Our Favorite Beaches At Olympic National Park
Second Beach, Olympic National Park
We have visited Olympic National Park for at least 3-4 dozens of times since last summer, but the Pacific coastline of the park remained closed due to covid till mid 2021.
By the time we figured out our schedule, it seemed most nearby accommodations had already been booked.
Now at the tail end of the summer, we finally decided to just go for a day trip.
The trip took us 14 hours, and was absolutely worth it.
Selfie, Rialto Beach
I have taken over 1000 photos for the day, ranging from day time long exposure, wild life (birds), landscape at sunset, candid selfies (see how I create selfies) as well as my regular candid shots for the little ones (see how I create candid style). It was absolutely an amazing day!
1 - Rialto Beach
Rialto Beach was highly rated and became our first stop. Despite the foggy and windy condition, there were many visitors and the parking lot was completely full.
With the low hanging dark clouds, and not knowing what the weather would bring, we stayed close to the parking lot and didn’t hike far. I did a few selfies (see above and below) and wrapped up a quick beach “photo session”.
2 - Second Beach
We then drove to La Push where three beaches - First Beach, Second Beach and Third Beach - are located fairly close together.
We chose Second Beach as our main stop, as we could combine a forest hike with beach activities afterwards.
The forest hike was a nice 0.8 mile trail that our 4 year old could easily handle. He occasionally asked to be picked up as he was hungry for lunch.
It turned out Second Beach was my favorite in this trip, although Ruby Beach comes very close (to be discussed later).
I completely adore our mother nature. Just look at all the dramatic shapes of the rocks it created! For our little ones, perhaps throwing sand or beach rocks were more enjoyable.
3 - First Beach
First Beach was our third stop. It is close to the La Push town center and has easy access from the parking lot.
Since everyone else preferred to stay in the car after the beach and forest hike at Second Beach, I took a quick walk outside by myself.
My main subjects were two pelicans flying near the rocks in the ocean. The sky was covered by heavy clouds. Everything looked grey. So the photos might be a bit more heavily edited than I wanted in order to bring out some colors. (See how I edit travel photos).
Up to now, I only used Canon EOS R5 and Canon RF 70-200mm f2.8 for all the photos. I brought two cameras and three lenses for our next stop.
4 - Ruby Beach
We decided to move on to Ruby Beach, where I planned to photograph sunset.
In my late afternoon recon, I walked to the beach by myself while the rest of our crew accompanied our napping 4 year old in the car.
The waves were pretty strong in the wind. In order to achieve the silky water effect I always liked (see more examples in my seascape gallery), I used the Lee 10 stop filter to force a slow shutter speed.
The above image is actually a combination of my selfie and the beach in long exposure. See below 2 images of the originals. I very rarely create composite - 99.99% of my photos are one click photos. This sure is a fun experiment.
Up to this point, can you see our common theme in the photos? Fog and heavy clouds! I had little expectation of what the sunset would turn out to be.
We drove to a few more smaller beaches between Ruby Beach and Kalaloch Beach, and returned to Ruby Beach before sunset.
I brought all my photo gear for the day, as well as the beach toys for our kids, as we knew this would be our last and longest stop.
The mother nature must have decided to reward our patience, and presented a spectacular sunset show.
The following two images were taken 4 minutes apart during the end of golden hour.
Left image: ISO100, 24mm, f/10, 0.3sec
Right image: ISO500, 24mm, f/11, 30sec (10 stop filter used)
Can you guess which image was taken earlier?
Tips for aspiring landscape photographer:
OK here’s the answer: The right one. In the tail end of golden hour (and blue hours), color typically changes very fast. As the light darkens, I wouldn’t be able to use the 10 stop filter unless I
bump up the ISO, which will create unwanted digital noise in my image, or
use a much slower shutter speed
However, as the tides were high, and the waves were strong, my tripod would inevitably sink if the wave brushed up to my tripod legs, as it happened several times in my earlier long exposure that evening.
To make a compromise, I had to set the tripod a bit further away from the water (to sacrifice the composition), and limit the shutter speed to 30 seconds or less to minimize the risk of my tripod being hit by the waves.
ISO250, 28mm, f/10, 25sec
The above is one of the few long exposures that came back sharp. I had to admit, I wasn’t completely satisfied with my photos for the evening. But hey, this means I have a perfect excuse to come back!
By the time I wrapped up everything, most people on the beach have already left. Our kids were still cheerfully running between the waves and the sand. It certainly was a great day for all of us!
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