Ryan10
Founding Member
This time I only used a single file. I also used the new "Luminosity Masking" feature in Lightroom Classic CC. I really like the feature a lot, but it seems to bog down the software when using multiples on an image.
Anyways...I'd also like to post my backstory of getting to the location that I posted on a FB group that some of you may be interested in.
So...to get this shot, it's a bit of a gamble with the tide. During high tide, all of the rocks in the foreground are under water and the site is basically unreachable.
This is a cove called "Little Corona Del Mar" in Newport beach. In order to get to it, you need to park near "Corona Del Mar" beach and walk the shoreline of 3 coves to get to this one. It's about a half mile hike...not bad at all.
Here is the tricky thing...You have to make sure you don't get trapped in this cove by the rising tide. If you get trapped, you won't be in danger of being swept away, there are a couple of 10+ million dollar homes just behind this cove that have private steps down to the adjacent beach/cove. You'd have to sit on one of those private steps for 6+ hours until the tide is low enough to get out. Of course, you can hope that one of the residents is nice enough to let you through, but I wouldn't count on that.
So...I decided last Friday was my time to go to the cove. Low tide was 3:30PM and high tide was scheduled for 9:30PM. I've never been to this location, so I was not sure what the tide would be like from 5:30-6:30PM, (during good sunset light). I knew I'd be heading back in relative darkness, so I took two headlamps with me.
I arrived at CDM beach around 4PM, and the tide was really low. Great!
I began my walk through the other coves and on down to LCDM. As I'm walking through the various coves, I'm trying to visualize where the water might be where I need to be concerned about leaving, which was very hard to gauge.
I got to the spot i wanted to shoot about 4:15, and I just started shooting and walking around waiting for better light. Come 5:30, the light really started to get dramatic, I still felt safe about the tide. The shot I posted here I took at roughly 6PM, but I still decided to stay another 15ish mins to get some other shots.
When I decided to leave, I definitely had to use my headlamp. I had to get out of LCDM cove by going around a rocky corner. water was already lapping up against the corner, and I thought I was going to have to go knee deep; however, I got lucky and found some footing that kept me dry. I still had to walk through 2 other coves to the beach area where I parked, so I was walking very fast. As fortune has it, the tide in the other 2 coves doesn't reach as high as fast. They were still relatively low and without concern. I even stopped in one of the other coves to pull my camera, Lee System, and lens off the tripod and store away in my bag, (yes, I was so concerned about the rising tide at LCDM cove that I got out of there with my full tripod setup still mounted).
Now...at no point did I fear of a rogue wave washing me or my camera gear away. I don't mean any disrespect to the ocean, but anyone that's familiar with the area knows that it's fairly well protected from large surf.
Being my first time there, i must say I was in awe of all the compositions that can be had. The amount of detail and tiny pools of water in the foreground are amazing. I will definitely return soon to take a more relaxed and methodical approach at finding less but higher quality of comps.
Canon 6D
Canon 16-35 F/4 @ F/8
ISO 200, 1 sec
Lee 3 stop soft grad
CDM Ladder Rock by Ryan Luna, on Flickr
Anyways...I'd also like to post my backstory of getting to the location that I posted on a FB group that some of you may be interested in.
So...to get this shot, it's a bit of a gamble with the tide. During high tide, all of the rocks in the foreground are under water and the site is basically unreachable.
This is a cove called "Little Corona Del Mar" in Newport beach. In order to get to it, you need to park near "Corona Del Mar" beach and walk the shoreline of 3 coves to get to this one. It's about a half mile hike...not bad at all.
Here is the tricky thing...You have to make sure you don't get trapped in this cove by the rising tide. If you get trapped, you won't be in danger of being swept away, there are a couple of 10+ million dollar homes just behind this cove that have private steps down to the adjacent beach/cove. You'd have to sit on one of those private steps for 6+ hours until the tide is low enough to get out. Of course, you can hope that one of the residents is nice enough to let you through, but I wouldn't count on that.
So...I decided last Friday was my time to go to the cove. Low tide was 3:30PM and high tide was scheduled for 9:30PM. I've never been to this location, so I was not sure what the tide would be like from 5:30-6:30PM, (during good sunset light). I knew I'd be heading back in relative darkness, so I took two headlamps with me.
I arrived at CDM beach around 4PM, and the tide was really low. Great!
I got to the spot i wanted to shoot about 4:15, and I just started shooting and walking around waiting for better light. Come 5:30, the light really started to get dramatic, I still felt safe about the tide. The shot I posted here I took at roughly 6PM, but I still decided to stay another 15ish mins to get some other shots.
When I decided to leave, I definitely had to use my headlamp. I had to get out of LCDM cove by going around a rocky corner. water was already lapping up against the corner, and I thought I was going to have to go knee deep; however, I got lucky and found some footing that kept me dry. I still had to walk through 2 other coves to the beach area where I parked, so I was walking very fast. As fortune has it, the tide in the other 2 coves doesn't reach as high as fast. They were still relatively low and without concern. I even stopped in one of the other coves to pull my camera, Lee System, and lens off the tripod and store away in my bag, (yes, I was so concerned about the rising tide at LCDM cove that I got out of there with my full tripod setup still mounted).
Now...at no point did I fear of a rogue wave washing me or my camera gear away. I don't mean any disrespect to the ocean, but anyone that's familiar with the area knows that it's fairly well protected from large surf.
Being my first time there, i must say I was in awe of all the compositions that can be had. The amount of detail and tiny pools of water in the foreground are amazing. I will definitely return soon to take a more relaxed and methodical approach at finding less but higher quality of comps.
Canon 6D
Canon 16-35 F/4 @ F/8
ISO 200, 1 sec
Lee 3 stop soft grad
CDM Ladder Rock by Ryan Luna, on Flickr
