Chasing the Light Photo

Photographer’s Note

Seashore at Dundarave Beach, West Vancouver. There is a great beach there, with a collection of smooth rocks that is very photogenic. When you put that together with a nice sunset it's a beautiful combination. The light reflecting off the surface of the stones and also off the bottom of the clouds shows everything off so well. One thing that I've learned over the last couple of years is that the art of landscape photography is mainly about chasing the light, and this photo shows what I'm talking about.

One of the great things about Vancouver is how close it is to nature. You are never far away from the mountains or the ocean. Even in the heart of the city you can look down the canyon of office towers and at the end of the street you can see either ocean or mountains. This looks like a wild beach, but it's only about 15 minutes drive from downtown Vancouver.

carper, jjcordier, Gerrit, Floydian, Dyerco, pboehringer, euryan, arturski, gneufeld, ChrisJ, crhieatt, maximage, AiresSantos, pierrefonds, InasiaJones, robinlawr, derek3755, afshin339, npecanhuk has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

jimkilgallon (0) 2008-04-20 22:04

Hi Alvin

Stunning, fantastic detail in the rocks, love the reds in the clouds. Cannot wait to see British Columbia now myself..
Regards
Jim

jjcordier (24534) 2008-04-20 22:25

Alvin
Une photo de très belle qualité où l'on admire l'incroyable profondeur de champ et les couleurs splendides. Très beau travail!
Amicalement
JJ

keribar (42742) 2008-04-20 22:29

Hi Alvin,

I'll be stuck at home for a couple of days, and that will give me the time and opportunity to follow up better with TE.
Here I appreciate very much how close you got to the ground, and the peddles, and how good you lead us to the infinite passing through so many layers of beauties and colors.
Good job as usual - Izzet

mxblau (151) 2008-04-20 22:32

great clarity and a beautiful composition of the nature, good contrast of colors. ...very good photo.
Miriam

John_F_Kennedy (31263) 2008-04-20 23:42

The sky has such a good colour and it makes a great contrast with the sea. Great night photo.
Best wishes,
Achim

Gerrit (35613) 2008-04-21 0:42

Hi Alvin,
beautiful picture from the burning sky till the blue lighted rocks. Great composition.
Regards, Gerrit

rbcy1974 (20742) 2008-04-21 0:46

Hello Alvin
Very beautiful landscape, very nice capture of all the different parts of the photo, did you use a filter to balance the light a bit?
Regards
Daniel

Floydian (30970) 2008-04-21 1:05

Hi Alvin,
Your vertical framing also works here pretty good. The rocks in the foreground make nice focalpoints for depth and a good composition, but more important is the play with light which is excellent here. The small rays of yellow coming up over the mountain are wonderful, just as the red glow around it with nice cloud formations. The big boulder on the left fills up tha gap, very good.
Regards, Henk

Dyerco (9038) 2008-04-21 5:06

Hi Alvin
You are right. It's all about the light and it takes a mountain of patience to wait for it. It also takes a lot of will power to drag yourself out of bed to catch the early morning light. That said this is a fine image with the light on both the clouds and the stones helping to provide a sense of depth. Ths big boulder is a great focal point between the FG and the BG sky.
Nicely done.
Phil

Fis2 (45687) 2008-04-21 7:00

Hej Alvin!
Your photo has climate. Wonderful landscape. I like the frame and coloers. Well done.
Regards
Krzysztof

pboehringer (770) 2008-04-21 7:35

Alvin,
you're absolutely right about your description of landscape photography and there are not a lot of people at TE that can demonstrate that so well as you do. This is another great example of one of your successfull light hunts. I just imagine how many trips, hiking you have to do to get a single moment like this. People that do other type of photography sometimes look depreciative to a shot like this one with the believe that anyone can get this shot. They are dead wrong! It requires a lot of patience, many moments of frustrations, many shots that are garbage to finally come up with a glorious moment. WOW, what a beauty. Not only the red in the sky but also the reflection of it with a very faint red on the pebbles!
Great work, Alvin!
Peter

fallan (1840) 2008-04-21 8:35

The sweeping curves of the rock, water & clouds all fit together very well. Another nice photo.

carper (64638) 2008-04-21 9:38

it's a piece of photoart Alvin,
very good photojob here, the technical side is very good, the effect and the atmosphere are great, good quality I like it a lot, have a nice day.
gr. jaap

rgarrigus (0) 2008-04-21 9:55

Hi Alvin,

Beautiful near/far construct. I love the shiny rocks and this is the kind of sky that makes getting up at any hour worth it - or driving longs distances and staying out late. The best part for me is your astute choice of the f/13 aperture to keep the water looking natural. Too often I find myself sticking to f/22 when I don't need to and getting an overly soft impression.

Cheers!

BOb G.

Signal-Womb (11685) 2008-04-21 10:19

Hi Alvin, very impressive shot. You certainly have capture beautiful light and timed the shot very well with the incoming wave. Composition sits well also. Excellent result..

euryan (8345) 2008-04-21 10:21

That 3-stop ND grad really did the trick without looking unnatural. The exposure is perfect throughout and helped you capture some amazing colors. The composition is nicely balanced as well.

gneufeld (15169) 2008-04-21 18:28

Hi alvin,
A sort of classic Alvin shot but I like every one. Great sunset shot with strong use of foreground, and that big rock out to the left is a very good balancing feature. Great colors and the vertical perspective works real well. TFS. Gerald

ChrisJ (70125) 2008-04-21 20:54

Hi Alvin

A spectacular sunset, with a superb colour palette, & excellent graphism & framing. Good motion blur of the surf, & nice repetition of the rounded stones, on the shoreline. Tfs!

cdmonson (2751) 2008-04-21 22:12

Hi Alvin:

Great shot of the coast. In a way, this is a "classic Alvin shot" as Gerald calls it, but on the other hand it's a bit unique for you. I particularly like the wider angle and the inclusion of the setting sun. And of course those colors. This is a lovely shot all around.

Clark

By the way, 1/5 second at f/13 with a 3-stop grad? What was the ISO? That seems like a very short exposure to me. I quite like it though.

jhm (82319) 2008-04-22 4:43

Hello Alvin,

On the just moment on the just place than can them make this wonderful image.
Technical a very good image through the great depth and lovely perspective.
I like your composition with the big stones in foreground.
Very well done, thanks for sharing.

Best regards,
John.

crhieatt (5143) 2008-04-22 9:53

Alvin,
This one has a very naturalistic (rather than artsy) feel to it. It must be the shutter speed, prohibiting the "misty" foreground look. A change is as good as a rest!
Spectacular fire on the ridge!
Regards
Colin

jonathan_hart (22570) 2008-04-22 12:02

very crisp details, great depth, and of course a wonderful composition, with such a view and sunset colours...
regards
jo

maximage (13349) 2008-04-22 13:03

Bonjour Alvin,
Très beau travail photographique! lumière et couleurs de rêve.
Amitiés.
max

AiresSantos (41970) 2008-04-22 23:29

Hi Alvin
Excellent management of the speed in order to have a great depth and a beautiful effect of the water.
Beautiful colours, lovely sky and nice details
Have a nice day
Aires

halikarnas (2233) 2008-04-23 9:59

hi Alvin,
incredible,fantastic,very nice colors...
münakaşasız TrekEarth'ta nadir muhteşem fotoğraflardan biri.Işık ve gölge renkleri harika yapmış.Çok uygun diyafram ve enstantane neticeyi noktalamış.
Fotoğrafın kalitesi erişilmesi zor Ustalar sınıfına giriyor.Diğer resimlerinde takdire layık.MAESTRO ALVİN seni en iyi dileklerimle kutluyorum,Bodrum-TURKEY'den selamlar sana...

PJE (19417) 2008-04-23 12:07

Hello Alvin. Wonderfully clear and clean shoreline is something we tend to take for granted on the West Coast. I do love the sky tones and the shoreline rocks are exposed very nicely with the Singh Ray filter application.

erdna (5348) 2008-04-23 13:37

This is beautifully done as usual! May I ask what you use to process your photos? You mentioned once that you use RAW format. Do you use a combination of two softwares?

Andre'

pierrefonds (26167) 2008-04-24 4:30

Hi Alvin,

The long exposure time brings out the beauty of the sunset. The sunset is giving beautiful colors to the sky, the sea and the rocks. The point of view leads our eyes towards the sunset. It is giving a sensation of relaxation. Have a nice day.

Pierre

fayeulle (26543) 2008-04-24 19:07

Hi Alvin
Classic shot with long time exposure on the shore to give a soft efect to the waves. I really like this kind of shot and this one is perfect.
Cheers
JP

InasiaJones (20060) 2008-04-24 22:57

Alvin,

This shot looks just great. I think the splendour of the scene lies everywhere, from the subtle rays behind the mountain to the wet rocks that provides highlights and dimension.

The clouds and breaking waves are the show stealers though, as it is impossible to resist to such beauty.

Vancouver as so much to offer... Too bad our country is so vast and your province so far to go there every few weekends...

Great artwork.

André

dcawker (5667) 2008-04-29 17:33

Holy moly, fantastic image, Alvin! I love everything about it. Regards, Doug

robinlawr (898) 2008-05-04 17:22

Hi Alvin. Been a while and I clearly have a lot of your images to catch up on! What better way to do so than starting with your 'Chasing the Light'. If I could catch one like this I'd be very pleased indeed. You've caught the colour in that great sky perfectly. That final burst of light from the setting sun... perfectly timed! The contract of the cool foreground really sets it off. As usual, a classic from a master.

Best regards

Robin

Kenny10pin (19301) 2008-05-12 19:29

great shot here, the colours are very nicely taken and the foreground too

npecanhuk (13713) 2008-05-13 14:18

Hi Alvin!
It's such a wonderful picture:
a) First of all, the sky and its colors are amazinly beautiful!
b) The rocks look so great, for the different shapes and sizes and the meeting with the water!
c) The sea, a bit blurred purposedly, gives us the sense of movement!
d) Sharpness is a plus!
TFS - Congratulations!
Neyvan

derek3755 (2341) 2008-05-20 15:40

Hi Alvin

beautiful sunset, light and colours just above the mountains are stunning, as well as the red glow on the clouds. Nice composition with the wet rocks glistening along the baech too

Regards
Derek

afshin339 (304) 2008-05-26 11:29

Hi Alvin
I like the atmosphere in your shot.I can smell the fresh air of the seashore in your picture and that's very fine for me.Clarity and colors in your shot are impressive and dreamy.Your cadre selection is wonderful.(especially the big stone or rock in the middle of cadre).Details are excellent and nice focus.

Thanks for sharing this nice picture for us.
Good luck.
afshin.

abulafia (4802) 2008-07-27 4:01

Hi Alvin
Another one of those flawless landscape compositions!
Sky and composition is great
Harry

coco (27790) 2009-11-09 7:30

Hi Alvin.

What wonderful sunset. The composition and exposure are gorgeous and you made a fantastic work.

Regards.