Little bit of splash off the rocks in the back left

When people come to Pfeiffer Beach to see the light ray through the hole in the arch they don't normally don't realize there's another hole to the left. I went over there first to check it out.

Another shot of the light beam through the other hole at Pfeiffer. The sun is still too high in the sky and doesn't have it's beautiful orange glow yet.

The light beam through the main Pfeiffer Arch (keyhole arch) is pretty visible here

Another view of the light-beam through Pfeiffer. I wanted to get a shot from the left side of the arch this year, since I did the right side last year. Unfortunately there wasn't enough surf and none of the waves were crashing against rocks. It was pretty boring from this side. I also think the tide was too high.

Another view of the light-beam through Pfeiffer. I wanted to get a shot from the left side of the arch this year, since I did the right side last year. Unfortunately there wasn't enough surf and none of the waves were crashing against rocks. It was pretty boring from this side. I also think the tide was too high.

I zoomed out so I could get a view of the entire Pfeiffer Arch with a little bit of light-beam going through it

As the sun dipped lower the light turned more orange and it began to reflect off the water. Here, the light beam isn't really visible, but it is making the water look molten.

Finally I caught a splash of water picking up some of the sunset color!

More splashes and a little bit of light-beam

16x9 crop Every year thousands of photographers flock down to Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur to photograph light beams through the Pfeiffer Arch (some people call it Keyhole Arch?). During December, January, and a bit into Februray the sun sets at just the right angle that its rays will streak through the hole in the rock. As the sun nears the horizon the light takes an orange hue and water droplets in the air will reflect the lights orange color. My buddy Andy moved up here a couple months ago and has used his new proximity to me as an excuse to get more into photography. He had seen my photo "Spotlight" from last year and demanded that we go down to Pfeiffer this year. Between busy schedules and poor weather/tide conditions it took us until late January to get down. We played hooky with a work, left around 1pm and made our way down the Big Sur coast. It was a beautiful afternoon and we were pretty excited! When we arrived at Pfeiffer we quickly noted how calm the water was. The tide was fairly high, about 3.2ft before sunset, and was supposed to only drop to 3ft by sunset. It seemed a bit high. Without the huge surf there wasn't much splash or spray and the light beam never materialized like it did for me last year. None-the-less I took a number of photos and left feeling somewhat disappointed. It wasn't until I got home that I realized I had captured a few nice shots! I especially liked this one because wispy strands of water picked up the setting sun, making it look like it was almost molten! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 70mm, f/16, 0.6 sec, ISO 64

Every year thousands of photographers flock down to Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur to photograph light beams through the Pfeiffer Arch (some people call it Keyhole Arch?). During December, January, and a bit into Februray the sun sets at just the right angle that its rays will streak through the hole in the rock. As the sun nears the horizon the light takes an orange hue and water droplets in the air will reflect the lights orange color. My buddy Andy moved up here a couple months ago and has used his new proximity to me as an excuse to get more into photography. He had seen my photo "Spotlight" from last year and demanded that we go down to Pfeiffer this year. Between busy schedules and poor weather/tide conditions it took us until late January to get down. We played hooky with a work, left around 1pm and made our way down the Big Sur coast. It was a beautiful afternoon and we were pretty excited! When we arrived at Pfeiffer we quickly noted how calm the water was. The tide was fairly high, about 3.2ft before sunset, and was supposed to only drop to 3ft by sunset. It seemed a bit high. Without the huge surf there wasn't much splash or spray and the light beam never materialized like it did for me last year. None-the-less I took a number of photos and left feeling somewhat disappointed. It wasn't until I got home that I realized I had captured a few nice shots! I especially liked this one because wispy strands of water picked up the setting sun, making it look like it was almost molten! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 70mm, f/16, 0.6 sec, ISO 64

I hiked up the hill behidn us so I could get a few looking down on the beach. Too bad the sun blinded me!

I hiked up the hill behidn us so I could get a few looking down on the beach. Too bad the sun blinded me!

I hiked up the hill behidn us so I could get a few looking down on the beach. Too bad the sun blinded me! I combined something like 7 exposures here (well, I really only used 2 or 3) and had to use my hand to block most of the glare. This was just as "FYI, this is what it looks like" shot and I didn't bother doing a good blend job. Halo's and blend lines super visible. You can see Willie taking a photo of me (see his photo next), and Andy's also down there on the beach. I blended out the rest of the photographers.

Willie took this photo of me while I was up at the top of the hill. In the previous photo you can see Willie taking this photo!

A 2-exposure blend of a wide angle of the Pfeiffer Arch at sunset. Clouds rolled into the horizon and provided a beautiful orange, pink, and red glow behind the arch. The light glows inside the hole of the arch too!

A 2-exposure blend of a wide angle of the Pfeiffer Arch at sunset. Clouds rolled into the horizon and provided a beautiful orange, pink, and red glow behind the arch. The light glows inside the hole of the arch too!

The sun setting thorugh the Pfeiffer Arch

The sun setting thorugh the Pfeiffer Arch

The sun setting thorugh the Pfeiffer Arch

I wanted to post this photo to show the amazing dynamic range of the D800. This is ONE EXPOSURE! I exposed for the sky and was able to pull up the rest from the darks of the image. The little bit of halo is the natural color gradient of the sky.