All I wanna be is by your side

Yesterday I had helping hands (thanks, Jennifer Carr!). I was able to take some chances.

While heading over to Sunset Point for The Daily Sundown™ my hope was that the tide would be low enough to expose the bay sand on the lagoon side of the jetty rock (the right of the jetty in the shot above). #nope. The tide was already working its way back in. Temps were mild so I rolled up my jeans, hopped over the jetty rock, and made my way into the water where I had hoped said sand would be. The bay water was notably warm; summer’s coming, you guys.

At first I was shooting handheld since I was water bound and there was no place for my tripod. Handheld is all well and good except it does not afford the tack sharp stability of a tripod. Nor does it allow me to bracket exposures as I most always do when shooting landscapes. Time to turn that on its head.

About ten minutes in I turned to Jen, handed over my camera for safe keeping while she passed over the tripod in return. I took the device, splayed its legs wide, and began to sink it in the sand under about three inches of water. Once I was able to get a stable, level hold I reclaimed my camera from Jen and locked it into place. I let the sun get fully below the horizon and that’s when I went to town on my bracketing.

In post processing I went with a darkened silhouette of the jetty instead of its much more illuminated brother. I’m all about mood and this version just seemed to have it. The tradeoff: the bright green moss is far less prominent in this rendition—only some faint hints of green brush the outer rocks. To its credit, this darker treatment really brings out the color festooned upon the calm waters.