Wave Meets Foaming Gorp

AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
I don't know if there is an official name for the foam that can arise with heavy seas but some of the basalt ledges along the central Oregon Coast can produce some really thick blankets of the stuff. This example is from Cook's Chasm at Cape Perpetua. In this particular capture you can see the airborne disruption of the foam surface as it gets hit with an incoming wave. The foam is a somewhat beige color while the incoming wave is more of a pure white hue. The foam floats on the top the water with a relatively calm texture that can be seen on the left side of the scene and along the back of the chasm while the incoming wave is close to the viewer on the right. The stuff flying up in the air is foam that has just been hit by the wave. The resulting displays are unique for each incoming wave and only last for a split second. The shot was 1/2000s at f/8.0 in a burst of 30fps.

CR5m2_WAveMeetsGorp102625.jpg


C&C always welcome.
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Jameel Hyder said:
It all looks like frothy milk. Nice grab of a moment a naked eye can't see.
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Thanks Jameel - I didn't know these interesting kinds of splashes were present until I took burst and started chimping the results. I kinda went nut after that and kept blasting away.
 
Douglas Sherman

Douglas Sherman

Staff
AlanLichty said:
I don't know if there is an official name for the foam that can arise with heavy seas but some of the basalt ledges along the central Oregon Coast can produce some really thick blankets of the stuff. This example is from Cook's Chasm at Cape Perpetua. In this particular capture you can see the airborne disruption of the foam surface as it gets hit with an incoming wave. The foam is a somewhat beige color while the incoming wave is more of a pure white hue. The foam floats on the top the water with a relatively calm texture that can be seen on the left side of the scene and along the back of the chasm while the incoming wave is close to the viewer on the right. The stuff flying up in the air is foam that has just been hit by the wave. The resulting displays are unique for each incoming wave and only last for a split second. The shot was 1/2000s at f/8.0 in a burst of 30fps.

View attachment 85361

C&C always welcome.
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It is called sea foam or spume. It can be created by high levels of organic matter in the water like algae. I have seen it at Mono Lake too.
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Douglas Sherman said:
It is called sea foam or spume. It can be created by high levels of organic matter in the water like algae. I have seen it at Mono Lake too.
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Thanks Doug - I have to confess gorp had a nicer ring to it although sea foam is more descriptive. Its fairly common out along the various basalt ledges along the OR coastline but Cooks Chasm does a nice job of corralling lots of it during storm conditions and with high swells at high tide can put on quite the show. I've never seen the details of what this looks like with high speed shooting before this last trip out there. Now I want to go look around for more spots where something like this might exist.
 
Ken Rennie

Ken Rennie

Well-Known Member
Doug has beaten me to it sea foam. On my last winter trip to the North of Scotland it was a foot thick carpet for 100ft from the shore line all along the beach. It is quite sticky and on this occasion a fairly unpleasant beige colour. I should have photographed it but didn't . Instead I waded through it down the where the breaking waves had washed most of it away. and photographed from there. Sea foam has a consistency close to beaten eggs at the soft peak stage ( for a soufflé). Ken
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Ken Rennie said:
Doug has beaten me to it sea foam. On my last winter trip to the North of Scotland it was a foot thick carpet for 100ft from the shore line all along the beach. It is quite sticky and on this occasion a fairly unpleasant beige colour. I should have photographed it but didn't . Instead I waded through it down the where the breaking waves had washed most of it away. and photographed from there. Sea foam has a consistency close to beaten eggs at the soft peak stage ( for a soufflé). Ken
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Thanks Ken - your description of the sea foam is spot on. On its own the foam is anything but photogenic and I fully agree with your observation about the odor. If not for the crazy shapes the foam takes on when the foam carpet gets hit by strong waves I would typically go out of my way to avoid having it in my images.
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Jeffrey said:
Fascinating. It's like photographing wildlife!
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Thanks Jeffrey - FWIW I used the same custom setup profile I use for shooting birds for this session. That's loosely based on the configuration settings suggested in the video link you sent me back when I first got the R5 MkII. Pan for your subject AF lock and let it rip.
 
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