California Pier Sunset Pictures
are some of
the world's favorite images. When you think
of California, much of the globe envisions
sunshine and beaches. Piers are the anchor
to this icon, the sunny beach. Add to that
the desire to see a sunset over a California
beach and you've captured the heart of most
everyone. Humans seek patterns (patterns of
recognition), and the pier takes a normal
beach sunset, and add that pattern we humans
desire. Form, content, and size relationship
all lend to the image captured and
remembered.
You'll
notice in most of our California pier sunset
photos that we wait for people. That has
partially to do with the photographer's
training as a journalist. Never
considering her images more than
documentation, the idea of creating a still
life without the people seems just boring to
this web site. But the still life
photos tend to be more commercially viable.
So if you are cutting your teeth on
photography and hoping to make money selling
your beautiful sunsets at piers, you need to
consider: "Who's your market?"
If I were
hoping to sell my photos for posters that
people buy, I'd either make sure the still
life was strong enough to carry itself
without people, birds or other objects
associated with life and animation, or I'd
pick out an animate object that is somewhat
timeless such as the Huntington Beach Pier
sunset with the surfer above.
While one
of our favorite seasons is the holiday
snowflake decorations that adorn many
California piers, they are dated in their
appeal, as people associate them with a
specific month and event...Christmas.
Pier
sunset picture tips: Some of
the challenges of taking pictures of piers
at sunset involve the sun's angle in the
sky, and the length of a pier, plus it's
vertical structures. Piers are
inherently horizontal in California, so you
need to take into account the vertical
objects that play with your picture's
components. For instance, in Pier Sunset
Photo above of Tower Zero, we discuss the
tower and the challenges of lighting. But
did not mention the balance of shapes on a
silhouette photo that you so often get when
taking pier sunset photos.
Try to
keep all this in account when taking your
sunset pier pictures. If you can think about
balance, lighting and interest "Who's your
market?", you may get yourself a winner
commercially. But you really don't have to
sell your pictures to gain personal
enjoyment out of them. Just thinking about
the human emotions tied to that picture is
reward enough for most photographers,
professional or amateur.
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