Xmas Sunset

Dec 25 2007, 5:30 PM, El Matador Beach, Pacific Ocean



Canon 40D + EF-S 17-55/2.8, ISO 100, f/9.0 @ 30" (tripod, of course) plus light painting with 580EXII

Nikolai Sklobovsky said:

Dec 25 2007, 5:30 PM, El Matador Beach, Pacific Ocean

Canon 40D + EF-S 17-55/2.8, ISO 100, f/9.0 @ 30" (tripod, of course) plus light painting with 580EXII

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Great shot, and I like the 'light painting' since it is not too obvious. Tell us more, did you do 3 manual flashes with different output ssettings, or different angles, as you ran down the beach? How did you plan the output levels, trial and error, flash meter, experience, ... ?

Bart

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Great shot, and I like the 'light painting' since it is not too obvious. Tell us more, did you do 3 manual flashes with different output ssettings, or different angles, as you ran down the beach? How did you plan the output levels, trial and error, flash meter, experience, ... ?
Bart

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Thank you, Bart!
I wouldn't call it "experience" since it was my first time doing it, neither it was a strong calculation, for which I didn't have enough time, so I'd say "trial and error", or "hunch".
I think it was 2 or 3 flashes, at 1/8th power, same position (high above the camera, which was fairly low), different angles.
I liked the idea of using "weak" flash several times. It's almost like using a large soft brush at a low opacity in PS. It really gives you an ability to "lay out" your extra light field.
HTH

simply breath taking. Such a beautiful image. I really like how the light plays across the sand and little stream of water. I can see the movement and motion as if I were there.

Arya Wiese said:

simply breath taking. Such a beautiful image. I really like how the light plays across the sand and little stream of water. I can see the movement and motion as if I were there.

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Thank you Arya!
Much appreciated!
Have a great New Year!

What a fantastic idea - to throw in a few flashes! (I would never have thought of that). This is a truly beautiful and captivating image, Nikolai. Whereas many people do long exposures specifically focusing on the water, you have here only used it as a subtle backdrop... A publish-worthy image for sure.

The colours are also very intriguing for a sunset photo, and my only criticism on your posted image would be the banding in the sky (but this might be JPEG compression?)

Dawid Loubser said:

What a fantastic idea - to throw in a few flashes! (I would never have thought of that). This is a truly beautiful and captivating image, Nikolai. Whereas many people do long exposures specifically focusing on the water, you have here only used it as a subtle backdrop... A publish-worthy image for sure.

The colours are also very intriguing for a sunset photo, and my only criticism on your posted image would be the banding in the sky (but this might be JPEG compression?)

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Dawid, thank you for your kind words!
I certainly cannot take the responsibility for inventing flash usage during sunset, but I'm glad you like it

And yes, banding is most likely due to a small size jpeg, I don't seem to have it on the original-size 10.1mp version.

Cheers!