2011.01.23 Rodeo Beach Seascapes
Photo of the Day, Shot with Canon 40D Sigma 10-20mm 4 stop graduation soft ND filters
This past weekend I scouted locations for future Marin headlands and Sausalito landscape images. I spent half of Saturday visiting four spots and then finally ending up at Rodeo Beach. Creating dramatic landscape images mostly requires shooting at sunrise or sunset limiting ones ability to shoot multiple scenes a day. The time required to find and wait for good light makes the photos special. Blah Blah Blah… Here are the goods. I captured the first two images at Rodeo Beach. I used 4 stop graduated soft neutral density filters (3 and 1 stop stacked) to even out the bright sunset with the dark foreground. Without filters the sky would have been blown out (too bright) or the foreground would have been too dark. Lightroom and Photoshop can add artificial filters but they cannot replace real filters.
Tips for shooting Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands
- Arrive about 1 hour before the sunset. I was the fourth photographer to show up and by sunset there were 15 photographers.
- Check the tides. You want to shoot the rock formations close with a wide angle.
- Prepare to get wet. I was up to my waist in water.
- Clear days are nice but clouds make the image more dramatic. I wish there were more clouds but I am happy with the shot.
Solid neutral density are a useful tool to produce creative images. They reduce the light of the entire image allowing the photographer to use slower the shutter speeds to blur motion or hide moving objects. I shot these old pier posts in Sausalito bright sunlight. My 10 stop neutral density filter slowed down the shutter speed to 8 seconds at f/16 and ISO 100. Water motion becomes blurred and foggy at slow shutter speeds. One thing to remember is that circular ND filters do not work well with wide angle lenses. At least they did not on my Canon 40D with Sigma 10-20mm lens. I will look more into this. Here is a comparison between a normal exposure and a slow shutter speed. The slow shutter speed makes it more interesting.
Here is an examples of the sunrise in Sausalito using the 10 stop ND filter stacked with 4 stop graduation neutral density filters. The ND filter clarifies the post reflections making they more discrete. The 10 stop ND filter works like a charm on my 24-105 lens. ???? Big tip. Watch your step at the edge of the pier at low tide. Its slippery and I biffed hard. 🙂
Dan O'Keeffe Photography 
I LOVE THIS PHOTO, IT’S AWESOME!