Rows of Umbrellas at Cocoa Beach

Umbrellas and Stripes

Rows of striped beach umbrellas fill the sand at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, Florida, as seen during our 2019 Florida Summer Vacation.

As I was walking around the beach with my camera after lunch, these umbrellas caught my eye. I loved the repeating patterns and the symmetry, so I figured it would be a good photo subject.

For the past few years, there have been some guys who rent out these umbrellas and beach chairs to beachgoers. Instead of using these, we always take our own chairs and umbrellas. Actually, we started doing that long before they were there for rent every day at Cocoa Beach. We started with one umbrella and eventually ended up with two. We started with two beach chairs and eventually ended up with four, although we only bring three with us because there are only three of us at the most.

Now that the chairs and umbrellas are available for rent, I still figure that the cost of renting can go a long way toward buying your own. So if we were starting over today, I think we would still bring our own. Because that is just how we do things.

However, we also take our own car to Florida and are not all that limited by space, as long as everything fits into the car while still leaving room for the people to sit in the car. That isn’t true for everyone. If you fly, I can see that you would have a hard time bringing your own umbrella and chairs. Or if you don’t go to the beach all that often, you wouldn’t want to spend the money on something that you would not get much use from.

Because of all of that, I can definitely see several reasons for renting these umbrellas and chairs. After all, you don’t want to get caught out on the beach all day without some sort of shade from the sun. And a chair is much more comfortable than sitting on the sand.

Plus, I am thankful that these were there to rent because they created a nice photo opportunity!

Bible Verse

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. - 1 Peter 3:8

About the Photo

This photo started out looking rather bland. Except of course for those snazzy umbrellas.

Even after my first pass of processing, it still looked just rather ordinary. Yes, there was lots of blue sky and lots of sand, but even with the umbrellas the photo was not all that eye-catching.

So I decided to change it up a little.

I used the color temperature slider to give everything a warm glow. And I turned it up much warmer than what I would usually do. I increased the contrast. I increased the saturation. And I didn’t hold back too much on any of it. I wanted to go for a bold look. Something that would make you take notice. Hopefully, that is what you see here.

Yes, it does not look quite “normal,” if there really is such a thing as normal. To me, that just means that it is more art than journalism. But then I never have claimed to be a journalism photographer. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But instead, I want to share photos that people want to see.

So that is what you see here. I hope you like it. I hope it caught your eye.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
_Lens: _ Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Date: June 11, 2019
Location: Lori Wilson Park, Cocoa Beach, Florida