Newport Beach Sunset

Newport Beach Sunset Fishing

Image of the Week

Newport Beach Sunset

The breakwater at Newport Beach, CA provides some wonderful opportunities for sunset photography. A Newport Beach sunset looking out at the Pacific ocean is always special, but when you happen on a near perfect opportunity for a Newport Beach sunset fishing image, you feel very fortunate.

This was a last second shot as I was looking out at the Newport Beach breakwater at the tail end of sunset. The lone fisherman made for a perfect silhouette against the sunset.

Image Considerations

I did not have a lot of time to adjust my camera settings, because this was a last minute shot of a Newport Beach sunset. The light was fading quickly, and the fisherman could move at any moment. I was already set for low the light conditions, but with my distance from the subject, my shutter speed could not afford any movement in the shot. I was able to get a couple quick frames, and then adjusted for a faster shutter speed. As I feared, the fisherman had moved, and the moment was gone.

Image Lighting

I took this Newport Beach sunset image well after the sun had set, and toward the end of the blue hour. This made for some amazing colors in the clouds, and allowed for the idea of a silhouette photo of the breakwater and fisherman.

Camera and Settings

I shot this with my Canon 7D Mk II and Tamron 16-300mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD lens. The lens is a solid walking around lens that performs fairly well in most conditions. I only wanted to have a single camera and lens with me, and this Tamron lens provides a lot of flexibility in shooting. Knowing I would be shooting with these types of conditions, I opted for my Canon 7D Mk II, because it performs better in low light than my Canon 1Ds Mk III.

  • 100mm
  • f/10
  • 1/125th
  • 0 exposure bias
  • ISO 640

Editing Inspiration

My inspiration for editing this image came directly from how I saw it while shooting. The Newport Beach sunset was truly stunning. The lone fisherman on the end of the breakwater made for a near perfect silhouette in the camera. My primary goal was to bring out the intensity of the sunset colors. My secondary goal was ensuring the silhouette provided the contrast I wanted in the foreground.

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