wave16_pano
Oct, 2014Views
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Contest Finalist in Water Photo Contest 2017
Contest Finalist in Surf And The Ocean Photo Contest
Runner Up in Black and White Mysteries Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Black and White Mysteries Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Awesomeness In Black And White Photo Contest
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AlanJakarta
December 04, 2014
Excellent shot, which looks great in mono. Congratulations on being Featured.
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NoveenKhan
December 04, 2014
Such a powerful subject captured so beautifully. Congratulations on being Featured :)
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pauljackson_4080
December 04, 2014
thanks for all the support and kind words, amazing and flattering to see one of my images selected amongst such incredible talent!
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DavesAdventures
August 30, 2016
Love how you got the light shining down out of the sky here on to the water just at the right time.. :)
DavesAdventures
August 30, 2016
This is a wonderful photo with awesome editing with it as well. I love it the work you did here to make a beautiful photo. The only thing better would have been to have Jesus walking in the light.
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closetoHOme
July 05, 2017
This is a wonderful image. Please consider joining my photo challenge: Water in Motion
Go to my profile: martincraigjones
Click on challenges.
Select created
Select “Water in Motion
Thank you
Go to my profile: martincraigjones
Click on challenges.
Select created
Select “Water in Motion
Thank you
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This is one of my favourite shots, taken on the Biarritz coast of France. Its a fabulous place for taking wave and water shots all up that coast and well worth a visit. Its a great location for a number of reasons.. great beaches, great locations, great waves, great people, great food and great beer... hey, its all matters!! it must do, world championship surfing events are held along that coast line every year.Time
Actually, this was shot in the middle of the day. Ive found shooting waves is more about timing than having perfect light. Whilst we all love the shots of the perfect curling wave with the setting sun in it, thats a perfect trifecta and doesn't happen every day... getting successful wave pictures - it's about a combination of weather, tide and wind. If the tide is out, then the waves might be small or inaccessible, Whilst an incoming tide, with an offshore wind is most favourable. An offshore wind holds the wave up just as it comes into break, blows the spray away and helps the sea remain clean (i.e. less foam on the surface) giving you cleaner and more defined images. this gives you that perfect curl, that sweep and curl of the breaking wave. An onshore wind blows the wave over, makes it break quicker causing the sea to froth more, in turn making the images look "dirty" - that said this gives you opportunities to create different look and maybe an abstract look.Lighting
It was slightly overcast and a very flat light. I specifically wanted this kind of light as it gave me the perfect opportunity to manipulate the image to create the look I was aiming for.Equipment
Shot handheld from the beach, using a canon 5d mkiii on a 300mm f2.8 L is USM ii. settings were f8.0, 1/1250 at iso 640.Inspiration
I love the ocean. There is a peace and tranquility to the sea thats not matched anywhere else. You can stand on a windy bluff or windswept beach and just watch the way it moves, the ebb and flow. theres something about the sea that i enjoy. i like its "moods" the way it can go from the still of a pond to the full fury of a storm still and back again so quickly. its humbling and demanding of respect. When I'm shooting waves this is always at the back of my mind and I'm trying to find a way to bring that feeling to my images, I want the viewer to look at the waves and see this inner strength and fury masked with a ethereal transient beauty. It's trying to capture this that makes me get up early, stay late, drive for hours. i hope you will feel like trying it one day!Editing
Actually, as you can guess there was a bit of editing on this shot... i started in lightroom adjusting exposure and the usual suspects to get the picture right then exported to photoshop. in photoshop i did the straight forward b/w conversion then cropped to the picture to the format you see here. I particularly like to create a feeling of minimalism but give the impression of size when I'm looking at creating an image like this, Once i had the crop i liked, i then started playing around with a combination of layers, masks and gradient filters to create the effect i was looking for. i was particularly keen to highlight the wave crest and white spray being blown away, and control the shadow areas to give the feeling of depth and movement the judicious use of dodging and burning. All in all a couple of hours of effort to create one of my favourite images.In my camera bag
I'm sorry to say (for my wallets sake) that I subscribe to the "he who dies with the most toys, WINS!" school of thought so I'm always looking for new kit and to test things out. I like to shoot a variety of subjects and areas so i don't have one specific bag, but as a general catch all if I'm going out and about and need some flexibility... I take canon 5d mk3, 24-70 f2.8 ii usm, 70-200 f2.8ii is usm. I may add in a zeiss 21mm (probably one of the sharpest lenses i ever used) for some landscape/long exposure, or a 24mm tilt/shift for architecture, or Zeiss 35mm and canon 50mm for some street work. Although I'm considering a move into mirrorless for street work as i find them less intrusive and intimidating for other people. finally for longer work including sports or other action, such as waves, - i tend to hire either a 300 or 400 m F2.8 ii L usm from my friends at lensesforhire.co.uk in the UK. its a lot cheaper than owning one of these beasties, and a great way to trial new kit if your thinking of buying... If I'm shooting architecture or landscapes, especially water then the lee and formatt hi-tech filter systems come out to play - big and little stoppers and a selection of hard and soft grads as required. if I'm doing some street work and decide i want to shoot some abstract stuff i may also use a screw in variable ND filter to allow me to create some abstract work involving longer shutter speeds whilst remaining portable (a 100mm square lump of glass on the front of the glass isn't really something you can walk round using)! finally, and i can't say this enough to beginners, all my lenses have UV filters on... saved me a fortune a number of times?!!!Feedback
If you really want to shoot waves then go for it its rewarding, exhilarating (especially on a windy day) and gets you out in the fresh air!!! but please - remember the following: 1. Always BE SAFE. Do not shoot from long low piers or groynes etc. unless you know its safe, in certain places the sea is unpredictable and I've seen people swept off piers by rogue waves. see this video of a proposal shoot.. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4o3p9tPS3o)/ it happens and if you dont pay attention.. i will happen to you! When on the beach make sure you either carry your kit bag or leave it with someone, higher up the beach... again I've seen kit bags get swept out to sea by a larger than usual wave.. To be honest I recommend leaving it above high water with a friend or even in the car and walking backwards and forwards if you're on your own... 2. Never Assume you're in the clear. Always watch what the sea is doing.. when you've got your head down and you're looking through a 400 mm lens your world view can be very narrow and the occasional big wave will get you, In fact, not long before i took this one i was caught out and wound up up in standing in the sea up to my waist, caught by a freak wave that swept in and came 20 feet higher up the beach than any previous wave I'd seen for the last hour.... luckily i managed to set myself and keep my footing - else it would have been a short and expensive shoot. 3. If you're on your own, tell someone where you are going just in case.. enough safety onto the fun bits... 4. I recommend that you get the longest lenses you can handle... I've used up to 600mm to do this but they are MONSTERS and you ll need a tripod and probably a porter to help move it around!!! if you do use a tripod, i recommend a substantial one and setup further away from the surf..... 5. Research the area you want to go to. check tides and winds etc... look for offshore winds and incoming tides a good combination.. again remember tide is incoming so watch your location... ask locals for good viewpoints and areas. find out if their are favourite surf beaches nearby etc. follow the surfers... they are looking for decent waves so they'll know the best beaches and the times to be there.. of course then you've got people in rubber suits on bits of plastic running across your pictures which is annoying but you can't have everything.... 6. Use a higher iso if you need to... waves move and change pretty quickly and if you want to freeze them then you'll need to be fast. so depending on time of day you may need to bump it up a bit... 7. Shoot in raw.. you can get a marvellous array of colours, textures, reflections and rainbows shooting waves so give yourself the best chance of being able to bring out what you saw when you shot when you're post processing... 8. Use continuous mode when you start. Whilst we all want to improve our one shot - one picture ability, shooting waves takes practice and experience, so use a high speed continuous setting and shoot 4-5 frames per wave - this will give you the best chance of getting the curve/shape/texture you are looking for. As you get more experienced you can reduce number of shots per wave or go to single frame shooting and be more selective! Obviously if you do shoot continuously and in RAW as suggested above, take lots of memory cards... 9. When you arrive spend some time studying patterns and the lay of the land and sea. Waves often come on repeating or similar patterns or sets, so it may be that the second one of set tends to have the best curl or the third is the biggest. there may be underwater rocks that cause the waves to rear up into interesting patterns. Spend some time looking before you dive into shooting. that way when you can pick the best view and when you are looking through the viewfinder you'll have a rough idea of whats coming in and where. 10. Finally, before you leave the beach/sea side/cliffs/harbour/boat - look around you!!! The beach can often give you some great opportunities to capture other things, shapes, lectures silhouettes, sunrise/sets, people wildlife etc., so always look around and be flexible. I suppose this applies to every photography opportunity, you never know where that killer shot is going to come from. Good luck
