Pismo Beach sunset
A lovely sunset captured at Pismo Beach this past fall season
A lovely sunset captured at Pismo Beach this past fall season
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Feb, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This picture was taking during a long weekend getaway with my husband to San Luis Obispo and surround areas. Morro Bay, the exact location of this picture is a gorgeous small beach community with quaint little shops, parks and, of course, the stunning views of Morro Rock.Time
This was close to sunset and because of the time of year, the sun was setting right behind that ridge of rocks which, during the day and at high tide, provides other magnificent spectacle of waves crushing against them from the opposite side and splashing water all over. It was low tide when I shot this and the afternoon was absolutely stunning, quiet and the water was like a reflecting mirror.Lighting
Fall time is my absolute favorite season to shoot. The sun hits the Earth at an angle that makes the light warm, inviting, and perfect for sunsets. For this particular shot I want the sun to be the star of the image, but also did not want Morro Rock to be totally clipped out of the image, so I had to balance that when I selected the aperture/shutter speed of my camera. Simply metering by pointing to the sun would have made everything else pretty much black and I was afraid that I would not have enough information later to post-process, even shooting RAW.Equipment
I shoot with a Canon 7D body and I have a variety of different lenses, from the more standard ones that come when you purchase a "bundle" with the camera, to a macro, nifty 50, and a Sigma wide angle. This particular shot, I believe, was shot with an 35-85mm regular lens, nothing too special. When I travel with the intent of doing photography, I usually rent my all-time favorite lens, the 28-300mm EF lens from Canon. I find that lens to be the most versatile for wide shots as well as amazing close ups, while not being super heavy to shoot without a tripod.Inspiration
Honestly I had seen Morro Rock since early morning during a beach walk and, at that time, the marine layer was making it look mysterious and somewhat spooky. I immediately wondered how it would look like during sunset and waited the entire day. I used an app that I have on my iPhone that shows you not only what time the sun will set but also where so I knew that it would make it for a nice composition.Editing
Yes, of course. Shooting images of sunset are tricky and you always need to adjust things a bit afterwards. I played with Whites and Blacks and Highlights/Shadows to pull more of Morro Rock into view. I work in Lightroom to do my post processing.In my camera bag
Camera body, 2 to 3 lenses depending on what I plan on shooting, flash if I know I will need it, lots of memory cards, 3 extra batteries, cleaning solution and cloth. I normally do not carry a tripod with me unless I know ahead of time my shoots would require one. I prefer to hold the camera always or just rest it on a surface that is available for me.Feedback
Planning is critical. The sun sets pretty quickly and every minute that goes by it provides a different experience. If you know of a location you want to shoot a sunset, plan to be there ahead of time, so you have plenty of time to tweak your camera settings based on that time of day. ALWAYS shoot RAW. You will need as much information on the image for post processing. Sometimes I also shoot a JPEG because I find that sometimes the camera built in processing provides a more authentic image as far as what the colors were. Then I use that JPEG as my reference image on LR to make the RAW image come close to it.
