Driftwood, Gulf Coast, North Padre Island
From my journal
It was about 9 am, a weekday, I knew from a distance that this washed up piece of wood had potential. I didn’t realize how big it was until I got closer. The light was still fairly low about 10 o’clock from the left (east) and glistened on the water. Certain times of day the “glisten” happens. In the Corpus Christi area this happens between 9am and 10:30am depending on the time of year. The water becomes highly reflective, so exposure is critical to get right otherwise you wind up with either an overexposed sky or water with zero detail in the shadow areas. This happens because the subject value range exceeds what a camera sensor can record, back in the day it was called the film’s latitude. You have to learn how to shoot manual, and meter correctly to really bring out the real tonal range in an image both in black and white and in color. I waited for the waves to recess to align with the driftwood to create a strong line from the front of the tree to the back of the horizon. This created a great leading line and gives the image a lot of depth. This image is available in various sizes. My online gallery
