As the light levels dropped, I resorted to low shutter speeds to give a bit more motion to the waves. There is a debate starting in Outdoor Photography about how to expose for water and whether long or short exposures are best for images made with moving water. I’m not a great fan of long exposures where the water becomes a total blur, so I try to keep some definition of the wave detail visible with a shorter shutter speed of around 1/40 th of a second.
The foam left by the waves on the beach was also producing an interesting pattern, which also was quite monochromatic. The wet sand turned black to contrast the white foam. In situations like this, using the histogram on the back of the camera is a great tool. It allows instant feedback on whether the highlights have been overexposed etc.
The final image is a bit of an experiment. I quite like it, but am still not sure whether it works. I like the separation of the spray from the waves from the background, but is the image interesting enough overall?
