Cannon Beach, Oregon

 Using what took me far too long to learn, I left my house at 2PM for a 2.5 hour drive to Cannon Beach, Oregon, and arrived just as the sun was getting low over the ocean.  Time of day is really important if you want the best light for landscape photography. 

Sun Star - 14mm, 1/100 @ f/13

One of the tricky balances of post processing high contrast scenes is allowing the naturally dark and shadowed areas to stay that way and still bring out some details.  You can HDR it to death quite easily, which might look cool as a special effect, but not natural.  

Boulder Pool - 15mm, 1/200 @ f/13

Here I was just having fun, trying to used the sun to turn the distant rock column into a massive torch. This was another scene where I had to be careful to get detail out of the shadows but maintain the dramatic mood of the lighting.  

Rock Pool - 14mm, 1/30 @ f/13

One of the things landscape photographers look for is "foreground interest".  If you have something interesting in the foreground, it allows the viewers eyes to there and travel farther into the photo.  Here the ultra wide angle lens bent the wash lines toward center frame, an effect I love. 

Reflecting Surfaces - 23mm, 1/30 @ f/13

Here's another example of foreground interest, both the sunken areas in the sand and the texture closer to the camera.  The sun was just slipping below the horizon.  One reason I enjoy beaches is that it's so to get clean compositions without distractions.  In the forest, that's much harder because there's so many details everywhere. 

The Three Kings - 14mm, 1/30 @ f/13

I really like the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 Art lens on my Sony A7III because I can shoot directly into the sun and it controls flare so well.  And 16mm to 14mm is a significant difference in how much you can get into the scene.  

5 hours of driving for 1.5 hours of shooting.  Yeah it was worth it!