The Movement of the Waves

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There are some cliffs at the Rodeo Beach in Marin County from where I like to make abstract photographs of the ocean. The short movie below, taken with my Motorola cell phone, was made from one of those cliffs a few minutes before I took the sequence of images above. I think the movie works nicely to put those images in context. When Isolated and after being converted to black and white, the photographs are difficult to recognize for what they really are: snapshots of the movements of the ocean on the beach below.

From the Cliff

Location: Rodeo Beach in Sausalito, California, USA;

Equipment: Nikon Z50, AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G,  tripod, remote trigger, Lee Filters polarizer, ND filters;

Settings: f/18, 0.60s to 1s, ISO 100;

Tips: DON’T FALL FROM THE CLIFF! Be very careful where you position yourself, the tripod etc. Does it look solid beneath where you stand? If you step back, or sideways, will you fall? If so, move on to somewhere safter! If you change lenses or reach to your bag, will your processions fall from the cliff into the ocean? If so, find a safer location! Use ND filters to obtain a shutter speed from 0.10 s to 1 second, put the camera on the tripod and use a remote trigger to fire the shutter, then click away. 

19 responses to “The Movement of the Waves”

  1. Jorinde Avatar

    These are stunning Alessandra! I love the video too. The pattern of the foam on the waves is mesmerizing!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      Thank you! I’m glad you like it!

      Like

      1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

        Thanks, Ann!

        Like

  2. Anne Sandler Avatar

    Watching the video, I could see how many still images could be captured from the waves hitting the shore. Your beautiful photos are proof.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. M.B. Henry Avatar

    Amazing, that video is easy to get lost in 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      Thank you!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Florin Avatar

    So nice that you are living close to the ocean!
    I like a lot the textures created by these long exposures.

    Like

    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      About one and a half hour. It’s close for Californians…

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Florin Avatar

        Question of perspective. In Belgium, in one hour and a half you’re out of the country :).

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

        I know. That’s why I tried to elaborate. Where I grew up in Rio, you are in another state in that amount of time. Its a long trip. Here in California, a three and a half hour trip no one things much about.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Florin Avatar

        I remember taking a trip from Dallas to El Paso by car. It felt like crossing a continent.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Steve Schwartzman Avatar

      If you travel Interstate 10 across Texas from the New Mexico border to the Louisiana border, it’s almost 880 miles. From Austin, where I live, to El Paso is so far it takes me half-way to the California border.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

        It is about 900 miles to cross California from the border with Oregon, to the North, to the border of Mexico, to the South. But I can go from San Francisco, on the coast, to the Nevada border in three hours, it is only about 200 miles. Now, I think most people would understand this better if converted to km.

        Like

  5. howg2211 Avatar
    howg2211

    Wonderful shots. The movie works great with the stills. Shows how each wave is different and open to possibilities. Gotta love the safety tip too!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      Thanks, Howard.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Steve Schwartzman Avatar

    The other day I read a review of the mirrorless Canon EOS R5 camera. Its video mode allows frame-capture, i.e. the excerpting of any single video frame as a high-quality still image. It seems that could be an asset to you in providing a huge number of very slightly different variations to choose from.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

      If this works it will be very nice!

      Like

      1. Steve Schwartzman Avatar

        Here’s what two reviews say:

        “Now the EOS R5’s 8K video produces 35.4-megapixel frame grabs at 30 fps. This is incredible if you need to capture both 8K video and still images at the same time. But if stills are the goal, the R5’s electronic shutter with 20 fps capability is going to produce even higher-quality stop-action images at the full 45-megapixel resolution.”

        “Well, we’ve been playing with Frame Grab and it’s one of the Canon EOS R5’s absolute highlights. In fact, these 35.4MP stills pulled from video files are actually better than the native photographs taken on most cameras with a 30-something megapixel sensor.”

        However, the camera isn’t cheap: the list price is $3899 for the body alone.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Alessandra Chaves Avatar

        It will get cheaper … in a couple of years.

        Like

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