God Beams

[Don Lacy]

So the morning turn out much better then I thought it would after almost heading home on two separate occasions I had a wonderful sunrise with some awesome colors . Now I am ready to leave as the sun is up and the color is fading from the sky so I grab my tripod and start to walk up the beach when i notice some god beams starting to form as the sun slides behind the cloud bank could I really be this lucky. I set up another composition and start to taking images alternating the exposure for the sky and the beach as the clouds become backlit and the beams radiate towards the heavens. I have been working some crazy hours lately and do not get out to photograph as much as I would like so when I get a morning like this I truly appreciate it.

Canon 6D, 17-40 f/4 at 17mm, .8s at f/16 for the sky and 2s at f/16 for the beach, Manual Exposure, Evaluative Metered, ISO 50, Tripod, Two image blend usual PS and Nik filters applied.

[Tom Redd]

Beautiful morning sunrise Lacy! Thanks for sharing it, every time I see one of your coastal sunrise shots, I think to myself that I really need to get out there! Congrats.

[Don Lacy]

Beautiful morning sunrise Lacy! Thanks for sharing it, every time I see one of your coastal sunrise shots, I think to myself that I really need to get out there! Congrats.
Tom you are always welcome to come on over to the East coast the next time you are in Florida I will gladly show you around. I talked to Sid the other day we are planning to come out to Colorado again for Mountain Goats hopefully I will see you soon either way.

[David Stephens]

Love it as is, but wonder what it would have looked like with a higher percentage sky instead of emphasis on the shore and water. (Maybe the sky is not interesting above your cutoff, but I wonder. Still, this is a wall hanger.

[Robert Amoruso]

Don,

Great shot - you know I am going to like it.

Why not us split ND filters to balance the exposure in lieu of blending two images?

[Morkel Erasmus]

This is really nice Don. I am fine with the land/sky split, just the right water movement (SS) and the pastel tones are lovely.
How about this RP showing more midtone contrast and darkened the light tones a bit overall?

[Don Lacy]

Why not us split ND filters to balance the exposure in lieu of blending two images?

Robert, My 2 stop grad is not always strong enough and since money is tight right now I started blending images and have really like the results. For one I no longer have a darken foreground subject if it is higher then the horizon I can mask it out as needed, I am also able to ETTR the foreground exposure which helps with shadow detail on a Canon sensor.



How about this RP showing more midtone contrast and darkened the light tones a bit overall?

Looks good Morkel will consider that aproach when I go to print it.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Don, beautiful work...I love the water swirling around the foreground rocks...prefer Morkel's slightly darker version a little more...for scenes like this I will usually opt for my 3-stop reverse grad.

[peter delaney]

Hi Don
A wonderful seascape which connects with the viewer…

I prefer the OP as Morkels whites are just too dark for me, And the image would be just as successful in B&W….

[Morkel Erasmus]

Good point Peter - I should have dodged the whites after toning down overall :bg3:

[dankearl]

I like the repost, Don and another fine photo from you.
The light beam is nice and a nice sky.
The water either needed to be slower for faster for my taste. Just personal, as stylized water always is.