For a few minutes this afternoon, the flow from the Tsunami from Chile completely changed the direction of the tidal flow through the Golden Gate! No big waves, but I’ve never seen anything like it. This was to record this event, which was so tragic in Chile, in a single photo! No HDR.

Free wallpaper for over 100 of my images in 6 different screen sizes is now available!

See the 1200 pixel version! www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/439434524…

Settings etc.:

Canon 5D Mark II Canon 17-40L @20 30-second exposure @F22 Hoya NDX-400 9-stop circular ND filter (very dark for long daytime exposures) LEE soft ND grad (100x150mm) 0.9 + 0.75 Lee foundation kit filter holder with Lee 77mm adapter ring No polarizer. ISO 50 Small Slik tripod.. RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One TIFF file processed with Photoshop

Story:

A large earthquake off the coast of Chile sent out a moderate-sized tsunami across the Pacific. When it reached San Francisco the tide was going out, flowing under the bridge from left to right. Then within about 60-90 seconds, the entire flow turned and went completely in the other direction. It happened so gradually I didn’t realize what was happening until the flow had been stopped and was being reversed. This 30-second exposure shows the almost river-like flow and eddies that were formed. The water turned a muddy green as the flow picked up speed. It lasted about 4 or 5 minutes and then the flow stopped and reversed itself back to it’s normal outgoing tidal direction out to sea.

There were a few strange looking waves that hit the black sand beach to the left, but for the most part, I saw no waves that were bigger than normal. It was all about the flow. Perhaps the water level rose by about 1 foot because the merely normal sized waves were hitting above the edge of the black sand beach.

The map shows exactly where this is. Do not attempt to go this low on the hill unless you are a very good hill-climber/scaler!

See my Flickr profile for a link to my newly designed website.
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Resources:

Google Earth earth.google.com/

Simply the best way to scout out locations that there is. You can see sun angles and pre-visualize light under lots of different conditions. Sometimes you can actually pre-compose your shots! This has saved me many thousands of vertical feet of climbing by avoiding spots with blocked views etc.

Satellite imagery (choose ‘National’ for a local US region or use your fave website) www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/?wfo=mtr

Tide charting and preditions: (chose your area in US, other countries have similar websites)tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tidepredictions.shtml?gid=235 Wave Heights (I choose ‘North Pacific from Global’) polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/mainint.html Or Here: www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/RP1bw.gif

Photos of every inch of the California coastline from a small plane. Excellent for close in detailed views.

www.californiacoastline.org/

I get my cameras, filters, etc. here:

www.bhphotovideo.com/ or www.adorama.com/

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