Hermosa Beach

  1. Hermosa Pier Sunset

    Submitted by on

    This shot is of the Hermosa Pier right before the sun went down. The sun is there but very small in the shot because I'm on a really wide lens. This photo is just before the sky turns to a deep purple color which created a totally different look found in my other night HDR photos of the same location. With a sunset photo like this, it's very important to have a High Dynamic Range so I find I either have to shoot a 5 shot bracketed HDR offset by two stops or shoot RAW, which is what I did in this High Dynamic Range Photo. I also was using the Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens. I didn't want to use this lens for too long since It does not accept screw on UV filters and the salty misty sea air would quickly cover my glass. So I switched to my Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8L ii to shoot the rest of my night HDR photos after the sun went down.

    Hermosa Pier High Dynamic Range HDR Night Sunset

  2. Beneath the Hermosa Pier

    Submitted by on

    My experience photographing the Hermosa Pier was much better than when I when to the Santa Monica Pier. Parking was much easier in Hermosa and there was way less people and photographers crowding around. I had the whole purple hour basically to myself. The purple hour is that hour after the sun goes down when the sky transitions from blue into the black starry sky. The combination of the blue sky and the orange and red sunsets turns the sky purple or pink. This is also a great time because if you set your aperture high enough you can get really nice long exposures that smooth out the water. I accidently set my exposure too high in this photo which made it so you could see all the water particles that where stuck to my lens from the mist created by the waves. It took me forever to paint them all out. You probably don't want to shoot much higher than an f16 at a beach because of the mist that collects on the lens. 

    I think this photo could potentially fall into the "it looks unreal" category. But really this photo isn't too far off from what was really at the scene at the time. It was a very vibrant night with lot of smog on the horizon. Timing is everything with photography. I have this exact same photo I took ten minutes before this shot and it's nothing like it. With a three shot HDR I was able to merge the images and tonemapped them to enhance the colors in detail. The long exposure helped make the water look silky and smooth. 

    Hermosa Pier, Night Photography, HDR, Long Exposure, Purple Sky, Beautiful Sunset