When the clouds don't cooperate at Martins Beach

5D Mk III, EF 16-35 f4 L IS, f/11 16mm and 35mm, 79 sec single exposure

I went to shoot the forbidden beach just south of Half Moon Bay for the first time and the clouds did not cooperate with me. So faced with a very boring beach shot with the Hay Stack, I thought I would try playing with zoom in a single exposure. I framed the shot at 35mm and let my camera expose for 40 sec and then zoomed all the way out to 16mm quickly to avoid shake and zoom trails and let it expose for another 39 sec, the result is the above image.

Martins Beach is in the mist of a land controversy, the land owner is denying people beach access and there is an ongoing dispute with San Mateo county, is it legal to visit this beach? the answer is currently yes, however I think this will be mired in legal BS for a while.

In the mean time I intend on returning here until I capture the image I'm interested in getting.

Ross

Images In Light

Adjusting White Balance

 Image: 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8, 44mm at f/9, 30 sec
Global adjustment to 9107K

Larger Image

Original White Balance of 5950K, camera set to auto white balance

Global adjustment to 9107K local adjustment in Lightroom to sky of -28

I'm always pushing the merits of shooting RAW and white balance is a another reason to do so, the temperature of color is basically a layman's description and it can really only be adjusted in RAW. Light varies in temperature from cool to warm , an example would be LED light, compared to tungsten or midday sun to sunset, some times a camera can get fooled and that happens a lot with mixed light, similar to the above images that have the remaining light from the sun and the light from the bulbs on the pier.

A lot of cameras don't do well with indoor lighting and often have to be adjusted for white balance, our homes and offices are a mix of different light types and cameras get fooled more often than not in these situations. Shooting RAW and adjusting in post is the best way to get the right color from your system.

Ross

Images In Light