27. February 2010 by David.

When you first view this photograph you think, well it’s an out of focus shot of the sea. Then your eye catches that little flower in the lower right and jumps around a little bit. I thought about adding a cloud or two to add some tension but decided to keep the photograph as is. I used a slow shutter speed and larger f-stop to keep the foreground in focus and the background recognizable. This was actually the only flower I could see in the area.

F22 @1/20sec, 30mm, ISO 200

Posted in California Coast, Landscape, Flowers | Print | No Comments »

19. February 2010 by David.

Point Lobos is a wonderful State Park for photography, hiking and enjoying the ocean. Earlier in the day the waves were very high and the beach/ocean access was restricted. I was lucky enough to be able to set up my tripod right at the point where access was stopped. With the grey foggy sky I wasn’t sure what the sunset would be like. After about a 40 minute wait ………..

1/8sec at 56mm, f16, ISO200, tripod mounted, graduated neutral density filter, remote trigger, polarizing filter and I think the kitchen sink.

Keep Clicking

Dave

Posted in California Coast, Landscape | Print | No Comments »

18. February 2010 by Friedhelm.

I shot this image at Avila Beach. In the window you see the reflection of the pier which caught my eye while I was standing in the parking lot of the beach. The light was perfect at the “Golden Hour” and still I was debating with myself if I should either radically edit this image in post production or delete it altogether. The reason is twofold: First, I like a clear subject in an image. In this image my eyes are wandering around. The cropped the number sign off at least a little bit but as always letters and numbers draw attention. In addition the palm tree is blocking partially the view and there are two small shadow points in the lower left. These spots fight for your attention and it seems to me that they draw away from the reflection. Second: To contradict this pulling away energy, I cropped the window frame as tight as possible. This creates a feeling of being cramped. Still, I like the image. Camera setting: focal length 370mm, f16, 1/250sec., ISO 100.

Enjoy and happy photographing!

Posted in California Coast, Compositions | Print | No Comments »

17. February 2010 by Friedhelm.

I photographed this image at the beach south of San Luis Obispo right after sunset. I love the graduated change from the blue tones in the front to the warm red tones in the background. Camera setting: f11, 1/15 sec., ISO 100

Enjoy and happy image making!

Posted in California Coast | Print | No Comments »

15. February 2010 by Friedhelm.

While I was photographing at Avila Beach I discovered the tennis ball in the water. The ball created an opportunity for an interesting composition. This image has two focal points, the ball and the boulder. Both focal points fight for your attention and your eyes constantly wander from one to the other. Interestingly both take up about the same space in the image while in real life the boulder is a lot larger. The effect is created by using a wide angle lens close to the ball (Sometimes people refer to it as the “dog nose” effect).

Camera setting: 15mm focal lengths, f16, 1/100sec., ISO 100.

Enjoy and have a great creative week!

Posted in California Coast | Print | No Comments »

14. February 2010 by Friedhelm.

We spent the last two days at the California Coast and I had a great time photographing around 130 miles of coastline. I made this image at Avila Beach, south of San Luis Obispo. Camera setting: 24mm focal length, f16, 1/40sec., ISO 100

Enjoy!

Posted in California Coast | Print | No Comments »

22. January 2010 by Friedhelm.

The waves in front of the Point Sur were just magnificent. The strong wind was creating a white crown on each wave.

Enjoy and have a great week-end!

Posted in California Coast, Landscape | Print | No Comments »

21. January 2010 by Friedhelm.

I wish my computer desk would be here. what a place to work!

I was photographing so I did not pay too much attention to our docents; however I caught the sentence that the people on the lighthouse had to be self-sustaining. Besides having animals on the rock, they also had a carpenter and blacksmith station since the gusty winds did all kinds of damage to the property.

Also, this is a classic example of the difference how our eyes see and how the camera sensor picks up the light. In order to come closer to how we see the image I had to use one over exposed, one underexposed and one normal exposed image and combine them into the final image. The experts call that HDR (high dynamic range) imaging. Here are the three images that I combined into the above final version. You can do this manually with combining several layers in an advanced photo editor or you can purchase a special HDR editing program.

Underexposed (the beach is visible)

Overexposed (the beach is not visible)

normal exposed (a little bit of everything)

Posted in California Coast, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

20. January 2010 by Friedhelm.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Lewis Carroll

The staircase inside the lighthouse reminds me of this quote.  I believe it is true for every photographer. The year is young. Have a plan where you would like to take your photography this year.

During the guided tour, one of the docents talked about “ghost activities” on the rock. I decided to create a second more spooky looking image. Enjoy!

Posted in California Coast, Architecture | Print | No Comments »

19. January 2010 by Friedhelm.

Our guides told us about the history of this rock and how difficult it was in the 19th century to supply the families with food, wood, books and other resources. One thing got stuck with me. The guides told us that the children of those families that lived sometimes for months isolated on this rock later recalled it as the “happiest times of their lives.”  The unanswered question remains: How do limitations and happiness go together?

Enjoy the image!

Posted in California Coast, Architecture | Print | 1 Comment »