Quietly making noise
I just noticed that a bunch of my recent shots include water in them. Am I boring anyone? I guess I am drawn to all those wonderful qualities that water can bring to a photograph, or maybe I am just not thinking about it. Probably the latter. Anyways, I noticed this little pattern and thought I would mention it. Not even sure why.
This shot comes from Laguna Beach, CA, where I was able to recently spend a couple of hours shooting some fun HDR stuff. I love HDR, it just totally rocks. Have I mentioned that before? I may have. Anyways, I walked and climbed my way around the beach, getting my shoes wet and trying to find beautiful and interesting things to shoot, which isn't really hard at all there. At one point I saw this little grotto-ish sort of area and figured I needed to get in there. It wasn't too hard, though it did involve clambering over slippery wet rocks while wearing inappropriate footwear, but you do what you have to do. I slipped a bit but I kept the camera safe and dry, which is the primary goal. Once I got in there, it was like being in a little private spot that is all your own, and all the intruding sounds of the world are eliminated. I backed up as far as I could against the rear rock wall, and just stood there for a few moments listening to the quiet, repetitive sounds of the waves splashing in front of me. It was pretty awesome.
This is a 5 exposure HDR taken at f/9 while the sun was setting off to the far right (you can tell that by the color in the sky). The exposures range from -3 to +1 and were created as an HDR in Photomatix. That was then adjusted in PSE for Curves, Contrast, and Unsharp Mask. The final touch was in Topaz Adjust.