Winter sunsets are just better! I think it's because of the angle of the sun but here in San Diego, from November to February you can almost guarantee a good show!
I usually go out on Friday afternoon and evening to shoot somewhere around the city. The tide pools just to the South of downtown La Jolla provide an interesting subject at any tide level but it can be pretty remarkable when there is a big low tide.
Thats where I went even though is was overcast at my house. As I began to drive it began to rain and by the time I reached the beach it was a pretty steady mist rain. I parked. It didn't look promising. I told myself to be patient. There were some goofy people out in the rain with a drone doing some sort of clowning video and the radio was playing NPR talking about our stupid government. Within about 15 minutes the light began to change and then the clouds began to break up. A few moments later the rain stopped. I scrambled out of the car and got my camera gear together as it was now about 20 minutes to sundown.
If I hadn't been patient and drove off because of the rain I would have missed all this. The beach was cleared out, footprints washed away and the light was getting more magical every moment. I had mounted my wide angle Sigma 20 on the camera at the car with a 3 stop neutral density filter. So I was committed to creating some slow shutter imagery which is always a challenging pleasure. The filter tricks the light meter into thinking that it is darker outside than it is. This requires the shutter to be slowed down to compensate for the perceived light. Long exposure photography, as it is known, opens up a world of creativity to explore and produces interesting effects.
This nights unique factor was a quick five minute intense light show that ranged from pink to peach. Ive only had time to "develop" a few of the images I gathered. But I hope you enjoy them and am happy to discuss anything or answer questions if I can with photography!
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