Stephen Bay's Photography Blog

Exploring and Photographing Sea Caves in San Diego

I’ve been photographing the sea caves around San Diego for the past several years. They are one of my favorite subjects, I really enjoy finding, exploring, and photographing them. To me, discovering a new cave is like coming across a hidden pirate’s treasure. I’m not sure why i’m so drawn to the caves but they’ve always seemed like a comfortable space offering a bit of protection from the elements and yet providing a view to the outside.

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Predicting Sunrise and Sunset Colors

The holy grail for landscape photographers is to be able to accurately predict sunrise and sunset colors. I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of thinking that the sunset was going to be great only to have the colors fizzle out. Or perhaps you thought there wasn’t much potential and started driving home only to be stuck on the interstate when the colors exploded. In this article, I will discuss how I predict the colors for sunrise & sunset as well as link to the various tools that I use to inform my predictions.

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The Making of a Photo #4 – Seaside Reflections in the Sand

I made this photo at Imperial Beach Pier which is only a few miles north of the border with Mexico. I didn’t do a lot of planning on this day but I felt like photographing at the coast and making a seascape. Usually I check the directions of the clouds and the tide levels before deciding exactly where to shoot sunset – in this case I realized that conditions would be good here and I left early and managed to arrive about 50 minutes before sunset.

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San Diego Henge and Scrippshenge

If you are a landscape photographer, you’ve probably heard of Manhattanhenge where the sunrise or sunset aligns with the streets of Manhattan. It’s an incredibly beautiful sight to witness with the warm light spilling all over the scene. However this isn’t just something limited to New York, and you’ll be glad to know we have this same effect in San Diego although it occurs on different dates.

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Should I Do My Own Printing or Outsource it to a Professional Lab?

As someone who prints a lot, I often get asked if it’s worth buying a possibly very expensive printer and printing your work at home. There isn’t a simple answer but in short I would say that if you enjoy the printing process, then by all means go ahead and get one. It can be fun, artistically rewarding, convenient, and may be cheaper than using a lab. The flips side is that you can also waste a ton of money, tear your hair out in frustration, and wish you never bought the damn thing.

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