Secreto Pacifio
We stopped for minute to hike down to the shoreline as we arrived in Big Sur. When we lifted our heads, we saw this impossible red balloon being battered aroun...
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We stopped for minute to hike down to the shoreline as we arrived in Big Sur. When we lifted our heads, we saw this impossible red balloon being battered around the jagged edges of that cold, raw stretch of California coastline and had no idea how it was surviving. But it did, until we forgot about it and either popped or continued along the coast.
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Jan, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
We were trying to find a spot to camp on a last minute trip up coast before hiking back to Sykes Hotsprings - but there was absolutely no space anywhere. So my friend took me to her "secret spot"down one of the many trails that lead down to the Big Sur coastline along Highway 1 in California. Just enough space for a tent, a chair and tripod above this jagged little cove where I took this photo.Time
I was waiting for the sun to dip below the horizon so I could stop down to F/13 or so at 100 ISO to capture the motion of the water coming in and out onto the ragged, rocky coastline. This photo was taken just before the the sun went down actually, which is why I ended up cropping the image right at the horizon line.Lighting
I initially thought I would wait until the Sun was completely below the horizon, but the reflection of the sun was creating these pockets of almost opalescent highlights that were softened by the motion blur of the 2 second shutter speed.Equipment
Equipment: Canon 5DMKII with a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L lens on a MeFoto backpacker tripodInspiration
When we arrived at this spot we noticed a red balloon being pushed back and forth along the cove. We were kind of bummed at first because there was this piece of rubber that would end up in the ocean, and there was no way we could get to it. But I was also kind of impressed because this stretch of coastline is raw and sharp - so the fact that this balloon hadn't popped yet was kind of unbelievable. After setting up our tent we went for quick walk to a beach a little ways down the coastline. About an hour later we got back to camp and this improbable, un-poppable red balloon was still being thrown into the rocks on the coastline as the sun was beginning to set. At this point I realized that the contrast of a small, saturated point of deep red against the blue/cobalt/black of the water and the rocks would would be powerful. There was also the memory of the old French film "The Red Balloon" that kept fighting its way to front of my mind, thinking "so this is what happened to that red balloon." When I finally walked away from my camera for a little bit to sit and have a beer with my friend the balloon was still there, un-popped.Editing
I cropped the photo at the horizon line in post because the sun and sky were essentially white and without detail and it only took emphasis away from the scene that I was trying to capture. I brought up the shadows a bit, increased the contrast a little, bumped the vibrancy a couple of points and sharpened on export. I also had to go in tight to get rid of some fringing around the edges of some of the rocks.In my camera bag
When camping/backpacking I usually have my 5DMIII, 16-35mm f/2.8L, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, 50mm f/1.2L, Canon intervalometer, MeFoto BackPacker tripod, an L bracket mount for pano images to be stitched later without (or with minor) parallax.Feedback
Technically, images like this are not that difficult to capture. When hoping to capture images like this it's best to scope out your composition well before you plan on actually shooting - considering the direction of the sun and what you actually want to include in the composition. You also just have to be ready to adapt. Keeping your gear and camera as close to "shoot-ready" is always a good practice - I really just got lucky that the balloon hadn't popped yet by the time the lighting was right for me to capture this image. It would have been an entirely different image if I had tried to force it when I first saw the balloon and composition I was hoping for.
