Pfeiffer Arch at the Blue Hour, Big Sur
This Arch, located in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, is famous for the sunset light which streams through its opening every February. When I went to the beach to photograph the Arch, there were dozens of photographers making images of this iconic scene. Knowing that well after the sun has set can be the most magic time of the ending day, I stayed on the beach while all had left save myself and one other photographer. Many call this the blue hour. I steadied my camera on the shifting sands as best as I could and made three bracketed exposures to capture the different exposure values of the bright, dark, and shadow areas of the scene before me. I blended these three exposures by hand in Photoshop, creating a photograph which reproduces well the colors I saw at this most magic time of the day.