Eye of Providence - Malibu Canyon

 

 

Happy Friday! Here is one from Malibu where I was hoping for a foggy sunset and was greeted with a fairly clear sky instead. There was a thin layer of haze/clouds towards the horizon and once the sun hit it, it created some stunning rays of golden light shooting through the ridges. It also acted as a diffuser to take some brightness away from the sun so shooting right at it was manageable. I have no issues when the sun is partially hidden behind things to get the sunburst effect, but shooting it out in the open is a different story, especially near the telephoto range. For one its BRIGHT and two you're gonna get some unpredictable flare. I made sure my lens and any filters were as clean as can be as that can add more unnecessary flare/spots. I zoomed in to catch the intimate detail of the rays and the ridges and shot some exposures to capture some detail in the land, which blew out the sun and sky so I knew I had to take some shorter exposures for the sky. I increased the shutter a few stops and shot a few more, leaving the sun blown out but keeping detail in the surrounding sky. I blended the two images using the gradient technique in photoshop which mimics a GND in the field. I added a bit of contrast and clarity back to really separate the tones from the light and dark areas and kept a hint of detail in the land to see some of the houses and roads but not to take away from the focus of the shot. The flare works for me here, as it mimics one of the rays. Love how the contours of the ridges and the rays all point up towards the sun. Love the golden hour, and as you can see its called that for a very good reason.

 

 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200, f/22, ISO-500, blend of 1/320 sec and 1/60 sec.

 

 

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