Friday, January 17, 2014

Calaguas | Golden Hour Sunset Photos



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.



Francis Balgos is a Call Center Agent, Weekend Travel Warrior, Amateur Spelunker, Sometime Surfer, Newbie Mountain Climber, Photography Enthusiast, Certified Beach Bum, A first born son, True Explorer...

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4 comments:

  1. The first photo is indeed an impressive shot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Chris!

      From an artist like you, a comment like this is very much appreciated.
      Thank you! :)

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. hahaha! Kuya Mike. Migrated post kasi to galing sa photo blog ko, me travel post din naman ako sa Calaguas. :)

      Delete

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