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Another beautiful evening on the west coast of Australia. One thing you can always be sure of in my photography - I will visit my favourite coastal spots in Perth every year in search of another seascape. This is where I started out with my landscape photography and local beaches will forever hold a special place in my heart. No matter how many times I venture out, I always find something different to photograph. Not every trip is successful in terms of photographic results but it is not only about that and every time it is enjoyable and refreshing to be out on the coast.
I took this photo a couple of years ago on early summer evening. It was not the most spectacular of sunsets, however, I loved the warm orange glow spreading over the sky and water. The sun was setting behind a thin layer of haze, which softened the light nicely, and clouds formed a great reflective screen for the light to reach around the entire scene. When I took the base exposure, it was actually rather flat and I had to bring back a bit of contrast in post processing. The lack of contrast meant that I had a lot leeway when working on the photo without worrying about loss of detail in the darkest parts of the scene.
The water movement in the foreground was a little tricky to catch because I had to wait for some slightly higher waves to provide it. The coast around Perth is reasonably flat and the rocks protruding through the surface are usually small. The waves on a normal day are also rather small and the tide change is almost insignificant. Sometimes it means that I have to be very patient to get the right waves to come my way. The benefit of waiting is that this is when I am able to take the time to study the ocean and the coast to look for compositions, patters and to observe wave behaviour. I have noticed, for example, that the waves usually pick up a little just before the sunset before dying off for a few minutes afterwards. This is obviously not set in stone but I have been able to use it in my planning a few times.
On this occasion everything came together nicely and I was able to come back home with a good image. I think that we all have these personal favourite places where we like to return. Somewhere where we can feel happy and where we know that we can enjoy photography no matter how many times we have been there before. I treat visits to these spots as a kind of reset mechanism just to go back to basics and to keep working on my photographic craft.
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