Everyone -- or most everyone -- goes to the beach to, well, go to the beach, right? We do, even though neither of us is a sunning/tanning fanatic by any means. We just enjoy the calming effect of the waves lapping the shore and the visual of what seems like endless water everywhere beyond the shore.
This post devoted to images captured along the beach is presented in two segments. Images you see in the top half were taken with my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm di VC PZD lens, mostly on Dec. 13. Those on the bottom half were taken the same date, but with my iPhone 11 and late in the afternoon into early evening. You'll no doubt be able to spot those. But for those who have trouble doing so, I'll insert a separation hash line ( - - - - - -- ) between the daytime/6D shots and the ones taken with the iPhone.
Leading off the post is a 6D shot of something I've not photographed before on the beach -- bicyclists coming right at me. The first image below, obviously, was not taken
on the beach. But is a great perspective shot from a high elevation of the beach and coast looking north toward North Myrtle Beach.
Above: This shot of the same guy seen in the lead-off photo is more like the type I've gotten before. He was making his return trip in the other direction. Obviously, I was still hanging around, certainly long enough to see the double-back.
Above and next three below: We saw a lot of birds -- mostly seagulls -- this time around, including a phenomenon we hadn't notice before: A congregations of large groups at the same point on the beach late in the afternoon, as if waiting for the evening tide. I tried to record an illustration of this in the very last photo below, taken in the evening with the iPhone. Above: My challenge here was to try and fit the etched-in-sand message into the frame. If you can't make it out, it says: "Tyisha, I love you." This gal (above) was using her phone to photograph the seascape, but the fact that you don't see the phone she was using makes the composition more compelling. I first thought she was standing arms folded in reflection while gazing out on the ocean. Above: Lots of dog walkers on the beach, but that has never been unusual in my many trips to this and other Atlantic Ocean beaches.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Above and next four below: Lee Ann got me interested in making compositions integrating tall wild grass using the water as a backdrop. So these pictures start the portion of images taken with my iPhone.
Above and below: I could have brought these images up in Photoshop Elements to restore some deail in the tall grass foreground, but I wanted to ensure the focus was on the buildings backgrounded by the colorful sunset glow. Above: A portion of one group of large birds gathered for evening tide make up one compositional element in this photo. Another is the guy walking toward his girlfriend or spouse, with partial backlighting casting him in a silhouette. The soft water and sky colors private a nice secondary element, I thought. Above and below: These two photos were taken about 10 minutes apart, the one above being first. But that was enough time to give the setting sun time to change the sky coloring. The view looks south toward the downtown boardwalk area, which is marked by the Ferris wheel.
Above and below: It's not unusual to see foot and paw prints in the sand on the beach. I'd never stopped to preserve any I'd seen previously in a picture until that beach visit on Dec. 13. In the footprint composition above, I liked the cluster of elevated sand below the toes ... and the small piece of shell just above it to the right. The paw print was very close to the footprint, so I'm presuming the dog was walking with the person. Above: A beachside sand creation decorated for the holiday season.
Above: On our walks on the beach, it's become common to come upon somebody taking a photograph of someone else using the ocean as a backdrop. That was the case again on Dec. 13. I also was in a backlight position when I came upon it, so ... I grabbed it. And I really liked the diagonal shadow the photographer cast on the sand. I made a monochrome version of this, which I usually do with my backlight photos because I usually like black-and-white silhouettes better than their original color versions. But there was something about the natural sepia tint all over the image that I really liked, so you get the original color instead of the monochrome in this post. Above: As promised, a shot of the group of birds gathering for the evening tide. This group picked a spot with a sand-dredged makeshift canal as well.
END OF SERIES
