Creating the Seascape Photograph “Sunset at Sakonnet Beach”
Getting the opportunity to photograph sunset at Sakonnet Beach in Little Compton, Rhode Island is something that I never pass up. One of my favorite beaches, it is a great location for seascape photography – a great beach, plenty of rocks right at the waters edge, a lighthouse just off the coast, and sunsets that always seem to be full of magical color.
Seascape Photography – Sunset at Sakonnet Beach
I am very passionate about my photography, and when I am at the waters edge I am like a kid at Christmas. The anticipation of what the sunset is going to bring, the hope that the clouds and the colors will all come together in that one magical moment. If it all comes together will I be in the right place, will my composition be optimal, and will I use my tools properly to record it all? Often it only lasts a few moments before it fades away into night.
As I try to create that perfect photograph, you will often find me running along to shore, covered in sand! I love to create photographs with my camera only inches from the ground, to give a different perspective then what you normally see as you walk along the beach.
Trying to decide what to photograph, and how to photograph are decisions that need to be made. Mother nature controls the size of the seas, the movement of the clouds and the colors of the sky, but it is up to me to decide how to capture it, and what I want to share with you the viewer.
For this photograph I wanted to make the rocks into dominant elements of the composition. I once again crouched down in the sand, and got as close to the rocks as I could get while keeping my gear safe and dry. I moved around until I was in a spot that accentuated the rocks, and placed the lighthouse in a pleasing location on the horizon.
Once I had a pleasing composition, it was time to create an exposure to complement the scene. I wanted several things – I wanted the rocks to be dark, almost silhouetted against the water with just a hint of light along the edges to help them stand out. I wanted the water to be smooth and misty, and the sky to retain the colors of the sunset. A long exposure softened the seas waves, and a graduated neutral density filter in front of the lens brought the exposure for the sky back under control.
The print “Sunset at Sakonnet Beach” is the latest addition to the online print sales gallery on my website. It is here that you can purchase high quality art prints of many of my landscape and seascape photographs.