Dustin Whitson Photography

   Imperial Beach, and it's iconic pier, have a special place in my heart with many memories attached to it. So when I took up photography in Spring '11 I knew that I wanted to capture it's beauty through a long exposure photo. I was excited when on the drive home late in May that year I saw a picturesque sunset, so I headed straight to the beach, set up my tripod with my 18-55mm kit lens, and started snapping away. 

   Somewhere I had heard that three seconds was a good place to start when wanting to emphasize water movement in your photos so I set my Nikon D3100 to 55mm, 3 sec., f13, ISO200. What came out is still one of my favorite photos to date.

   I love the colors, the line and rule of thirds that the pier creates, and the blurred effect of the person walking on the pier. Though I love this photo a lot this is one of those types of shot that I have tried once or twice, got the desired result, and have not yet tried to do something similar since. I hope to do something like this again soon in HDR.