I was doing nature photography in various parts of Cape May this past Thursday, and had a gameplan to head to the well-known Sunset Beach area to try to make some photos of the setting sun.  My plan was foiled as the horizon clouded over as the sun began descending closer and closer to the horizon.

A recent long exposure photo taken in Cape May, New Jersey.

With a fairly bleak sky I shifted my attention and tripod-mounted camera downwards to try to capture the water motion near the tideline.  For this capture, I have a circular 3-stop Neutral Density filter attached to my Tamron 18-270mm VC lens to allow more time for motion within the frame.  The resultant exposure time here was 30 seconds with an aperture of F/13 to have an expansive depth of field.  The ISO value of 100 provides the best image quality possible on current DSLR cameras.

The composition in this image incorporates the rule of thirds to draw the viewer in.  The dark rocks of the jetty occupy roughly 1/3 of the horizontal width of the frame and the sky occupies approximately 1/6 of the vertical height of the frame.  The misty water occupies the vast majority of the scene, but the rocks and the sky give a sense of scale and environment to the scene.

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