Sunset

As I had said, I wanted to experience a sunset at Point Lobos.

So, there I was, 7:30 PM, camera in hand, overlooking the so-called "Devil’s Cauldron" (thus it is named on the map), watching the sun go down. The foreground was very dark; the sky was very light. So, what I did, was bracket. This involves taking three exposures in rapid succession, the three exposures being normal, normal – 1, and normal + 1. (1 f-stop, that is.) The camera can do this automatically, if you know how to access the settings.

I ended up with a lot of photos with correctly exposed foregrounds, and a lot of photos with correctly exposed skies. And so it is that, thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, I went ahead and picked the best foreground exposure, and the best sky exposure, and did a little copy and paste job.

Alas, the seals lounging on the middle rock really aren’t visible . . .

Photo: Sunset—Point Lobos, 2008