• Paddle To The Sea • [EXPLORE]

The sunset is getting earlier and earlier out here even though the Fall weather disappeared for a few days this week, reaching a high of 100 on Monday. The 7pm sunset last week at Venice became 6:44 tonight which screwed up my evening plans. I had hoped to arrive a half hour before darkness started to creep in but after taking the dog out and then checking the weather conditions, I realized the earlier time would mean I'd arrive just as the sun was setting and no time to get ready--assuming no traffic or parking difficulties.

 

A year ago, my obsession with long exposure was just beginning and I took every opportunity to go places where that was an option. In the Maryland countryside, it wasn't always tough to find a decent location for the sunset, usually with a backdrop of the catoctin mountains or thick rows of trees. What I rarely found was a completely unobstructed view of the sunset which is plentiful along the coast of the Pacific Ocean out here. The main difference is where my focus ends up. At home, I seemed to mostly adjust my focus towards the background, on whatever static object was closest to the horizon. In Southern California, I often will focus my attention on the foreground, trying to find an area midway up to the horizon since it's often the only non moving part.

 

Since being here, I've slowly tried to incorporate panoramas into my collection of shooting styles in addition to capturing the amazing reflections found on some of the flatter shorelines like at Venice Beach. My attempts at panoramas began simply because I'd never given them much thought and each time out shooting, I'd try to get a few more images that could be combined in lightroom CC. The main lens I use is still the 18-135mm kit lens that came with my camera. It's the most versatile lens I have and since I use a crop sensor camera, it gives me the biggest view. I started to realize though that even at 18mm, I was missing far too much of a great sky or landscape. I had zero idea how much photography cost when I began to learn in manual since prior, my camera criteria had been a good point and shoot with a large zoom so I could photograph my active dog. I'm effectively priced out of upgrading to a full frame and often it feels like I'm really limiting myself. I love my camera but it really bugs me that I constantly wonder how much better my images could be with a full frame. I've seen the comparisons online that show a border in a full frame shot representing how much a crop sensor camera cuts out. I know they purposely choose photos for maximum effect and it always works on me.

 

The only real solution is an eventual upgrade (which also means all new glass as well) but for the time being, I've been trying really hard to at least give more of a full frame feel by committing to 2 shot panoramas. It's obviously not the same, but when I can get the waves to mostly line up and then compare the merged 2 panel panorama to the single frame, the difference is enormous to me. Lately, I'll choose a quicker shutter speed and then fire off about 4 or 5 shots at each pivot in the panorama and then search in lightroom and photo merge for the best combinations and view of the bunch. The goal is to only need a few seconds of blending in photoshop to give a seamless look.

 

This photo is an example of that process and is a 2 shot horizontal panorama of Venice this past Tuesday. I overlapped these shots by about 30% and had an additional panel on either side just in case but they didn't match up well. Even so, I was pretty pleased with the result of this since I really didn't want to back up and mess with the symmetry but also didn't want to cut out any of the great sky and shore that completed this reflection. I set my tripod nearly flat on these reflective surfaces here because there's really no risk of rising water making it that far, especially any waves that would require me to grab my gear quickly. Not too far to the left would be the tip of Venice Pier and a bit to the right would be the actual sunset facing more towards Santa Monica. While I know there are plenty of differences between full frame and crop, the missing view is what bugs me the most at the moment and until I upgrade, this may be my indefinite solution. Of course I could also practice in portrait and shoot fuller panoramas like that but I'm OK with the 2 frame panoramas in landscape at 18-35mm. The biggest problem is long exposures where I often don't have the time or light to take enough shots to merge well. I'd rather fire off 30 shots in 2 minutes than 6 shots in 5. I'm sure when the cloudy skies become more consistent, I'll have a lot more time to work on panoramas using the 10 stop filter to maximize the view. I just really don't want to waste the limited cloudy days shooting in a way that gives me a low probability of success.

 

▪️WHEN & WHERE▪️

•Venice Beach

•Venice, California

•September 20th, 2016

 

▪️SETTINGS▪️

Canon T4i

•EF-S 18-135mm IS STM

•2 frame panorama

•@18mm

•ISO 100

•f/8

•1/4 second

•CPL

Done