Sunsets and Cloudy Evenings at Little Corona in Newport Beach

One of the things I love about photography is how seemingly small technical details can dramatically change the feel of an image.  A few months ago, as I was taking sunset pictures at Newport Back Bay, I stayed until nearly the end of dusk, trying to capture the feel of the warmly-lit houses surrounding the cool bay. I ended up having to use exposures of more than a minute, eventually capturing the feel of the evening in this image:

Taken well after sunset, this long exposure shot of the western bluffs as clouds roll in at Newport Back Bay (in Newport Beach, CA) has an etherial glow to it.  I love how the house lights on the bluffs add dimension and light to the otherwise natural region. (Marc C. Perkins)
Taken well after sunset, this 70 second exposure of the western bluffs as clouds roll in at Newport Back Bay (in Newport Beach, CA) has an ethereal glow to it.

While I’d always known that long shutter speeds allow you to blur motion, in that evening I discovered just how much they change the look of large bodies of water: the water changed from a choppy, dynamic fluid into a silky smooth, calm body 1.

I was hooked.  I quickly added a 3-stop (8x) neutral density filter to my wishlist, and was lucky enough to get one as a present recently (thanks mom!). To experiment with using long shutter speeds and bodies of water, I headed to Little Corona Beach (Robert E Badham Marine Life Refuge) in Corona Del Mar three times over the last month.

With the sun still out, the neutral density filter stacked with my polarizer let me extend exposures to a few seconds, allowing me to capture the feel of the water crashing over the rocks, with waves diluted to mist in the air:

A long-exposure shot taken just before sunset at Little Corona beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA, aiming at the distinctive arch rock off shore.  The water almost looks like fog, and I like how you can see the water cascading over the middle rock. (Marc C. Perkins)
A long-exposure shot taken just before sunset at Little Corona beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA. The water almost looks like fog, and I like how you can see the water cascading over the middle rock.

And water in the somewhat protected rocky areas smoothed out to be a shimmering, reflective surface:

Water turns into a silky smooth sheen in a long-exposure shot of the rocky intertidal at Little Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA. (Marc C. Perkins)
Water turns into a silky smooth sheen in a long-exposure shot of the rocky intertidal at Little Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar.

But the real fun came after the sun went down, and I could use exposure times of a minute or longer while capturing the ethereal, post-sunset glow:

A long-exposure shot taken after sunset at Little Corona beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA, aiming at the distinctive arch rock off shore.  This was a two minute exposure, so the rocks were alternately covered and uncovered by water, giving them a ghostly feel, as though a low mist was over the ground. (Marc C. Perkins)
A long-exposure shot taken after sunset at Little Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA, aiming at the distinctive arch rock off shore. This was a two minute exposure, so the rocks were alternately covered and uncovered by water, giving them a ghostly feel, as though a low mist was over the ground.
A long-exposure shot taken after sunset at Little Corona beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA.  The rocky line at the horizon is the entrance to Newport Harbor.  There were absolutely no clouds for this sunset, but I love the orange/red hues. (Marc C. Perkins)
A long-exposure shot taken after sunset at Little Corona beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA. The rocky line at the horizon is the entrance to Newport Harbor. I love the orange/red hues contrasting with the icy blue water.

But the Southern California coast isn’t all about sunsets with crystal clear skies.  On many evenings here the coast is shrouded in a low marine layer that blocks the sunset entirely, giving the coast a more melancholy feel.

Greg and I headed out for a quick sunset shoot this day, only to find a thick marine layer completely blocking the sun.  But the cloudy sky turned out to be perfect for capturing the cove's beach and its bluffs in a more contemplative, moodier setting in black and white.  Using a long exposure smoothed out the waves and made the rocks look as though they're in a layer of mist, or visible underwater. (Marc C. Perkins)
The marine layer turned out to be perfect for capturing the cove's beach and its bluffs in a more contemplative, moodier setting in black and white. Using a long exposure smoothed out the waves and made the rocks look as though they're in a layer of mist, or visible underwater.

And the marine layer led to a very different feel for the ocean, as well:

A ghostly mist seems to shroud the rocks and water at Little Corona in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), California.  This long-exposure shot was taken at dusk, so the wave action blended together into a soft, almost-fog like look.  It almost looks like you could walk out to the distinctive Arch Rock offshore (but you can't).  I'm also pleased to report that a bird stood still long enough on the left side of the arch rock to appear in the exposure. (Marc C. Perkins)
A ghostly mist seems to shroud the rocks and water at Little Corona in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), California. This long-exposure shot was taken at dusk, so the wave action blended together into a soft, almost-fog like look. It almost looks like you could walk out to the distinctive Arch Rock offshore (but you can't). I'm also pleased to report that a bird stood still long enough on the left side of the arch rock to appear in the exposure.

Even though it’s been technically challenging, I’m absolutely loving long-exposure work; it captures the feel of an evening at the beach much better than freezing any one view seen in 1/500th of a second.  Waves turn into mist, the water smooths out, and the image becomes more expressive.

I’ve also managed to get Greg hooked, and we’re both waiting for an evening with a gorgeous sunset so we can race out and try our hand at capturing it with this technique.

1 Compare the first picture in the post to this picture, taken at sunset with a much faster shutter speed to see the effect of the long shutter speed. The waves on the water were functionally identical for both pictures; the difference is the shutter speed.

 

More pictures

To see more pictures from my long exposure work at Little Corona, head to my Little Corona Beach Gallery.  Here are a few thumbnails of images I didn’t highlight above:
A thick marine layer blocks the sun and provides the perfect setting for a long-exposure shot of the beach and houses on the bluffs above Little Corona just after sunset.  The pathway down to the beach from the street parking is visible underneath the trees on the right, as is the often-closed lifeguard tower.  A sole person can be seen sitting on the lifeguard tower, looking out over the ocean. (Marc C. Perkins) This long exposure image captures a differnet view of rocks in the intertidal: instead of being hit by waves, the rocks look like they're shrouded in a low mist or fog.  I love how it links the foreground intertidal rocks to the background arhced rock that's offshore. (Marc C. Perkins) Taken at Little Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA, here we see light reflecting off of the silky smooth water among the rocks at the beach.  Thanks to the long exposure, it looks like there's mist creeping in. (Marc C. Perkins)

 

Getting There

Little Corona Beach (Robert E Badham Marine Life Refuge): Located at the intersection of Poppy Ave. and Ocean Blvd. in Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach), CA. From Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) turn onto Poppy Ave, and park on the street once you get to Ocean Blvd (a few blocks from PCH). Street parking may be difficult to find at peak times, but was easy to get on weekday evenings. From the street you’ll walk down a moderately steep paved ramp to the beach, just at the intersection of Ocean and Poppy. The park is open from 6am – 10pm.

One thought on “Sunsets and Cloudy Evenings at Little Corona in Newport Beach

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *