Pacific Beam

Over millions of years the ocean has carved this natural window into the rock in Big Sur, California. Once a year, at the Winter solstice, the setting sun forms this beam of light through this natural cave.High definition version is available on my site www.davidrsmith.com.Metering to get the correct exposure for this shot was very difficult. Didn't want to let the beam overpower the rest of the image--wanted some detail in the sea/sand/rocks. Had to resort to getting a reading of ambient light.