Grayson's Beauty
by MacDonald

Comment by tinmason:
I like the pastels in the lower half of the image. The flow of the image works well starting at the lower left third of the image...following the flow of water to the dark rocks...which like an Ansel Adams flow points to the next dark area in the image...the lone rock. The next visual treat in this image is the pattern of waves which blends into a warm pastel sunset. Brilliant!!

beauty-after-dark.
by MacDonald

Comment by macrothing:
Thank you for including that. I am trying to learn more about long exposure settings etc.

beauty-after-dark.
by MacDonald

Comment by MacDonald:
Thank you macro.. the setting were shutter - 1.60 - F-stop 6.3 - 100 iso.

The-elegant-wipeout
by MacDonald

Comment by macrothing:
Good capture. Like how you've cropped it, especially leaving the top of the wave in for size and scale. Again like the foam capture bottom left and that shadow is also a good catch and an unusual element to this, in my opinion.

Grayson's Beauty
by MacDonald

Comment by macrothing:
This looks like a longer exposure than 'beauty-after-dark', but could just be the water/wave lengths/captures. Nice shot. The fore rock/edge of cliff is a little distracting, but fairly minor and likely difficult to 'avoid'.

beauty-after-dark.
by MacDonald

Comment by macrothing:
This is nice, as is 'Grayson's Beauty'. Interested to see the exposure times if you could include them.. I like the way the water is 'circling' that 'rock' off-shore. Colors are nice. The horizon seems straight, yet looks just slightly off visually - if that makes sense - but might just be the perspective/angle the shot was taken at or the 'mist' masking it, or could just be me. Overall maybe a little dark, needing the colors 'tweaked' just a fraction to bring out more variance, if possible.

The-elegant-wipeout
by MacDonald

Comment by wavelength:
Awesome Maggie!

surfer-holding-his-breath.
by MacDonald

Comment by macrothing:
As I've said before, I am not an 'expert in photography' and can't offer technical advice/suggestions (yet), only 'visual' and perhaps some pp, but only basic. Regarding lenses, lighting/exposure, etc - and advanced or dSLR specific post-processing, either researching these areas yourself or gaining some advice from more advanced users/photographers on these aspects will help you get even more out of your camera and yourself, which you seem both well aware and keen to do.

Here are some Mavericks & surf photography links you might find interesting:

Surfer Magazine - story on Mavericks

Stellar website - story/slideshow of legendary surfing photographer Ron Stoner

An excerpt of a story by Gary Taylor for The Beach News April 8, 1993 Surfwriter column - "It̢۪s a rough job, but Rick Doyle loves to do it" on the Rick Doyle website :

"The closest I came to really getting hurt was at K-39 during a six-foot south swell," Doyle answers to my pat "most radical experience" question.

"I was shooting sailboard, and I kept telling this guy to get closer and closer, I was shooting with a 24mm lens. About the seventh time he came by, the tail of his board broke free and he bullseyed right at me. I put the camera up over my face, dove off the raft, and board went right through the Plexiglass housing, just totally obliterated it. It could have been my head. He thought he killed me. I swam in, held up the camera and saved the film." More similar stories on the website.

Everest of the Seas - Mavericks From a Different Perspective photographs by Mike Peralta and story by Henry Schulte.

Christy Davis' website where she says "I am always interested in seeing and buying quality photographs of myself surfing at Mavericks, especially as I almost never see any. I also know other surfers who feel the same way, so if you have good photos of Mavericks, especially of me, please get in contact with me. Your photos could end up online here along with a solid plug for your work."

This information looks like it is dated around 1997, however I'd say she is not the only one who would be interested in shots of themself surfing. More cameras/photographers these days likely means less 'demand' - you'd have to ask around if you were interested in doing/offering some shots individually.

More information and stories from Christy Davis' on Mavericks here.

Other Mavericks stories and photos:

SportsShooter.com "Surf's Up!: shooting at Maverick's" By Aric Crabb, Alameda Newspaper Group.

Surfline Photo Gallery.

Surfline Portfolio Series on Jason Murray. There are other portfolios available via the menu at Surfline Photo Gallery as well.


Mavericks Big Wave Surf Competition 2005 - by Jim M. Goldstein at JMG Galleries - Photography by Jim M. Goldstein.

girl-surfer-wipe-out
by MacDonald

Comment by robs:
I like the rag doll effect you got in this instance - nice timing. As to where to crop, not sure how much more you have as this is pretty tight already. I would not crop the right since I like the wave (and you would lose some context) and it might look a little odd cropping out the left. Do you have any more image to the left & top? If so I would try lifting the top and left side

girl-surfer-wipe-out
by MacDonald

Comment by cheekymunky:
WOW, there is so much to see! I love seeing the whole wave the calm on the right and the chaos on the left and the poor surfer stuck in the middle, I'd leave it as it is!