California Coast 13: Man on Beach (color)

Image Commentary

This image was taken in early November of 2005, late one afternoon just before dark during a break between storm fronts. It was shot with a Pentax 67 with Velvia 100 transparency film and scanned on a Nikon 8000 film scanner.

The image was shot using the smallest aperture possible (f:22) to obtain full depth of field. The fading light required a long shutter speed of 30 or so seconds. The camera was tripod mounted. To my surprise, not only did the ocean’s breaking waves fuse into the horizon, but also, the wind-blown clouds appeared to be moving. The Kelvin temperature of the light was very high and in most cases this results in a very bluish tint, which adds to the cool feel of the image.

My goal was to make this image both soothing and at the same time give it an air of tension. A technique I typically use to accomplish this is to conterpose objects within or around the area of the "center of interest", in this case by balancing the whiter and more lively areas to the right of the center of the image with the darger visage of a lonely human silhouette to the left of center. I emphasized the arrangement by boosting the contrast and by selectively dodging and burning and applying a soft Gaussian Blur vignette. The positioning of the man to the left of center was something of a stroke of luck, but his presence is key to the image. He provides a perfect balance and at the same time introduces a human perspective evoking a sense of contemplative solitude and human vulnerability.

I liked this image in color but thought it might also work in black and white.

California Coast 14: Man on Beach (B & W)