I do mostly sunset pictures and love doing panoramas, especially of the coastal regions. From the rocky coast of New England and Maine to the Carolinas coast, I have been fortunate to get some great shots of the Atlantic coasts and fishing piers. I do most of my cameras in Lightroom nowadays and some of them have been printed out in wall-to-wall gorgeous metallic prints.
As I was looking back into some of my coastal panoramas from the Atlantic coast from 2019 and 2020, I found that these 5, which have always been my favorite as well, are also some of the highest selling ones for large immersive prints.
Here are my 5 all time favorite Atlantic coastal panoramas from 2019 – 2020.
Fishing Piers at Sunset in Outer Banks (OBX), North Carolina
The Outer Banks in North Carolina has some amazing fishing piers including the Frisco Pier in the southern tip of Hatteras. In off seasons, like winter, they are sparsely populated & you can get the whole pier and often the whole beaches to yourself. The weather could be a little unpredictable and in unfortunate situations of flooding or a severe storm, the road connecting Outer Banks to the mainland could be cut off for days.
The piers are always subjected to rough weather and heavy winds, causing some of them to wear out fast. The Frisco Pier in Hatteras had been one of my favorites but sadly it was badly damaged in 2010 & does not exist anymore. The second picture is a panorama of the Rodanthe Fishing pier.
Fishing Piers at Sunset in North Carolina Atlantic coast
North Carolina’s Atlantic coast is littered with fishing piers. During summer, these coastal areas get some very heavy tourists but in winter these piers remain quite sparsely populated and only the locals could be seen on the beaches. The panorama above and the next one are the Wrightsville Fishing Pier in North Carolina.
A very-wide angle shot from a low ground level helped me to get the surf patters in a unique way. Because of the way the sun suddenly came out from behind the clouds at sunset, I had to use several ND filters to control the overall exposures. I think each of these panoramas has about 5 frames stitched together in Lightroom.
Sunset Panoramas of Fishing Piers in South Carolina
South Calorina’s Atlantic coast is extremely beautiful and enjoyable. The sandy beaches, the mild surf, the occasional deadwood patches and the sporadic islands along the coast provide great opportunities for photographers to explore & take amazing coastal pictures.
The above 2 pictures are from Folly Beach in South Carolina, just south of Charleston. The pier is extremely long, extending almost a 1000 feet into the ocean. Both these panorama photos are done in long exposures. For the first one, I wanted to capture the last rays of the sun, just prior to sunset, grazing over the mild waves and giving an intense orangish-red color to the waves. The second one is done just after sunset when the whole sky lit up in a pinking-orangish-reddish glow that lasts about a few minutes after sunset.
For long exposures I use my long-trusted Gitzo tripod and make use of several ND filters to get the exposure correct in the shot (I do not use any post processing software like Photoshop, so I have to get the shot as close to perfect in camera). My remote shutter releases never lasts long and I am used to not using them (this is a common question I am asked very frequently) – for almost all my long exposure photos I use my fingers to click the shutter and take the risk of pictures coming out blurry due to camera shake.
I will shortly post a selection of my favorite blue hour coastal photographs, many of them also done along these beautiful Atlantic coasts & beaches.