Rock'n Sunset Dana Point

Rock'n Sunset Dana Point, originally uploaded by Tony DeSantis Photography.

Monday night is get out and shoot night. I have been working my way south through Orange County, California and this weeks stop was Dana Point. Not knowing where to go I went to Google Earth to try to get a lay of the land. Seemed like a lot of places to shoot and lots of places to park. So many winding streets where do you start. So being a follower on Flickr I have a contact that shoots quite a bit in Dana Point (Didenze). Sent out an email to see if she could recommend some places to shoot and she got back to me giving me a few options. How awesome is that!! Decided to try the first place she recommended which is the Ocean Institute area. Parking was right there and free and the beach was 100ft away. Loaded up and trekked on down to the beach for a bit, looking for a spot to set up. Seemed to be a ton of really nice places but I really didn't want to set up at the first I saw. Obviously I ended up at this spot which was about a 1/2 mile down the rocky beach.

Still trying the Black Card Technique and also multiple set ups. On the tripod I had a Canon 30D with a 10-20 sigma lens along with a 10 stop ND filter. Strapped I had my Canon 1DS Mark II with a 24-105 Lens. It seemed to be a good set up and I will try it again next time out.

Black Card Technique:

Black Card Technique is a little technique I read about so I don't have to use GND filters or HDR. A black card, shutter release and tripod is pretty much all that is needed. Here is the way it works:

>Spot Meter your foreground

>Spot Meter your sky

>Shoot in bulb mode to control exposure time

>Put black card over the area with the least exposure (Need at least 1.5 second total exposure)

>If the foreground is a 6 second exposure and the sky is a 3 second exposure cover the sky for a count of 3 seconds and remove card for the next 3 seconds and get a great exposure (6 seconds foreground, 3 seconds sky). 

>Remember to shake card up and down just a bit so you don't get any lines where the card stops. That is it!!  Takes a few times to get the feel for it.

>Things to note

-When shooting in Bulb Mode you can always adjust your time for the darker area's.

-The sky may not always be the darker area depending on the look you are going for

-ND filters may be necessary to get longer exposures during daylight hours

The Shot:
Single Exposure, 10 Seconds total (2 seconds for sky), F/8, ISO 100, 10mm Sigma 10-20 Lens, Manual setting
Black Card Technique

Post Processing:
ACR:  Minor adjustments in fill light and Black

CS-5:
-Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-Oranges on Rocks
-Topaz Adjust-Overall Color and detail in Water
-Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-Reduce Yellows in Sun Area
-Adjustment Layer-Curves-Overall Contrast
-Noise Ninja-Sky
-Cropped to taste
-High Pass Sharpening