There’s not a prettier stretch of coastline than the Bug Sur area anywhere in the US. The color of the water alone would make one believe they are in a tropical paradise. The vibrant blues of are out of this world, combined with the jagged cliffs, and rocky shorelines…it’s really a photographers’ paradise. I had the privilege of taking 3 eager photographers for a day of exploration around this wonderful area.

We start at Garrapata Creek, where a plethora of lilies grow each year. There flowers were a perfect spot for our group to get started going over the basics of shooting. Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO…and the different modes. With all these flowers, there are multiple opportunities to play with the settings, more specifically depth of field.

The sky was a great mix of blue patches with varying layers of textured clouds, this made for great color or black and white images. Lots of options for folks to really get creative here.

Our next stop was the iconic Bixby Bridge. The light along the coastline was pretty dramatic, so I encouraged the group to really think in terms of tonal range, and black and white images when they processed. We also played with depth of field here, and learning how zooming in affects depth of field.

Our next stop was the beautiful McWay Falls. I’ve seen this waterfall numerous times, and it’s always impressive. We used filters to help us slow down the exposures, and get a smoothed out silky looking feel in the water. The light was really nice, holes in the clouds allowed beams of light to illuminate various areas of the sea, and that lovely turquoise water almost seemed to glow.

It was off to Pfieffer Beach next for sunset. We arrived to a very windy, clouds, and cold environment. It was still quite beautiful though, so we set up and worked again on getting the longer exposures with the higher apertures, and low ISOs…this was another location that would look beautiful with a monochrome processing. Because of the cold, and the sky looking like there wasn’t much chance for a spectacular sunset, we opted to move out and head to Soberantes Cove for a little more seascape shooting.

The light at the cove was awesome…bits of golden light in the sky really paired well with the rocky coast and blue water. It wasn’t a vibrant light show, but it was very pretty, and it gave us one more chance to use the filters, and work on smoothing out the water.

Forecast called for rain, but the forecast for the city is often wrong, and it was a really nice day out for photography with no rain…looking forward to seeing everyone again in the future.

Until Next Time,

Brian and the rest of the Aperture Academy Team

P.S. If you'd like to join us at one of our workshops, you can find the schedule/sign up here.

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