If you've been following my work, you may notice that this image seems a bit different than a lot of my other shots. For this capture, I left my wide angle lens in the bag and opted for a telephoto lens instead, which would compress and flatten the scene I had in mind.
So, what is lens compression?
Lens compression creates the illusion that the background elements are larger than they actually are; hence, the scene becomes "distorted" since these background elements appear closer and larger than they are in real life.
Notice how the mountains in the background appear to be right behind the lighthouse when, in fact, they are several miles away. In the foreground, the fence and cliffs appear to be close to the lighthouse when in reality, they are at least a hundred yards in front of it.
My favorite part of this image is the Monterey cypress trees. They have a lovely shape to them that's quite pleasing to the eye. This image was captured just before sunrise at approximately 6:40 a.m.