Congratulations to roguecoolman for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 7 votes - View Previous Winners
Hello All,
This is the famous Pfeiffer Arch. The light only goes into the key hole during mid december or so. Usually there's a huge flock of photogs on the beach all lined up. This has been one of my bucket lists shots since forever. I've never been able to make it to this beach until recently. I scoured a lot of photos online and try to pre-visualize perhaps an original take, since this key hole is pretty photographed to death. So anyhoo, a few friends and I drove down to catch the light and clouds were looking favorable for a sunset blow up. To my surprise when I got to the beach there was only one other photog so that allowed me to get up close to the hole since it was low tide. I've heard stories of people yelling and screaming if you get too close when there are a ton of photogs around but I figure since I was the 2nd guy there and the first guy didn't mind , I'd stake out my spot. As the light went through the hole, I took the safe shots. Light beams, etc. As the sun got closer to the horizon I could pre-visualize the possible burn pattern based on the clouds so I knew I wanted a portrait with the fanning flames and a long FG to draw in. I originally was trying out just a single 16mm vertical shot but people were formed up behind me and I couldn't fit everything in that framing. So I decided to shoot 2 panos horizontally and stitch them later in PS to give me the 3:2 ratio with along FG draw in. I think the shot turned out better than how I expected and at least, it seems like an original take (i think at least).
Jason,
Nicely captured!
Usually you only see the light through the "door" but not with a great sky.
My only suggestion would be a 4x5 crop, losing off of the bottom.
I think losing that centered rock will make it feel more balanced.and lose the darkening at the bottom.
Just a taste thing & by necessity I'm partial to 4x5
I am assuming this was very recent!
I plan on visiting during next week when I'm off.
Let me know if you can join up
Stunning image Jason. While I hear Dan and where he is coming from, I think the lower portion helps the image. . ask a 100 ppl and you'll probably get a 100 answers . I do like the angled rock in the left corner and has me curious how the rest of it looks.
Sweet shot, what great color in the sky to go with the light flowing through the arch. The long foreground works for me, it combines with the well captured wave motion too pull me right in. Nice work.
This is a pretty cool shot, I like the pathway of water leading into the shot and the clouds spreading out behind it in a crown. The only thing I don't like about the angle is the opening. I think it would have been better to have been slightly to the right or left, either opening up that sliver of an opening or closing it off. But then again, maybe you would have lost that pathway of water feel.
Jim
PS.All photos are original, but yours does have a nice different look to it.
Thanks everyone for all the kind comments! Really appreciate it. I did look at different vertical crops but I felt the inclusion of the rocks made for a stronger leadin as the waves themselves weren't doing it alone. I couldn't move much left or right at this point as the photogs began to pile up more during this time. But I see your point.
There always tends to be a certain percentage of folks who want to crop off wide sweeping shots like this. I have often encountered that in feedback on my own work. My tendency is to like to exaggerate wide sweeping foregrounds so I usually resist the crops. But obviously that is different for different tastes...
. ask a 100 ppl and you'll probably get a 100 answers 
. I do like the angled rock in the left corner and has me curious how the rest of it looks.