Without much of any clouds in the sky, the contrast from direct sunlight can be really harsh. Knowing that, I used my flash for most every shot on this day at the beach. This particular shot of course would have been just a silhouette without the flash. Also, the effect of the polarizing filter can be seen in the upper right hand corner. (For some reason my EXIF data says the flash did not fire, but I specifically remember putting the camera's fill flash in compulsory mode. A mystery.)