Melbourne Beach Pier
Life at the Pier
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/250s, 31mm, f/16, ISO 200
Life at the Pier
Out for the View
Melbourne Beach, Indialantic, FL
On the last morning of our vacation I headed out toward the beach with my daughter in tow to grab some early morning and sunrise images. She had wanted to go to the beach but we had been so busy getting ready for Christmas and running around we never made it over previously. My first stop was at Riverside Park which is on the Indian River side of Indialantic. I love grabbing images of the pier at the park with the 192 Causeway in the background. That image is coming so I’ll warn everyone now… LOL.
With 30 minutes to go before the official sunrise we headed over to the beach to grab some of the pre-dawn colors. I was not disappointed! People were starting to gather on the beach to watch the morning show and I also found there were a lot of birds on the shore waiting as well. Before I ventured to far on to the beach I grabbed this silhouetted image of people waiting. There is something interesting about the silhouettes against the morning colors that has me shutter happy!
Out for the View
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 0.6s, 35mm, f/11, ISO 200
Overwatch
Cocoa Beach, FL
On Christmas Eve day I went back to Cocoa Beach for the sunrise. My hopes were high after my cloudy attempt last time I was in Florida. I arrived plenty early to grab some pre-dawn images around the Pier. Luckily that plan was very fruitful. As the day marched toward the sunrise the clouds covered more of the sky and dashed my hopes for the idyllic Florida beach sunrise.
The pier uses quite a few spot lights to illuminate the sand and surf. At first I thought the bright lights would ruin any image I tried to capture. There was still a lifeguard stand on the beach and I thought possibly it could be used to hide the obnoxious lights. Although I initially captured multiple exposures the slightly underexposed image turned out to be all I needed.
Overwatch
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 13s, 23mm, f/8, ISO 800
Sea Dogs
Cocoa Beach, FL
Sea Dogs
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, {0.6, 2, 4 & 10s bracket}, 12mm, f/8, ISO 400
Enjoying the Sunrise too
Castaway Point Park, Palm Bay, FL
Enjoying the Sunrise too
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 8s, 40mm, f/16, ISO 200
Sunset Reflected Silhouette
Melbourne, FL
Christmas in Florida is becoming quite the tradition for me. I love it! After a long drive from home we arrived in Palm Bay/Melbourne around 2:30pm on Thursday. I was able to sneak out for a sunset and thought it would be easiest to haunt my favorite places around the 192 Causeway. As I was looking for something different I found the sun setting behind a building on the Indian River shores in Melbourne. I loved the strong silhouette and reflection off the glass building to the right..
Sunset Reflected Silhouette
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/160s, 40mm, f/16, ISO 200
Outside Looking In
China Pavilion, World Showcase, Epcot
Walt Disney World
I’m down to a handful of days before I set out on another adventure to Florida. I’ll be driving down for the Christmas holiday and I am hopeful I will be able to find some more of those beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I did not make any plans to visit a Disney Park although I am thinking of making a tour of the monorail resorts (Polynesian, Contemporary and Grand Floridian) to view the holiday decorations. I will also be trying to hit up Disney Springs for a little shopping and food.
I guess I am drifting to my Disney place which brought me to this image from my October trip. Frequent readers know my fascination/appreciation for the China Pavilion at Epcot. I’m always looking for different views or angles to capture the architecture and wonderful details of this pavilion. The time right after sundown is typically the best as the sky is not yet black and the lights do not over-power everything in the area.
This view is from a small walkway on the right of the pavilion which is seldom used by guests. I was able to setup the tripod and work my scene to get the composition I wanted. I loved the light illuminating the plants in the foreground while the trees and taller plants created a couple of natural frames for the buildings in the background.
In order to capture the range of light and be able to highlight the details I wanted, I used three separate exposures. I combined the images using Photomatix to create a well balanced image that is technically an HDR image but not as intensely processed as HDR images can be. I have learned over the past few years that shadows are as important as light to an image. 🙂
To finish off my processing I use OnOne’s Photo 10 software suite. The Effects module allows me to ‘tweak’ the image with a plethora of controls. This ‘pluses’ the image and helps me create the picture I have in my head .
Outside Looking In
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, {0.6, 2.5 & 13s bracket}, 12mm, f/5.6, ISO 400
Winter Beach
Wordless Wednesday
Delta Lake State Park
