Last week my Lee Filter Holder and HiTek Graduated ND Filters arrived. I grabbed em from the Post Office and went down to Davenport, CA to take photos at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach. Unfortunately the sky didn't light up at all and it was disappointing (not to mention I almost died/drowned on my way in from the beach…. that's a whole 'nother story). The weather forecast for Wed, April 6th predicted that clouds would be rolling in towards the afternoon. My buddy and I grabbed our cameras, left work a bit early, and drove up to the Marin Headlands to take photos at Rodeo Beach. We knew these rock pillars were here and had seen some great photos of it and wanted to make our go. I must say, after my experience at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach I was a little scared when I noticed the tide was REALLY high and almost blocked us in again. Fortunately the tied never became difficult and we got in, did our shoot, and got home safely. Unlike last week, Mother Nature did not disappoint! As soon as I threw on the my circular polarizer and the Graduated Filters the sky LIT UP! It was like an explosion of color! These photos are NOT HDR and have had very little saturation edits (in fact, I had to lower the saturation a bit so that you wouldn't think it was fake)! The clouds kept the sun hidden so I didn't have any clipping from a bright sun. It also stayed behind the big rock monolith that you see in the center. The soft graduated filters worked great -- gave me some great color in the sky and let me slow the shutter for some neat wave movements. I'm quite pleased with how these came out! While doing research on Rodeo Beach (via flickr) I stumbled upon a photo by Adam A (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28490541@N06/5135610750/) in which he used the water to make a horseshoe around some rocks. My friend and I thought this was wonderful and wanted to emulate his photo. The first shooting location we found had this rock in the foreground and when the water came up it created a little semi-circular pattern. Once the sun began to set and the sky lit up with color we knew we had a wonderful shot. The hardest part was timing it right, with the right exposure time, to get the water to look like it was circular! It was pretty high tide and we couldn't get down to where most of the Flickr photos were taken. That's ok because we found our own great spot! Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/14, 1 sec, ISO 100, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder

I tried out the landscape orientation as well. With this rotation of the camera was able to get more of the water under the rock in the center without cutting off the big pilar rock in the background. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/16, 1 sec, ISO 100, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder

Last week my buddy and I grabbed our cameras, left work a bit early, and drove up to the Marin Headlands to take photos at Rodeo Beach. We knew these rock pillars were here and had seen some great photos of it and wanted to make our go. I've posted a couple other photos from this photoshoot but several of my friends really liked this photo so I had to throw this one up too! As soon as I threw on the my circular polarizer and the Graduated Filters the sky LIT UP! It was like an explosion of color! These photos are NOT HDR and have had very little saturation edits (in fact, I had to lower the saturation a bit so that you wouldn't think it was fake)! The clouds kept the sun hidden so I didn't have any clipping from a bright sun. The soft graduated filters worked great -- gave me some great color in the sky and let me slow the shutter for some neat wave movements. I'm quite pleased with how these came out! I've found that the motion of the outgoing wave makes for much nicer photos. I found a nice spot along the beach that wasn't getting too wet and used the rocks to create a line through the photo. I then used the fleeting water to create another line, away from it … trying to draw your eye in and to the right, then back and to the left. The awesome reflection of the sunset off the sand/water made this photo even nicer. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/8, 8 sec, ISO 125, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder NO HDR. Decreased saturation in some areas (sky), added sharpening and some dodge/burning.

Last week my buddy and I grabbed our cameras, left work a bit early, and drove up to the Marin Headlands to take photos at Rodeo Beach. We knew these rock pillars were here and had seen some great photos of it and wanted to make our go. I've posted a couple other photos from this photoshoot but several of my friends really liked this photo so I had to throw this one up too! As soon as I threw on the my circular polarizer and the Graduated Filters the sky LIT UP! It was like an explosion of color! These photos are NOT HDR and have had very little saturation edits (in fact, I had to lower the saturation a bit so that you wouldn't think it was fake)! The clouds kept the sun hidden so I didn't have any clipping from a bright sun. The soft graduated filters worked great -- gave me some great color in the sky and let me slow the shutter for some neat wave movements. I'm quite pleased with how these came out! I've found that the motion of the outgoing wave makes for much nicer photos. I found a nice spot along the beach that wasn't getting too wet and used the rocks to create a line through the photo. I then used the fleeting water to create another line, away from it … trying to draw your eye in and to the right, then back and to the left. The awesome reflection of the sunset off the sand/water made this photo even nicer. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/8, 8 sec, ISO 125, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder NO HDR. Decreased saturation in some areas (sky), added sharpening and some dodge/burning.

Last week my Lee Filter Holder and HiTek Graduated ND Filters arrived. I grabbed em from the Post Office and went down to Davenport, CA to take photos at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach. Unfortunately the sky didn't light up at all and it was disappointing (not to mention I almost died/drowned on my way in from the beach…. that's a whole 'nother story). The weather forecast for Wed, April 6th predicted that clouds would be rolling in towards the afternoon. My buddy and I grabbed our cameras, left work a bit early, and drove up to the Marin Headlands to take photos at Rodeo Beach. We knew these rock pillars were here and had seen some great photos of it and wanted to make our go. I must say, after my experience at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach I was a little scared when I noticed the tide was REALLY high and almost blocked us in again. Fortunately the tied never became difficult and we got in, did our shoot, and got home safely. Unlike last week, Mother Nature did not disappoint! As soon as I threw on the my circular polarizer and the Graduated Filters the sky LIT UP! It was like an explosion of color! These photos are NOT HDR and have had very little saturation edits (in fact, I had to lower the saturation a bit so that you wouldn't think it was fake)! The clouds kept the sun hidden so I didn't have any clipping from a bright sun. It also stayed behind the big rock monolith that you see in the center. The soft graduated filters worked great -- gave me some great color in the sky and let me slow the shutter for some neat wave movements. I'm quite pleased with how these came out! For this photo I had to creep around some rocks and get pretty low to the beach. I liked how the rocks made a V shape with the big rock monolith in the center. I also liked the moss on the big rock in the foreground and thought it might add even more color to the photo. Just as I was ready to take this photo a big wave came in and nearly got me wet! I was able to get this shot as the wave departed! Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/8, 8 sec, ISO 125, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder

Another take on the Rodeo Beach photo. I don't like this one as much but I did like the almost floor-like water in this longer exposure. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/5.6, 1 sec, ISO 400, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder

Last week my Lee Filter Holder and HiTek Graduated ND Filters arrived. I grabbed em from the Post Office and went down to Davenport, CA to take photos at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach. Unfortunately the sky didn't light up at all and it was disappointing (not to mention I almost died/drowned on my way in from the beach…. that's a whole 'nother story). The weather forecast for Wed, April 6th predicted that clouds would be rolling in towards the afternoon. My buddy and I grabbed our cameras, left work a bit early, and drove up to the Marin Headlands to take photos at Rodeo Beach. We knew these rock pillars were here and had seen some great photos of it and wanted to make our go. I must say, after my experience at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach I was a little scared when I noticed the tide was REALLY high and almost blocked us in again. Fortunately the tied never became difficult and we got in, did our shoot, and got home safely. Unlike last week, Mother Nature did not disappoint! As soon as I threw on the my circular polarizer and the Graduated Filters the sky LIT UP! It was like an explosion of color! These photos are NOT HDR and have had very little saturation edits (in fact, I had to lower the saturation a bit so that you wouldn't think it was fake)! The clouds kept the sun hidden so I didn't have any clipping from a bright sun. It also stayed behind the big rock monolith that you see in the center. The soft graduated filters worked great -- gave me some great color in the sky and let me slow the shutter for some neat wave movements. I'm quite pleased with how these came out! When we first got to the beach I wanted to slow my shutter down more than the camera was letting me so I threw on my circular polarizer. Near the end of the sunset the polarizer was starting to make things *too* dark and the exposure times were getting pretty long. I decided to make one really long exposure so that I could gave a fog like look to the water. I knew I had to keep the photo simple so I zoomed into the rocks and let them frame the photo with the gorgeous sunset. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 30mm, f/22, 30 sec, ISO 200, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder

Last week my Lee Filter Holder and HiTek Graduated ND Filters arrived. I grabbed em from the Post Office and went down to Davenport, CA to take photos at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach. Unfortunately the sky didn't light up at all and it was disappointing (not to mention I almost died/drowned on my way in from the beach…. that's a whole 'nother story). The weather forecast for Wed, April 6th predicted that clouds would be rolling in towards the afternoon. My buddy and I grabbed our cameras, left work a bit early, and drove up to the Marin Headlands to take photos at Rodeo Beach. We knew these rock pillars were here and had seen some great photos of it and wanted to make our go. I must say, after my experience at Hole-in-the-Wall Beach I was a little scared when I noticed the tide was REALLY high and almost blocked us in again. Fortunately the tied never became difficult and we got in, did our shoot, and got home safely. Unlike last week, Mother Nature did not disappoint! As soon as I threw on the my circular polarizer and the Graduated Filters the sky LIT UP! It was like an explosion of color! These photos are NOT HDR and have had very little saturation edits (in fact, I had to lower the saturation a bit so that you wouldn't think it was fake)! The clouds kept the sun hidden so I didn't have any clipping from a bright sun. It also stayed behind the big rock monolith that you see in the center. The soft graduated filters worked great -- gave me some great color in the sky and let me slow the shutter for some neat wave movements. I'm quite pleased with how these came out! While doing research on Rodeo Beach (via flickr) I stumbled upon a photo by Adam A (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28490541@N06/5135610750/) in which he used the water to make a horseshoe around some rocks. My friend and I thought this was wonderful and wanted to emulate his photo. The first shooting location we found had this rock in the foreground and when the water came up it created a little semi-circular pattern. Once the sun began to set and the sky lit up with color we knew we had a wonderful shot. The hardest part was timing it right, with the right exposure time, to get the water to look like it was circular! It was pretty high tide and we couldn't get down to where most of the Flickr photos were taken. That's ok because we found our own great spot! Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/5.6, 2 sec, ISO 400, Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer + Hitech 0.9 soft Reverse ND grad filter, Hitech 0.6 soft ND grad filter, and Lee FK Filter holder

My friend that I've been shooting a lot with lately had taken some pictures of sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge in which he "Threaded the Needle" -- using the right angle from the Golden Gate Bridge you can position the Transamerica building to be right in the center of one of the towers! There's room for 2 photographers at once. It was pretty windy so I had to bump my ISO up to get the shot, although this one was taken when the wind had stopped and I was able to get a little longer shutter. I want to come back here during Christmas time, when the Transamerica building has a light on the top (a star light) and when it's sunset and not the-sun-is-already-down.