CALAGUAS | Golden Hour Sunset Photos
A true sunset, notice that there are
a lot of colors rolled into this photo. Making this my favorite from
this collection, I like the streaks of red in the clouds, the shadows
marking the boat, and there's light reflected by the water on its side.
Mahabang
Buhangin, Calaguas Islands, off the coast of Daet in the province of
Camarines Norte is an emerging beach destination in the Philippines.
Through blogs and post of travel blogger (like me) and tours offered by
travel companies, this pristine beach, once a desolate and secluded
location is fast becoming a haven for beach loving people wanting a new
discovery. Guess you have to excuse me for my irritating description, I
have been to a lot of beaches in the country, have seen beaches even
with varying colors of sand from black to purest white, from the
overcrowded to the least visited, though I am easy to please I have
heightened aesthetics when it comes to beaches. There are certain
qualities that I seek, mostly for the quality of the sand, the scenic
background views, the rich marine life it can harbor. Though I find the
latter to be somewhat lacking in Calaguas, but it boost the high level
of awesomeness in other factors.
Think
I've gone off a bit; this is after all a post about the Sunset photos I
captured in Calaguas. I would've wanted to capture a dreamy photo from
Calaguas off the rocky sides with an ND Filter. Unfortunately, with the
Holy Week looming in just a few days, I didn't get the chance to get my
hands on the filter I much needed. Still, I'm proud of these shots, no
filters in anyway, just being playful with the settings in my camera. I
spent a cloudy afternoon, lounging in the white sand beach, enjoying the
beautiful pristine water with a can of beer in my hand, and just an
hour before the night turns to total darkness in this beach camp, we
were rewarded with the Golden Sunset along with stunning cloud
formations. You may find my foreground subject, which is actually the
boat that brought me here to be repetitive, but it can't be helped,
because I didn't want to go off somewhere and find myself a better spot,
still it was an awesome sight.
Golden, when the sky is basking in yellow light and the sun is behind a wall of clouds.
Taking Sunset photos, just like the Sunrise, you have to get a good
foreground. Remember that the Sun is the source of light, and since it's
the best light of the day, use ambient light unless you are
photographing people with the sunset as their background. I have the
horizon of the water as my foreground, and the boat as the subject,
cliche subject really as it not something out of the box, still you can
make it interesting by capturing silhouettes and shadows, the
reflections in the water, or place it in the side of the photo where the
camera's natural vignette would give it more shade. This type of
light source is changing every second, so I adjust the ISO levels.
Sometimes I take it as high as 400 just to render some noise in the
photo; I find photos with noises intact to be more interesting than the
smooth clean ones.
I
was trying to get as close as I can to capture the shape of the boat
from where I am standing at the edge of the water. The water is not as
still, but I've got some interesing silhoutes.
Capture
as much scenenery. Stepping back in the beach so I could get as much
room for the clouds with streaks of red light, and also the distant
islands in the shadowy horizon, of course with the boat in place where
most light would gather to give it emphasis.
This
is one of the first Sunset shots I took, really more on practice first.
This photo is cropped, as I wanted only the cloud formations looming
over the distant island.
In
many shades of yellow and oranges, I have thought of cropping this
photo where the boat would be right smack in the middle so show it
reflections in the water. The water is not as still, so I left it as is,
the spikes and ropes that supported it looks interesting.
Put
in some cold colors in a hot scene. I like to change white balance just
to see if it would yield a more colorful shot, the hues of blue and
purple in great contrast with the yellow. Careful with hot spots though,
see that a part of this photo is overly exposed.
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The first photo is indeed an impressive shot.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris!
DeleteFrom an artist like you, a comment like this is very much appreciated.
Thank you! :)
hahaha, sunset lang talaga
ReplyDeletehahaha! Kuya Mike. Migrated post kasi to galing sa photo blog ko, me travel post din naman ako sa Calaguas. :)
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