What I've Learned About Wave Photography

            Ok, so based on the title this should be a pretty short story for once.  Like all the other coastal photographers I've spent an entire winter waiting for something exciting to happen, only to be foiled by a near total absence of drama in the ocean.  I did read something online about the reasons for there having been no named storms here this season, but all I can remember is a reference to "La Nina," who appears to be the sister of "El Nino."  Or something like that - I always switch off when I attempt to read anything vaguely scientific.  Suffice to say, we've seen little in the way of what I think of as a "normal" sea on the north coast during this unusually windless winter.  Maybe my timing was wrong - although on consulting Magic Seaweed (and now also the Ventusky app - thanks Ade), the water has been as flat as a pancake on every single outing.  I've all but given up for now.

But what I have managed to make some sense of came from the November trip to Lanzarote.  The north west coast of the island is a veritable hotbed of Atlantic rollers wherever you choose to park the car and sit and gaze at the ocean.  We'd come here to El Golfo to inspect one of the better known highlights in the form of the bright green sea lagoon, stranded on a black sandy beach at the edge of the Timanfaya National Park.  Ali and I had strolled up the path to a clifftop view populated by huge numbers of sightseers.  But in the middle of the afternoon, with people all around me and glaring light, the camera didn't make it out of the bag.  I didn't even take a phone snap.  "I'll come back up here later when it's quiet," I thought to myself.  

We agreed we'd wander down to the beach to explore the rocks, watch the sea and wait for the sky to begin to change colour.  And then I decided to bring the long lens out and make for a protected cluster of rocks at the eastern side of the beach from where I had a side on view.  A side on view that seemed to solve a number of troublesome wave tog issues.  A nice dark background, a zoom into the clear blue heart of each incomer, and best of all, a warm crest of sunlight hitting the white flumes of spray and backlighting them.  Or sidelighting them from my angle if you like.  In this light at 330mm I could even afford to rein in the aperture - just a little bit.  Burst mode, ISO up a squeak or two, switch on the focus tracking and trust the rest to fortune.  

This was fun!  The crash of each wave would be accompanied by a shutter whir as my camera tried to keep up, and it wasn't long before a stream of promising looking results began to appear on the back of my screen.  So much so, that instead of the six or seven hundred shots I've collected in similar sea conditions at home, I took just ninety-four here.  I think this was my favourite, although they all look so similar that I might be wrong.  I was pretty happy with this, although inevitably it lacks the moody portent of a Rachel Talibart, an Edd Allen or a Mark Dobson sea storm special.  I forgot to go back to photograph the lagoon afterwards.  It didn't really seem to matter.  I'd managed to further my experience of what does and what doesn't work in an area of photography that has long intrigued and eluded me, and I was happy with the small advances I'd made.

So whether we do get a lone storm before winter bids us farewell is very likely to be academic for me in any case, because next week I'm heading off down this way again, to the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura, where hopefully I'll get another crack at some Atlantic wave action.  And some warm sunshine would be nice if you don't mind as well please!  I'm done with being cold for now. Winter is always just a bit too long in these Northern latitudes I think.

Taken in: Spain / Canary Islands / Yaiza / El Golfo (show map)

Taken on: November 20, 2022

Tags:

waves

wave

Atlantic

Ocean

Sea

seascape

Water

water_shots

water_captures

El Golfo

roller

Spain « less

Sets appears in: • Waves • Lanzarote 2022

Groups appears in: • I LOVE THE OCEAN! • Atlantic Ocean more » • Water (and things) • Coastal Imagery • Photography Week • Flickr Social « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, f/7.1, 1/640 sec, 330mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens:	EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
Aperture:	f/7.1
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	330mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 12.1 (Windows)
Show full info

Stats: 4,177 views / 62 comments

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: