A different approach

One of the things I really wanted to experiment with when I went down to the beach was long exposures. In my mind, moving water and long exposures were made to go together. There are certainly times when long shutter speeds are necessary to get enough light for proper exposure (indoors with no flash, after dark, etc.), but I wanted to also try some even when the light was still strong. To do this, you have to have something that darkens the scene enough to allow for these longer shutter speeds without overexposing. Don't worry, I'm not about to get all crazy technical. I just needed to put something dark in front of the lens, and in this case I used a Neutral Density filter. Basically a dark piece of plastic that brings the light down by a certain amount.

Alright, technicalities out of the way, let's talk about the images. Man, I haven't written this much in months! The first two include a boat in which two men were practicing landing on the beach and rowing back out. It was a dynamic scene with the waves tossing them around and the oars flying. I wanted to make the scene a bit more impressionistic, so I put the filter on and tried some shots panning the camera back and forth while the shutter was open. These two were my favorites.

These next two were taken just after the sun had gone behind the mountains, but that wonderful warm glow was still lingering. A "normal" exposure would show these waves as powerful and crashing, but these longer exposures give them a graceful, more painterly feel.




In the last two I wanted to have something in the image that was solid and unmoving next to the silky water.




Tune in tomorrow for my third and final installment; Black and White!