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Just to the left of the well-known Big Sur Pfeiffer Beach arch/portal, there is a gap between two very large rock/cliff formations which allows water and sea mist to stream through. I saw this while everyone was over shooting the portal. Even in an iconic spot, look around for something new. No HDR, though it would be interesting to do it here.
Free wallpaper for over 100 of my images in 6 different screen sizes is now available!
See the 1200 pixel version!!
www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/546167810...
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Details:
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Canon 5D mark II
Canon 24-105L lens @60mm
1/10-sec. exposure @F18 (for extra DOF to keep everything in focus)
(I didn't notice any diffraction softness at F18 compared to a test at F11)
(possibly because everything was close-up)
ISO 100
1 inverted ND Grad 0.9 (the water was a little brighter at times)
No polarizer.
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop cs4
Small Slik Sprint mini II tripod
Manfrotto 322RC2 pistol-grip ball head
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The Story
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As I mentioned before, even though Pfeiffer beach is a winding and vertically oriented 45 minute drive south of Monterey/Carmel in Central California, there were about 20 photographers out here on a Thursday evening trying to capture this famous place during the Dec.-Jan. window when the sun streams through the opening at the best angle. This place is 30 miles from nowhere too. I have not seen a good shot of this particular phenomenon as well as goo dviews of another cave further to the left of here and I really wanted to do something new with this place. I got a very nice shot of the cave too which I'll share later. It is very mysterious looking and the rock formations are incredible.
Here as with the portal, the trick was to wait for the sea mist to stream though when the breeze turned to come from the sea. A slight offshore breeze was making the mist disappear so I had to wait for about 10 minutes, but I had an idea of what I wanted. Finally it happened!
This was low tide at sunset, but even then sometimes the waves were too big and the light would hit the frothing water and it would become blown-out. So I tried different angles and various wave timing techniques before I finally got a shot that I liked after about 15 minutes of trying. I wanted to get a lot of light in here to show the unusual Tafoni sandstone formations on the cliffs but that often meant that the water would become blown-out! Sometimes you just have to keep trying and trying.
The map shows the exact location.
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Other stuff
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My pictures are featured on the front page of the
state Government. of California website and the new Governor, Jerry Brown's website too. Have a look! It is Flash with my pics cut into layers for a 3-d slideshow. If you are into building apps, the State has opened up lots of data to the public, so check it out!
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Resources:
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Google Earth
earth.google.com/
Simply the best way to scout out locations that there is. You can see sun angles and pre-visualize light under lots of different conditions. Sometimes you can actually pre-compose your shots! This has saved me many thousands of vertical feet of climbing by avoiding spots with blocked views etc.
Satellite imagery (choose 'National' for a local US region or use your fave website)
www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/?wfo=mtr
Tide charting and preditions: (chose your area in US, other countries have similar websites)
tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=235
Wave Heights (I choose 'North Pacific from Global')
polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/main_int.html
Or Here:
www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/RP1bw.gif
Photos of every inch of the California coastline from a small plane. Excellent for close in detailed views.
www.californiacoastline.org/
Tags: landscape seascape tafoni water sand rock sandstone pfeiffer big sur
© All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved
