I shot this picture in a tunnel near Crystal Cove Beach near Newport, California a couple of weekends ago. The tunnel was really cool and I wanted the exterior part in the center to be blown out and overexposed.

The tricky part was trying to do this with my point-and-shoot camera which was all I had in my beach bag (Canon PowerShot SD800 IS ELPH). After several failed attempts at the contrasty look I was after, I took a reading from the dark ground below the bright spot and then took the picture. (I pointed the camera at the dark area, pressed the shutter button down half-way, re-composed the picture, and pressed the button down the rest of the way to take the picture). Framing-wise, I tried placing the light at the top of the frame and at the bottom of the frame, but just above center felt the best.

When I got back home, I converted the shot to black and white in Picasa and boosted the shadow levels a bit to make it super moody. I really like the reflections at the sides of the wall, and the industrial feel the fluorescent lights above give to the shot. There were good echoes in the tunnel too. HELLO…Hello…hello…