victoriabeachca_MG_8064
Tower on Victoria Beach, California
Tower on Victoria Beach, California
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Aug, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at small not very well known beach named Victoria Beach in CaliforniaTime
I took this photo in the morning after low tide so I could get the composition I was wanting.Lighting
I used my light histogram on my camera to help get an good balance between the highlights and shadows. I slightly underexposed the image because I didn't want to blow out the highlights in the sky too much while losing too many details in the shadows. It's easier to recover shadow areas in post processing then to tone down blowouts in highlight.Equipment
When I took this picture I had a Canon 60d with a 18-135mm kit lens and used a tripod with a remote shutter release.Inspiration
My wife and I decided we were going to make a day trip to California to check out some beaches. I Google searched Southern California Beaches and images. I came across an image of this particular tower. This beach is not very well known to tourist and not many locals visit it. After reading the history of this tower I had to make this one of my stops to photograph. I won't ruin the story behind this hidden treasure. If your interested in the history Google search "Victoria Beach Pirate Tower"Editing
I do most of my post processing in Photoshop Camera Raw. On this image first I did a lens correction followed by adjusting the exposure to compensate for the slight underexposure of the image and then boosted the shadows. Then did color corrections and added vibrance and contrast. I didn't know I was going to make it a black and white image at first. After opening it into photoshop I created a black and white layer and did a custom adjustment on each color on the black and white layer to balance everything out.In my camera bag
I shoot at a combination of locations ranging from short drives around Las Vegas like Red Rock Canyon and Lake Mead to long trips over several days to farther locations like Yosemite National Park. I have a backpack to carry all my gear with plenty of pockets for accessories and padding to protect my camera body and lens from bumps and drops. Shooting mostly landscapes I use a Canon 6d because it's a full frame camera. For wide angles a Canon 16-35mm f/4L IS USM lens, for creative and shallow depth of fields a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM and for telephoto a Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD. Filter accessories are a Circular polarizer to compensate for difficult lighting, saturation and haze. Other filters are a 6x and 10x neutral density filters for long exposures during morning, day, evening and smoothing water. The necessary extras are four batteries and seven 32 gig memory cards. I also carry a variety of flash lights. I do a lot of night shooting and they range for uses for of safety, getting sharp focus, light painting and a red and green color to keep my eyes adjusted to the darkness.Feedback
The best advice I believe for a location your not familiar with is research. In this particular shot this beach is in a residential area and not well known. Parking spaces are located on the Pacific Coast Highway and requires walking down a steep hill through a neighborhood and a long set of stairs down to the beach. I also checked the tide report to ensure during the time I was going to be there I could access the location. The more prepared you are for a location makes a more enjoyable experience to focus on getting the shot you want.
