An afternoon at Point Lobos

Over the President’s day weekend I spent an afternoon wandering part of the Point Lobos State Park enjoying the weather and getting some time outside with my photography gear. It was a bright clear afternoon and I spend some time looking for potential areas to try and play with the surf using long exposures as well as searching for some interesting features in the park.

In the late afternoon the sun began to shine through the trees on the ridge above Bluefish cove giving me some interesting light as the beams hit the sea spume being thrown up from the ocean.

I hiked down to one of the different overlooks and found an area with some nice offshore rocks that added depth to the image I eventually shot focusing on the headland as it jutted out into Carmel Bay leading out towards the rocks and ocean swell. The image was set up with a neutral density filter, a polarizing filter and medium long shutter speed of 5s. I converted to black and white using Silver Efex pro and photoshop.

There is a nice trail system in the park that allows visitors to travel along the ocean cliffs and to visit various beaches and coves hidden around the reserve. If you spend some time exploring there are many small, interesting details to shoot so it’s worth taking your time to look around for macro images of the rocks and sand.

The park is located a few miles south of Carmel and fills up quickly on the weekends. It’s easy to hike into from highway 101 and is open from 8am to 6 or 7pm. Be careful, there’s poison oak everywhere so it’s best to stay close to the trails.