393 - Pfeiffer Beach
Heh, today's shoot got a little complicated. BUT- I figured out a new Photoshop technique that I'm excited to share. And this alllllll took place on Pfeiffer Beach in California.
My expectations of Pfeiffer Beach were high. Perhaps a little TOO high. It was one of the number one things I wanted to do on the Cali coast. I think this was because I saw an insane image of the place online, and my hype got off the charts.
The draw of Pfeiffer Beach is this sea stack that contains an arch, where water splashes through. The photo I saw had these magnificent light rays pouring through it, and for some reason I assumed that exact scene would happen when I went.
Haha, nah.
We showed up about two and a half hours early, knowing all too well that there wasn't any hike involved. Instead, we walked down the shoreline and laid on the beach for a few hours. Well, Haley laid. My idea of hanging out on the beach involves dramatically walking along the coast contemplating my existence.
After a few hours of that, we knew we should head back to the infamous arch for the light ray shot. Except when we got there, it became abundantly clear that the light rays weren't gonna happen. The sun was lined up perfectly, the tide was just the right height, and everything was perfect, but alas, no rays.
Fuck. I got bamboozled. The dude either Photoshopped the light rays in (more likely), or got extremely lucky with some type of foggy sunlight situation.
I took a bad photo of the arch anyway, knowing I'd never post it, and looked around. What else did I like here? Turns out the coolest thing was these waves that had sunny a spray of mist right before they broke. I realized I could capture that with a fast shutter, if I had the right backdrop. I found a big black rock and set up camp.
Now I just had to wait for the perfect wave to go by. I took 300+ shots, and ended up with this one:
“Point Break”
Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm 2.8 GM
ISO 100 ~ 158mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/8000s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Funnily enough, the bird WASN'T Photoshopped in like my shoot at Glass Beach. Perfect timing! Now that I knew I had at least one banger in the bag, I relaxed a bit. Haley point out some people that CLIMBED up the sea stack, and it blew my mind. It looked insanely sketchy to climb... But they were just an average couple...
I grabbed a shot of them up top, and pulled the contrast HIGH to silhouette just the sea stack and the small stream of water. I was satisfied by the shot, but it made me think... I still have that shitty shot of the arch, and it's surrounded by black... What if I just paste it in the middle of the stack, right where the stream of water is coming out??
And boom! Blended the water colors and exposures, and here's the final product:
“Zenith Bridge”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm + Sony 70-200mm 2.8 GM
[ISO 800 ~ 43mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/1250s] + [ISO 800 ~ 70mm f/2.8 ~ 1/5000s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Killer abstract! The ACTUAL location of the arch is about 50 yards to the right of that scene, but the view doesn't have to know that. Unless they read the behind the scenes here, because they're interested in technique.
That's the new Photoshop technique I realized: scrapbooking scenes together. Now obviously in this case it was easy because of the silhouette nature of the shot, but this concept could be applied to lots of other cases! Why not make it work yourself? Otherwise I would have trashed both those photos anyway.
Woo! Now I wanted to get a last minute shot of the sunset, because it would compliment the arch nicely in a mini album. I got this pic here:
“Sun Lump”
Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm 2.8 GM
[ISO 800 ~ 200mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/3200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I feel like I'll never get tired of those hazy ragged sunsets over the water. Goddamn.
Alright! That's today's shoot folk. I need to go study Photoshop more. BYE.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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