Surfers leaving the beach

Yesterday's photo was a little far away, so here is a closer view of the surfers walking from the beach.

From a photographic standpoint, I was pleased to be able to catch the surfers in the sunlight, with the trees dark behind them to highlight the subjects. I almost always take photos on a manual setting as though it is a little brighter than the camera's exposure would ordinarily set the camera.

Shooting on a brighter setting prevents photos from appearing washed out, deepening the blue of the sky, and maintaining the texture of clouds. Some parts of the photo may appear too dark, however, such as the trees in the background of this photo. Sometimes I leave them dark, such as today, and other times I use the iPhoto adjustments to lighten the shadows of the photo.

Without shooting for a brighter setting, a scene like this would have the trees lighter, but the splashes of sunlight on the skin on the surfers would be washed out, as would be the white of their surfboards.

My mother-in-law may comment that I took a moment of eye candy for her and turned it into a boring photo mini-lesson. Oh well, Glenda has never criticized me about anything else (I'm serious), so I have to give her some reason to do so.

We have photos of the villas in Bellagio, Italy on the shores of Lake Como posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.