3 Sunrays Sunset

What do you think that is the most wonderful light for a photographer ? The blue or rush hour after the sunset or before the sunrise, when the sky is blue in contrast with yellow-orange tones of the artificial lighting ? The magic or golden hour around dawn or twilight ? Or what is know as transient light ?

Just for me, I have it clear, the transient light. It is a light that you suddenly find for example, when some sunrays are appearing across the clouds and you see how the rays are crossing the sky and proyect their light temporarily in a determinate zone on the ground, that as consequence is the focal point of your composition, ‘cos human eye tend to look for hightlights.

The following image from Marbella is a clear example of this light and the luck for a photographer. Before I did the photo-session, I was walking to this site with some rainy intervals and seeing in the distance how the sunrays were appearing and disappearing between the clouds.

I recommend you to read a book about light quality by Ian Cameron.

El Ancon Beach, Marbella (Spain)

Canon EOS 450D | Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 DC EX HSM @ 10 mm | f22, 1/6s, ISO 100. HDR from 3 exposures @ [-2 EV .. 0 ..+2 EV]

Sunset @ Bajadilla-Venus Beaches Wavebreaker

Near the dusk, in Marbella, the fishermen go usually through the rocks on the beaches wavebreakers to catch some fish. I don’t know if it is the crisis or not, but there are sometimes a lot of them. In this case, I was between the 2 beaches, Venus and Bajadilla, that are located in the Marbella Centre, between the harbours: ‘Puerto Pesquero’ or ‘Puerto de la Bajadilla’ and ‘Puerto Deportivo’. The boy of the image was moving so fast and so much, jumping from a rock to another one, and in a moment that he stopped, I used him as my focal point and shot 3 exposures for this HDR.

Wavebreaker between Bajadilla & Venus beaches , Marbella (Spain)

Canon EOS 450D | Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 DC EX HSM @ 10 mm | f16, 12s, ISO 100. HDR from 3 exposures @ [-2 EV .. 0 ..+2 EV]

Purple Hour @ Playa El Ancón

In the west extreme of the Golden Mile (‘Milla de Oro’) in Marbella is located this bit of wildness within one of the most urbanised places in the Sun Coast (‘Costa del Sol’). Between the ‘Puente Romano’ Hotel and a pinewood , you can find this beach that it is not so good for a bath, but has some curious rocks formations and vegetation …

Playa El Ancón, Marbella (Spain)

Canon EOS 450D | Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 DC EX HSM @ 10 mm | f11, 30s, ISO200. HDR from 3 exposures @ [-2 EV .. 0 ..+2 EV]

Sunset On The Back Of Marbella Promenade

I live between 2 cities in Spain, Madrid – where I work – and Marbella – where I usually spend a lot of my holidays. Marbella is known in the world as a classical meeting point for the ‘jet set’. But, in any case , it is currently a site that it is invaded by the massive tourism and not only the elite. From my point of view, the best of the city is the soft weather, that can be even warmer in the winters and colder in the summer than other near towns in the Sun Coast – ‘Costa del Sol’, like Fuengirola, Torremolinos, Benalmadena …

As usual in summer, there are so few chances for landscapes photography, cos the climate is hot and the sky is usually clear. But, it is usual at the end on August, that the clouds appear near the sunset. After having a afternoon with so much stormy clouds, we had finally the sunset that you see in the picture.

Wave-breaker Playa del Faro – Puerto Deportivo, Marbella (Spain)

Canon EOS 450D | Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 DC EX HSM @ 10 mm | f11, 4s, ISO100 | HiTech 100 ND 0.9 filter in a Lee Wide Angle filter holder. HDR from 3 exposures @ [-2 EV .. 0 ..+2 EV]