoren1 · January 15, 2012

Thanks. Got a few others from the set that I was thinking of doing in b/w. Couldn't give up the color on the smoke for this one though

kdog · January 15, 2012

I've never seen that before.

Great job, Eyal.

eoren1 · January 15, 2012

Having grown up in LA, I hadn't either! Literally steam coming off the ocean which, at about 50F right now was a veritable steam bath in comparison to the negative who-knows-what air temp.

NorthernFocus · January 15, 2012

Great image. Good lighting and nicely framed with the lighthouse. Well done.

knapph · January 16, 2012

Thanks for the photo. I like seeing sea smoke. As much as I enjoy looking at sea smoke I rarely search it out; too cold, usually too early in the morning.

One thought I have had about capturing the delicate light in the smoke is to use a bracketed exposure. I have found when dealing with capturing fine details in clouds or fog I get better results with blending multiple exposures. Have not tried it yet, just thinking about it.

Doug Solis · January 17, 2012

Nice work Eyal, I like the moody effects. We get that effect here when the water temp is warmer than the ambient temp.

eoren1 · January 17, 2012

Thanks everyone. Having grown up in LA, I had never seen this before. Heard about it last Winter but just couldn't motivate for an early morning bitterly cold shoot. This Sunday was supposed to be so cold that I couldn't miss the chance to at least see the smoke.

This was a single exposure. The clouds helped with the dynamic range so I didn't need to bracket. The next frame had a lot of red haze from the sun but in this one, you can just make out subtle rays behind the lighthouse which I hope show up even better in print.

Snowgirl · January 17, 2012

eoren1 wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Having grown up in LA, I had never seen this before. Heard about it last Winter but just couldn't motivate for an early morning bitterly cold shoot. This Sunday was supposed to be so cold that I couldn't miss the chance to at least see the smoke.

This was a single exposure. The clouds helped with the dynamic range so I didn't need to bracket. The next frame had a lot of red haze from the sun but in this one, you can just make out subtle rays behind the lighthouse which I hope show up even better in print.

I grew up in the Maritimes (eastern Canada) where this is a common phenomenon. BUT, I've never captured it photographically. The early hour doesn't bother me - but the cold? I

to your courage!

Yesterday morning it was -19C and, when you factor in the windchill, that would be -27C (-16F) or **!!### cold! Nope. Couldn't do it.

I think you are right - you got a good exposure without bracketing or HDR work. Nice.

DavidTO · July 1, 2012

What happened to the image? It's not showing anymore. :cry

eoren1 · July 1, 2012

Fixed...sorry I changed from vanity url to the default and all images 'broke'

Sea Smoke

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