Scenic Beach Photography - Newport Beach, California

Scenic Photography captured at sunset in Newport Beach, California. This image was captured in a matter of minutes from parking. It was a hot summer day and I decided to take a drive to Newport Beach to capture some HDR images. But what I did not anticipate was the traffic still flowing into Newport at 6:30pm on a Saturday. I figured I would be able to find parking and set up my camera, having plenty of time to take some HDR images. Was I surprised. I could not find parking for 45 minutes and that was in a residential area off the beaten path. But, I do think it was worth it from looking at the photo of the week below.

I practically ran to the beach to capture the setting sun. What makes this image especially interesting is not just the setting sun, but the people on the beach. Here we have individuals who are separately engaged in their lives, yet come together collectively to create a stunning photograph. Children play in the crashing waves, a surfer walks along the beach. A young child dances against a setting sun, a lady makes a call on her cell phone while a couple walk along the beach holding hands. Lets not forget to mention the well timed seagulls entering the frame as thought they are a couple taking a stroll along the coast line. I don't believe I would have captured a better image had I had time to setup further south as I had planned.

On a technical note, a graduated ND2 filter was used on my Nikon D3.