The other day, National Geographic ranked Tel Aviv #9 out of the top 10 beach cities in the world. So I thought I'd post one of the beach shots I took when I was there last year. While I'm not an expert on beaches, I did pick a (funky) hotel in Tel Aviv about 3 blocks from the beach (and also around the corner from the Carmel Market, a fascinating place in its own right), and went swimming there a couple of mornings. And yes, it was a very nice beach.

This shot is from Jaffa, which is built on a hill at the south end of Tel Aviv, and which is possibly the oldest port in the world.

Technical: In RAW, raise exposure, brightness, contrast, and sharpening. In CS3, noiseware reduction, followed by duplicate layer set to Overlay blend and 50% opacity (deepened the color of the water nicely), plus cropping and levels.

Update: NatGeo's list is of the top cities that have great beaches within walking distance of the city (as in Tel Aviv's case, the beaches are literally across the street from downtown). Here's the full list:

Barcelona
Cape Town
Honolulu
Nice (France)
Miami Beach
Rio de Janeiro
Santa Monica
Sydney
Tel Aviv
Vancouver

Hello Dan,
Very interesting POV, as if you were on the tree ;-)
Diagonals and light are excellent. Interesting note.
Thanks for sharing,
Du

Hi Dan,

I had a swim here in 1971, but I can't remember all those modern buildings. Probaly they were built aferwards.
It was a very hot day of July and we went to the beach hoping to get refreshed... What a disappointment! The sea water was as warm as my soup and maybe it had even its consistency... (:-)
I like how you framed the scene with this tree here (which by the way looks like a tamarix) and the presence of only few people makes the beach more appealing.
TFS,
Donato

You probably already know that I like these kind of compositions and I do realise how difficult it is to get a good depth. More often than not the foreground 'frame' ends up being blurred. If you focus on the 'frame' then the bg is out, even with a small aperture. It probably depends how far away you are and zooming to 50mm was probably the saving grace. My only concern is the exposure of the tree. I've looked at it for a while now and still can't decide if I would have preferred more detail in the bark.....maybe it would be a distraction from the beach/city. Anyway I like how you arranged things so the fg beach is nicely separated from the city.
Kath

It was necessary to read your note twice, as I would never rank a beach in a higher position with a city in the background but you wrote about city beaches. I prefer a different landscape behind, Dan. But your choice with the view through the fork of the tree keeps some natural beauty and pushes the city a bit away. And the small corner for the people and the closer beach makes the final part. I like it that you kept the branch darker as it closer to the eyes perception I think.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

Hi Dan
I like how you framed the scene and we can see enough of the beach in the bottom right to get a sense of the area.
Phil

Hello Dan! Tel Aviv or Israel stands on my wish list (people ask me sometimes if I am Isreali but I am not sure as one of my grandfathers is "unknown"). My working colleague has lived here for 10 years and whenever she returns (mostly directly from a night flight) she has this wonderful energy in her that I love to see. She has five children and every once in a while she escapes from her family life in Zurich and visits family in Isreal attending weddings and what not. She told me that she loves the Israel driving style and I find that funny because she is so different from us (she wears a wig and always skirts) and I would love to see her drive. I might ask her to join her one day, this would be a fantastic treat to have an inside look into another world. On the other hand, actually we are very much alike, if we talk we ARE women with the same "problems" like work and household, kids or no kids, and if kids, school problems, fashion etc. etc. I know that Tel Aviv is one of the hottest cities with great parties and what not. Same in Switzerland, it was very often in our magazines of "must see" places. The photo is interesting and yet I wished it had a little less foreground. It is a somewhat heavy for my own taste. A minor critic from my side but I still like it, the view over Tel Aviv is great. Have a very good Sunday, Barbara.

Hello Dan,  Nice framing of the beach and skyline via the tree branches, looks great.  It is pleasant looking beach, but we lived in Hawaii for two years and they have some very nice ones too.  Our home perched on the hillside looked down and at the two Heads and the beach was excellent.  I am impressed with the number of construction cranes one sees in pictures of Tel Aviv including yours here.  One of the locals from there posts many pictures , on another site, of the city.  Better than we are doing here.  IMO.  You are fortunate to travel there, I hope to do some next year.  Regards,  Roger