This shot was taken in Port Renfrew, BC, at the end of my surf session. You would never be able to tell from this photo, but the waves rolling in that day reached over 12 feet high. The river that's at the right of this bay, and also at the right side of this photo, creates a very swift rip current at low tide. If timed correctly, you could paddle into the break from the river mouth and the current would sweep you to exactly where you'd need to be to catch those waves. If timed incorrectly, you would end up being swept too far and would have to paddle against that same current to get back to shore.

Gear:
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM

Camera Settings:
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 250
White Balance: Auto

Post-Production:

Photoshop Camera RAW: I increased the exposure and brightened the shadows to achieve a flatter, less contrasted image. I brought the highlights and whites down to help bring back some detail in the subject. I also darkened the blacks to prevent the photo from looking too washed out, and increased the clarity to bring out more detail. I then cross-processed the image in the curves section. After that was done, I moved on to the colour portion of the program. I saturated the reds, oranges, blues, and purples to help create an image that looks less flat and more vibrant. I slightly changed the hues in the blues to a more aqua colour, and changed the oranges to look slightly more red. In the split-toning section, I added a touch of orange in the highlights and a touch of blue in the shadows. I then went back to the curves to add a matte finish to the photo.

Photoshop: I used the Unsharpen Mask filter to increase the sharpness by 49%, then saved the photo as a JPEG.