« Malibu Beach. »
Monday, July 18, 2011 at 10:33AM A few months ago I was in LA on a photography job, and had some free hours to roam about. My old friend Neil Moore, DP and general image-making badass, took a group of us down to Malibu and the beaches there. He wanted us to see this massive cave that can only be accessed when the tide is out, an oft-photgraphed and filmed locale considering it's uniqueness and proximity to the entire film industry. It happens to be the spot Benicio del Toro's character was buried in The Usual Suspects.
Hit the jump for a couple more...
I tried to make a few photos with HDR in mind, shooting bracketed sequences on a tripod, but back home here on the post-processing, I didn't like the look of a traditional HDR approach. Instead, I used one of the underexposed shots for the sky and another from later in the sequence for the cave itself, and did the masking and compositing manually in PS. So in a way it is HDR, in that it has a High Dynamic Range, just not processed the way most "HDR" is done these days, i.e. using pure software to generate the composite. I also decided to go for a more dramatic landscape, and to that end, I added some clouds in the distance and a lens flare to mimic the sun. This day, I'm not a documentary photographer.
Once we exited the cave on the far side, we photographed on the beach for a while. I had brought my ND lens filters, so I dropped the 10-stop ND on a lens and shot some lengthy exposures of the waves and rocks. This one is 90 seconds at f/22, ISO 50. Gotta love what happens to the water over a long exposure like this.
Not as much post on this one, just some color toning and dodging and burning.
After hanging out for a little too long, we had to exit back the way we came, but the tide was well on its way in, and the cave can only be entered and exited under rock ceilings that would be completely under water in less than any hour. Got a little wet on the way back thru...
One more from the day, this one a mash of layers, really a lot different in its final form than the original. Purely for the drama of it, creating an elevated sense of the location, a dream memory of a beach that may have been the entrance to heaven itself. Right before a bunch of tourists walked into the frame...
Sometimes I'm torn between faithful representations of landscapes, and creating the drama after the fact if it wasn't there in person. Even so, it seems that I enjoy looking at the dramatic versions more...what do you think? Give me your opinion in the comments.
-llg
Reader Comments (4)
That pic looks a dinosaur is about to pop out from around that corner at any moment! I think its Awesome
The deep Red Tones in the last photo makes it feel like it's another planet or something! For me it has a since of "pulling you in" feel to it! I dig the dramatic version in this instance.
I AM TRULY AMAZED! It also made me think that this place is from another planet! The breathtaking views make me want to visit this place soon! It also made me breathless. =)
-Allison McCumber
These turned out great,man! Fun day at the beach.
- Neil Moore
Director of Photography