On the coast of Los Angeles, south of the airport and Santa Monica, are the beach cities. This is taken from the Pier at Hermosa Beach, looking north to the Manhattan Beach Pier and industrial skyline beyond.

Clustered along the edge of the sand, and the dunes behind, are some of Los Angeles most expensive pieces of real estate, with multi-million dollar homes sandwiched in 20 feet wide lots.

I wanted to reduce this to the essential element of sand, sea, sky and houses. The beach walker anchors the whole scene and provide an excellent perspective (lucky timing).

To achieve the effect, I simply used Photoshop Cutout filter, and adjusted the setting to give the right amount of detail in the ocean and the houses.