Tom and I celebrate great photos from workshop participants by selecting a Photo of the Month. For August we chose an image from our Redwoods & Rocky Coastlines Workshop. The image was taken by Suzy Onysko at Lagoon Creek Beach. Suzy is a wildlife and fine art photographer from Ohio. You can see her work featured on Susan Onysko Photography.
Congratulations to August 2025 ‘s featured photographer – Suzy Onysko
The Story…
We went to Lagoon Creek in the afternoon and wow it was windy! I started out with a tripod, trying to capture the fast-moving waves and sea spray with the sea stacks in the background, but honestly, I wasn’t feeling it. Then I remembered something from a talk earlier that day: Tom Bol said he loves shooting water at 1 second because it keeps just enough texture to stay interesting. Normally, I go with much longer shutter speeds to get that dreamy, soft, gooey look in water, so this felt totally new to me. And that’s exactly why I’ve traveled with the Bols for 15+ years – there’s always something new to learn!
So I switched my camera to manual, cranked up the f-stop, lowered the ISO, and set my shutter speed to 1 second. Loved it instantly! And best of all – no need for that 10-stop ND filter I lugged along. 🙂 I set a 2-second delay so I didn’t need the cable release, parked myself in one spot, and just played with the waves all evening, timing the shutter to see how different wave patterns would transform the image.
At first, for about half an hour, everything came out in these gorgeous midtone grays – perfect for black and white. Then as the sun dropped, the mood shifted. Suddenly, beautiful golden highlights lit up my moody blue water, and the whole scene just glowed. In this photo, what I really loved was the reflection of the sun shimmering in the sand – such a beautiful combo!
I knew I was onto something when I looked up an hour later and realized I was facing the opposite direction of everyone else. Usually I’m the queen of FOMO, but I was so entranced I didn’t even notice!
Processing was easy in Lightroom. I hit that magical AUTO button, used the Adobe Landscape profile, set a Cloudy WB, and then spent some quality time zapping about a zillion dust spots. Lightroom has really come a long way! My little secret trick was using the Adaptive Sky – Blue Hour Preset. Lightroom thought my waves were clouds (ha!), so by lowering the opacity I ended up with these gorgeous, rich blue tones in the water.
EXIF Data:
Camera: Nikon Z9
Lens:100-400mm at 100mm
Aperture: f32
Shutter: 1 second
ISO: 64
About Photographing in the Redwoods
This was my second time on the Redwoods Photo Workshop with TBPW and I can honestly say that it’s one of the most challenging places I’ve ever photographed. The first time you go, you’re just overwhelmed by the sheer grandeur of the trees. Figuring out how to photograph them so that the images actually capture their scale and power. That’s the tricky part. I don’t think you really understand how hard it is until you’re standing right there in front of them.
Most of the spots we photograph in the Redwoods are low light, which means a tripod is a must if you want clean, sharp files. If you’re not used to shooting with a tripod – practice! 🙂 For me, it’s especially frustrating because most of my photography is handheld or with a beanbag from a safari vehicle in Africa. Switching gears to “tripod mode” definitely takes patience.
The coast in California and Oregon is absolutely lovely. Of course, I always dream of those gorgeous, cloudy, colorful sunsets (and even stayed extra days in Oregon hoping for one!), but alas… Mother Nature had other plans. Oregon was socked in, and other days I had completely clear skies. So, I went the black-and-white route instead. I ended up thrilled with my slow-water images from this trip. The best part is that the photos from my second trip look completely different from my first. That’s the beauty of returning to a place – you never know what magic you’ll find.
Suzy’ s Tips for Photographing at the Coast
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a huge fan of tripods. But… in my opinion, they often make the difference between a snapshot and a wall-hanger. 🙂 At the coast, a tripod really helps when you want to play with different shutter speeds to capture the mood of the waves – whether that’s silky and soft or crashing and powerful.
One of the highlights of this trip was when Cree found some AMAZING starfish for us to photograph. It was so much fun to see during the image showcase at the end how many variations people captured: starfish with soft waves, starfish with crashing waves, starfish close-up, starfish with big sweeping scenes. The creativity was endless!
As for me, the moment I had pulled out my trusty infrared camera and a polarizer I was completely absorbed in photographing tidal pools. I loved the way the kelp and sea plants transformed in infrared – they had this wonderful, otherworldly texture. I guess that means I’ll just have to go back another time for those starfish… not the worst problem to have! 😉
On Suzy’s Horizon:
Grand Teton National Park
Ouray with TBPW
Australia
Botswana
Falklands, Antarctica and South Georgia with TBPW
Workshop Openings:
Join us for more Coastal Photography on the Alaska Kenai Explorer July 7-12, 2026. Calving glaciers, Sea Otters, Whales, and beautiful scenery near Seward and Homer, Alaska. 4 Spaces Available. Learn more
Check out other openings on our Upcoming Workshops Page
Thank you for taking the time to read our posts!
Tom and Cree
