Today's image is a sunrise shot of Walton Lighthouse, located at the Santa Cruz Harbor. This is another image I've had in my mind for quite a while but never found time to photograph. To capture this photo, I set up my camera on East Cliff Drive, at the north end of Seabright Beach.

This vantage point is some distance away from the lighthouse, so, like last week, a telephoto lens (435mm) was required to capture the image. I added a graduated neutral density filter to hold back the sky, stopped down my lens to f 40, and used a 10-second exposure to create the silky smooth water and the star effect of the light in the lighthouse.

If you remember my image from last week, you will recognize how using a telephoto lens has compressed the background of the photo into beautiful layers.

The lighthouse and jetty, being in the foreground, are much closer to the lens, causing separation between them and the background. The end result is that the lighthouse stands out and your eye naturally focuses on it, which is the primary objective, since it's the subject of the photograph.

Enjoy!

Technical Stuff:

Canon 5D Mark III / 100-400 L series lens w/1.25 extender / ISO 100 / f 40 / Exposure 10 sec / ND Grad Filter / Tripod / Release Cable

Quote of the Week:

“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”
— Don McCullin

Want to see how "Starbright" would look on your wall?

Click on the image. After the new page loads, click on the Wall Preview feature to how it would look in your home or office.