Uploads from Willie Huang Photo, tagged sand, with geodata

Feel the Rush

nobody@flickr.com (Willie Huang Photo) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 05:53:29 -0800

Rule #1: There is always good light on Fridays.
Rule #2: Always check the satellite imagery no matter the weather forecast.

Luckily I followed these rules in the nick of time to catch this sunset. It was clear all day until midafternoon when a swatch of cloud appeared out of nowhere to blanket the Bay Area. I was about to embark on an errand run when I saw the clouds moving in. I grabbed my gear and headed to a spot where I had wanted to shoot: old pier pylons along the beach.

It has been a while since I had done a solo shoot. These clouds had caught most people flat footed. On the bright side, I had the entire place to myself: no photowalk frame bangs jostling for positions or lining up single file to get the exact same shots. To my surprise, the clouds remained static for the hour I waited for sunset. They did not move one bit but only dithered slightly above the coastline. Then came the sunset and it was surely a memorable one. The clouds were full of texture and lit up in flamingo pinks mixed with fiery yellow-orange near the horizon. With the perfect tide, everything came together.

Canon 5D Mark II
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II

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The Starfish Congregation

nobody@flickr.com (Willie Huang Photo) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 05:54:45 -0800

Willie Huang Photo posted a photo:

The SF coastline has had its share of amazing sunsets lately. The past two days had been raining on and off while the skies finally cleared today. I kept watch on the satellite and noticed a large patch of cloud just off the coast of SF. With two hours to go until sunset, I banked on the fact that the cloud would arrive at the coastline at sunset. I headed out and met up with fellow SF photographer Alan.

We wanted to try somewhere different and away from the mass crowds at Sutro Baths. With the low tide, Mile Rock beach seemed an excellent destination. The extra low tide exposed a plethora of rocks and sea stacks all along the beach. Furthermore, tons of starfish were exposed and clinging onto almost every rock. Nearing sunset, it was evident the sky was about to explode. The sky glowed in brilliant oranges and then all of a sudden the sky went dark. Was that all she wrote? Slowly but surely, a pink afterglow appeared on the horizon. It began creeping up the clouds and minutes later, the afterglow was in full effect.

The sky ended up glowing in pinks for a solid 40+ minutes. It was still going even after we had packed up and hiked back to the car.

Canon 5D Mark II
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II

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The Waterfall Effect

nobody@flickr.com (Willie Huang Photo) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 05:58:12 -0800

Willie Huang Photo posted a photo:

This little waterfall along the SF coastline had been on my list for some time. After staring at cloudless skies for the past week, I was pleasantly pleased to see the return of clouds to the Bay Area. Initially, I was hesitant to make the trip out to shoot but ultimately decided that it would be sinful to miss another potentially glorious sunset.

When I arrived on location, the clouds were perfect: thin, high wispy clouds blanketed the sky. Further south was nothing but clear, empty skies. The conditions appeared to be the jackpot for what I wanted to shoot with high tide and high surf. At game time, the sky exploded into oranges and pinks as the waterfall flowed with force.

For the entire shoot, I somehow managed to stay relatively dry. Sure there was the splash here and there but waterproof pants and Gore-tex shoes shielded me from the larger waves. However, just as I completed the shoot and was preparing to head to higher ground, a large wave caught me napping. Oh well, it was all worth it.

Canon 5D Mark II
EF 17-40mm f/4L

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The Lone Stack

nobody@flickr.com (Willie Huang Photo) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:04:11 -0700

Willie Huang Photo posted a photo:

This sunset at Davenport Beach capped off a great photography weekend. First, Friday had some nice light at our local mudflat spot. Then on Saturday, San Francisco had epic low fog.

Holed up indoors for most of the day, I decided to make an afternoon trip to REI to stretch my legs. While heading there, I noticed a large patch of high clouds moving in from the south. It seemed to stretch quite far and consisted of various textures of clouds. I thought to myself, sunset could be good towards the Santa Cruz coastline.

As the afternoon drew to a close I asked fellow local photographer Yan for cloud updates around Santa Cruz. She informed me of the beautiful clouds overhead which was confirmed by satellite imagery showing a huge cloud front moving in from offshore from Santa Cruz and southward. I grabbed my gear and headed down HWY 17 to meet up with Yan.

We decided to head to a local Santa Cruz favorite, Davenport Beach. Although I’ve been here many times, I can always find a different composition. Initially I thought about shooting the crack that’s so highly sought after but realized the best clouds were south and was not optimal for the crack scene. I headed back towards the sea stack and studied the wave action for some time.

After about 10 minutes, I knew what I wanted to shoot. The waves would come up and sweep from right to left across my framing. As the wave makes it sweep, the wet sand towards the right of the frame would reflect the sunset colors. Little by little the clouds lit up with colors. Soon enough, the entire sky exploded into pinks and oranges. This surely ranks as one of the best sunsets I’ve seen down in Santa Cruz.

Canon 5D Mark II
EF 17-40mm f/4L
Singh-Ray reverse GND filter

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Kiahuna Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (Willie Huang Photo) — Tue, 29 May 2012 05:55:03 -0700

Willie Huang Photo posted a photo:

Beautiful sunsets are a part of Hawaii and a must see when there. Thanks to my wonderful girlfriend, I was able to capture this stunning sunset on our second night in Poipu, Kauai during our 8-day, 7-night vacation in paradise. This is Kiahuna Beach, situated in the backyard of our hotel. Though mostly open sand, the western end of Kiahuna Beach has some nice outcroppings of rocks. Unlike the California coast I’m so used to photographing, the rocky coast of Kauai is filled with black porous lava rocks.

The sky was filled with large puffy cumulus clouds and it seemed like the southerly direction would light up with the clouds getting side lighting. However that never really materialized but instead the westerly direction started blowing up in fiery oranges and eventually deep pinks. I switched my framing towards the best light and tried to make the best of my situation. I still used the lava rocks as my foreground but I needed a large wave to sweep around the rocks. Luckily I got what I needed within a minute with that extra-large reinforcing wave gushing far up the beach.

I ended liking this framing more than I initially thought I would. The silhouetted palm trees in the background show the Hawaiian sunset and the clouds were bursting with colors. It was a great end to a fun-packed day that included Waimea Canyon and Kauai Coffee Plantation. Literally half an hour later, it started pouring in Poipu.

Canon 5D Mark II
EF 17-40mm f/4L
LEE 0.9 SE GND

Carved by Time

nobody@flickr.com (Willie Huang Photo) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:53:52 -0800

Willie Huang Photo posted a photo:

Here is the last glow on Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley. Aaron, Zack, and I decided to hike and explore the Mesquite Dunes in the afternoon of our first full day in the park. I have to admit I was the crazy one that afternoon suggesting we hit the dunes by 1pm to fully scout it for the ideal sunset spot. In actuality it does not take that long to scout and we could not tell what was going to be in shadow and what would be in light during the middle of the day. Despite that we still enjoyed a pleasant hike exploring the various sections of the Mesquite Dunes. Zack decided to climb one of the tallest dunes, we enjoyed some group martial arts photos, and Aaron had an oopsies (j/k) with his pants.

With completely clear skies I decided to focus on the glow and the shadows of the dunes as well as the fine textures shaped by the winds. Just before the sun set I scrambled to the crest of this dune ledge that leads up to one of the tallest dunes. This crest had some amazing textures and I framed my shot so that the crest line would flow through the picture and lead to the top of the dune.

After sunset we faced the worst part: hiking out of the sand dunes. Hiking out with nothing to look forward to was simply painful. By then we had been out for over 4 hours and hiked close to 4 miles. We trudged along over dune after dune and finally made it back to the parking lot. Walking through the sand, I probably had several mini-dunes of sand built up inside each shoe. I totally looked forward to dinner and a refreshing coke.

Canon 5D Mark II
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
Hoya Pro-1D polarizer
LEE 0.6 soft ND grad filter
(IMG_5489)

Curvaceous

nobody@flickr.com (Willie Huang Photo) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:53:13 -0800

Willie Huang Photo posted a photo:

Here’s another shot from Mesquite Dunes. This was the framing I had intended for sunset. What I like most about this are the sweeping lines and the stark contrasts between the shadowed and lighted parts of the dune. I had hoped the low sun angle would bring out more of the detail in the foreground ripples but that never happened. The ripples were not deep enough and simply did not get enough shadows to really bring out the details. In the end I went for the simplistic look with some ripples in the foreground and a buttery smooth dune behind.

Canon 5D Mark II
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
LEE 0.6 soft ND grad filter
Hoya Pro-1D polarizer
(IMG_5466)