Going With The Flow

Lightweight hip waters plus wading boots were a really good xmas present to myself - all the better to spend some quality time in ankle-to-knee deep water inside of the surf line here at Harris Beach State Park in Oregon between the holidays.

I shot this with tripod legs jammed well down into the sand. I blended a few exposures -one for the rocks and sky which I took when the water was slack (thus avoiding any tripod vibration from the rushing tide), and one for the water as it was rushing back out. This was about a two second exposure, which turned the froth into streaks that followed the flow.

Any feedback is welcome, as usual!

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I think this image is exceptional. Personally I think it works really well and shows a lot of depth

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This turned out great. I love the radiating lines combined with the rock shapes. The B&W presentation works beautifully, too. A real fine image.

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Jim, this is great. The flow lines and the circle of swash around the near rocks are both striking and fascinating. The distant sea stacks and the sky add some fine atmospherics.

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Jim: Love the scene and your rendition of it. I’ve spent a lot of time on the Oregon coast but only ventured south of Bandon once and merely observed Harris Beach passing by. I won’t miss it the next time we’re out that way. Most excellent. >=))>

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Thanks all for the affirming feedback on this one.

Bill: on first glance I was not wowed by the photographic potential at Harris Beach SP, but I was camped there for three nights in order to explore points north, and found that with this tide level there were indeed some interesting views, particularly with this cloud cover. Turns out I didn’t get much from those points to the north that got me down there, but got not one but two keepers from HBSP! There’s a lesson in there I think :slight_smile:

Beautiful! What were your thoughts on the clouds, especially when you’re already blending images? They seem exposed for about the same time as the water, so I wonder what the effect might have been of either an even longer exposure to catch their movement or shorter so they’re as crisp as the rocks. That’s not to say I don’t love it as is. Nice work!

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Josh - if I were taking this one again, I think I’d try a third exposure for the sky, with a shorter exposure duration (either or both of larger aperture or higher ISO). I don’t think these clouds would have looked great, at least to my eye, with a super long exposure - they’d just have mushed out, which I don’t love in clouds or river water for the most part (whereas some long moving cloud exposures do show distinct flow/directionality, as does the water here). Great question. That said, since they’re not the subject of the image, I’m fine with their moody murkiness that doesn’t draw a lot of attention. I might, though, see what Topasz’s Sharpen program would do with these clouds in their “stabilize” setting which can add some fairly realistic definition back into soft clouds (I started playing with the Topasz SW after I took/processed this particular image).

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Thanks for sharing your thinking around this, and the sharpening resource. This is beyond anything I’ve tried so far, so I really appreciate your insights (and photo!).

Jim, this is a superb image that demonstrates excellent results in focus stacking. Also, the composition is unique and excellent. The radiating lines create wonderful image flow. B&W adds drama and impact. Thanks for sharing this image. It is a lesson I appreciate. I just joined NPN, so yours is one of the first images I have viewed.

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Very interesting discussion about the exposure times, and a great image. I like it a lot.

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