People: Huntington Beach Surfers
Surfers at sunset framed by piers in California -- what could be more quintessential "California Dreaming" than this?
Surfers are heading home with the setting sun as winter's daylight fades and the decorative holiday stars shine on Huntington Beach Pier.
Pier Positions
Photographing surfers can be slightly challenging and little bit of work to combine all the elements, get the lighting right, and make sure the surfers are interesting. Generally in these journalistic style photos where you are taking pictures of people you don't know you do the best you can when observing something interesting. In this instance there was the water and pier in the background that creates "setting", you have the added element of pier lighting which time the picture to a season, and you have surfers in unhurried motion, walking, looking down, and glistening as the camera's flash reflects on their wet feet and face.
Using natural light
- Sunsets are challenging as the human skin with a setting sun behind it is going to go many shades darker and often not be visible. In such cases you may from use the flash as fill for skin tones -- unless you are aiming for a silhouette. Fill simply lightens the skin and human details but doesn't take over the scene.
Huntington Beach Pier
Huntington Beach Pier is a fantastic icon to use in photographs with surfers. If you are taking pictures of surfers and the pier lighting and surfers' proximity to the HB Pier are major considerations. By moving yourself up and down the shore you can sometimes position yourself into a spot where the pier and surfers are shown in one photo. Try it!
