Rialto Beach Stack - Olympic National Park
Jul, 2016Views
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MarkWolskyPhotography
September 08, 2017
I'm sorry for the delay Anthony. Thank you so much for the compliment!
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Behind The Lens
Location
I captured this photo at Rialto Beach, on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Olympic National Park, in Washington state. The area contains a series of rock protrusions, called stacks, which have evaded erosion over the millennia. The tide was low, but was waxing, and created a series of small, inbound waves which appeared to across the flat beach in multiple directions.Time
I was strolling along the beach at around 11am., admiring the beautiful rock stack formations and looking for photo opportunities. As I walked, I noticed that the waves were crawling softly but steadily, with the incoming tide, toward the shore in front of a beautiful rock stack. I readied my and camera, and walked into the water and settled upon a rock, the base of which allowed my tripod's legs to settle firmly.Lighting
Since it was very bright and I intended to capture water movement, I stopped down the aperture to limit inbound light, in order to enable a lower shutter speed to capture the wave movement.Equipment
The photo was captured with a Nikon D810 and Nikkor 16-35mm lens with polarizing filter, on a MeFoto tripod.Inspiration
I've traveled to, and lived in, many countries. In all of my travels, the west coast of Olympic National Park has to be one of the most profoundly beautiful and well preserved places I have ever seen. It was my first time to Olympic National Park, so it's not surprising that this pristine coastline would be so inspiring to a photographer. The primordial beauty of this area was awe inspiring.Editing
I did make some graduated filter adjustments to the skyline, in Lightroom, in order to draw out more detail in the clouds. Other than that, I made few additional adjustments. Nature provided a great palette to capture.In my camera bag
My subject matter is so varied that my bag is “purpose built” based on the particular subject I’m planning to capture at a given location or time. I have several backpacks that I’ve adapted to carry my camera gear. For landscape photography, I typically use a Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f4G wide angle lens and Nikkor 28-300mm AF-S f3.5/5.6G. This combination affords a broad range of flexibility. I also have a bag that converts to a roller bag or backpack for travel, so I can navigate airports and hike any reasonable distance to photograph. For travel, I carry my 28-300mm, 16-35mm, 105mm macro, and assorted filters. I use a heavy duty MeFoto tripod with a Manfrotto ball mount.Feedback
For this particular scene, I was actually walking around the rock stacks admiring the shear size and beauty for some time, and this provided a number a different viewing perspectives. By thoroughly familiarizing myself with the subject matter from multiple perspectives, I was able to capture the water's movement in a unique way while presented with bright midday light. My advice, which I sometimes should follow more diligently myself, is to take the time to study a subject thoroughly in order to optimize an outcome in which a unique viewing perspective can be captured. In addition, shooting during midday hours makes it more challenging to capture subject matter in a unique way, due to the bright light. Taking additional time to plan my shot, so that the subject matter can overcome less than ideal lighting conditions, is an outcome worth the extra time and consideration.
