One of the last sunsets I was able to enjoy in 2019.
Along the Kona coastline high surf created water pools around the grassy beach beyond the rocky coastline. I originally set out to photograph the water rushing through the large openings in the rocks as I have photographed many times before, but once I saw the reflective ponds I changed my mind. This wasn’t the first day I photographed this location. I had to come back the next day to get the shot right because the first days compositions were not very good. Luckily the ponds were still there when I returned the next day, though they reseeded about 10 feet. I crouched down extremely low to the water to exaggerate the view of the grass with the sunset beyond.
This image was a combination of several shots to obtain the correct exposure and focus throughout the image. I first shot the foreground at several focal ranges and exposures and then panned the camera upward to capture the same for the sky and background. The rest of the work was in Lightroom and Photoshop to mask and blend the images together.
I used to get the shot in one image by using gradient filters in the field and then layering the same image in Photoshop with different exposure adjustments and blending. This was my way to keep the purity of photography alive within my work. I still keep this practice for most of my work, but some images like this one needs a little more that can’t be obtained the traditional way.
- Christopher Johnson
www.fromhereonin.com
