Curious sperm whale is getting closer to check on my equipment and possibly to check quality of the picture I took. When you are dealing with clients like this it's better not to disappoint them - each teeth in the mouth of this 14-m giant weights about 1kg ! ^_^

Disclaimer: photo taken under permit

#SpermWhale

The Skeleton Coast is an infamous stretch of coastline running down the south of Angola and northern Namibia. The combination of heavy surf, thick fogs and inhospitable desert have over the years led to more than thousand shipwrecks and many lost lives. This, combined with the bleached whale and seal bones that covered the shores in the days when whaling was active are what gave the area its name.

This is one of the many shipwrecks I saw during an aerial flight along the coast. This particular wreck was the Eduard Bohlen, situated about 200m 400m inland (thanks Wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Bohlen) as a result of the constantly shifting sands. I can only imagine how out of place it must look from ground level where the sea wouldn't be visible, though I can't imagine getting to it over ground would be very easy!

Here's it's location on Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/z2hc7

Google Photography Prize

(c) b.cortis www.cortis.info

Here's the Color Efex Pro 4 version of my Ship on Shore shot from this week's podcast.

Here's a link in case you missed it.
http://blog.martinbaileyphotography.com/2011/11/11/podcast-308-nik-softwares-color-efex-pro-4-walkthrough/

Hastings - 2010

Birthday wish ; that nature remains nature in the last remaining places on earth where that is still the case.

The White Dress
Retouch comparison coming soon...

Love these moments

Waterfalls

Garrapata Light - Big Sur, California

I hope that the state of California does not close this beautiful stretch of beach next year due to budget problems! It is one of 70 state parks that may close out of over 240 total.

(Expand post for more)


Details

Canon 5D
Canon 17-40L @ 33
1/4-second exposure @F22
ISO 50
2 Lee soft grad filters (4x6 inch, 100x150mm, 0.9, 3-stop)
No polarizer.
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop cs4
Small Slik Sprint mini II tripod
Manfrotto 322RC2 pistol-grip ball head

The Story

The coast was blanketed in a 2,500 foot deep low cloud layer, but this part of the Big Sur coastline bends to the east just south of Carmel allowing holes to develop in the fog. That allowed the light to cast itself across the beach and mountains one hour before sunset. I had originally planned to shoot at another location, but it was fogged in so I went to where the light was. I wanted to catch the waves just at the split second when the light shone through, revealing the color of the water. The angle of the light enabled the texture of the rock face and sand to show up clearly. The softness of the light allowed me to have the wave paint itself onto the image with an exposure time just long enough to show some movement without losing a sense of the direction of motion. A ½ second exposure would have looked rather messy and a 1/20 second exposure would have frozen the wave in place.



Other stuff

My pictures are featured on the front page of California Governor, Jerry Brown's website http://gov.ca.gov

Resources

I wrote a 325 eBook that describes exactly how I went about learning photography starting in 2006. I did not learn the usual way. I have studied the great masters of painting and hope to find that light in the real world.

http://www.patricksmithphotography.com/Photography_Book.html


A great weather mashup map of the world with local temperatures, weather and nice popups. See where it is hot and not! (Must wait for slow commercials first, but worth it!)
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/

Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/

Simply the best way to scout out locations that there is. You can see sun angles and pre-visualize light under lots of different conditions. Sometimes you can actually pre-compose your shots! This has saved me many thousands of vertical feet of climbing by avoiding spots with blocked views etc.

Satellite imagery (choose 'National' for a local US region or use your fave website)
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/?wfo=mtr

Tide charting and preditions: (chose your area in US, other countries have similar websites)
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=235

Wave Heights (I choose 'North Pacific from Global')
http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/index2.shtml

Or Here:
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/RP1bw.gif

Photos of every inch of the California coastline from a small plane. Excellent for close in detailed views.

http://www.californiacoastline.org/

Special thanks to: Bob Jones - JM Studio. Melanie Jones - Studio Assistant. Donna Latino - Hair Stylist & Prop Assistant. Lakisa Renee - MUA. Vikas Gargas - Art Direction Support. And of course, Melissa Rose - Model. This was a great shoot. I appreciate all of you and your continued support of this project and of me.