Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Arlen on July 12, 2012, 11:02:31 pm
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After the helpful feedback a few weeks ago in response to my first image posting, Heading into the Storm, I felt encouraged to submit another. This is a view of the southern Oregon seacoast, on a rather threatening morning. From the beginning, this was planned to end up in black and white. There were of course a variety of options for converting to monochrome, but this result is the one I finally settled on as the most appealing to me.
Comments of any sort are welcome, but if you have any thoughts about composition and tonal balance, those would be particularly appreciated.
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The house on the bluff is a bit distracting but this is a minor quibble.
Overall, a wonderful moody image.
The action of the waves is a particular highlight.
Regards
Tony Jay
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Spectacular. Tonal balance is very nice. The blurred waves produce the mood you were seeking. I might have moved the camera position a bit to the left, to remove most or all of the bluff (and the house) from the left side of the composition, concentrating on the ocean and rock.
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The house is a bit of a distraction, but once you know it's there it's easy enough to ignore. The horizon seems a bit tilted to me (might just be my eyes but overall very well done.
Mike.
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I'm a sucker for this kind of water, but this is an especially engaging example. Well done.
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Wow! I love the B/W treatment and the blurred wave… I almost looks like hot chocolate flowing on the beach.
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Very nice work. I actually like the house on the border of the cliff, it gives a sensation of peril, hanging almost on the border. It also gives my eyes a place to rest while navigating through the image, bottom to left and then to right. The water in the foreground is really great.
Like another commenter, I also think it is tilting a bit on the horizon.
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Keep the house but straighten the horizon.
Beautiful shot!
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Thanks for the feedback, folks, I appreciate the kind words. Though after reading the first few responses, I was beginning to think I may have to push the house over the figurative cliff. :) I could clone it out, and that would help solve the other issue that some of you have mentioned. But I've had the same debate within myself whether, on balance, that would add or detract from the image. It's good to hear a variety of opinions.
Now to the horizon. I know that it appears to be a bit tilted up on the right, but it's actually not. (Take a look at the house; its side is vertical.) There's a peninsula out there that gets closer to us on the right, which yields that illusion. I have already corrected for it a bit by tilting the image down on that side a little. If I do it much more, the house will appear to be leaning. (Maybe that's good a good thing, and it will slide on into the ocean.) I could use stretching to correct for perspective, I suppose, to avoid affecting the left side so much. But it was my feeling that the apparent tilt of the horizon wasn't that bothersome. Seems like maybe it is to others, though, since it has caught the attention of some of you.
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It's a great shot. You've found just the right exposure: long enough to get a beautifully milky effect on the water but not so long that detail in the water is lost.
I agree it might be better without the house but it doesn't bother me. If cloning it out would be easy, you could give it a go and see if it's an improvement.
Jeremy
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Lovely mono....all the key components are there, good tonal range textures detail atmosphere/mood, really like the silky water effect....cracking mono very well done.
Shaun
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OK, to see how it would look, I went back and cloned out the house, and used transform/skew to lower the right side a bit so the apparent horizon over there would look more level. An improvement, or not?
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OK, to see how it would look, I went back and cloned out the house, and used transform/skew to lower the right side a bit so the apparent horizon over there would look more level. An improvement, or not?
The house didn't bother me at all but the "level" horizon is, at least for me, an improvement.
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OK, to see how it would look, I went back and cloned out the house, and used transform/skew to lower the right side a bit so the apparent horizon over there would look more level. An improvement, or not?
It does look a bit better - but you were always working with gold!
Regards
Tony Jay
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It does look a bit better - but you were always working with gold!
Regards
Tony Jay
+10.
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Late to the party here Arlen but....
1. I like it much more without the house
2. It's hard to imagine I could possibly like it much more..... it is an outstanding shot (both versions) and is incredibly moody!
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OK, to see how it would look, I went back and cloned out the house, and used transform/skew to lower the right side a bit so the apparent horizon over there would look more level. An improvement, or not?
An improvement, without doubt.
Jeremy
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+1 on version 2.
Really a lovely shot. It created an excitement and immediately wanted to be there.
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This is a nice shot indeed with nice tonal balance but the first thing that struck me when I viewed it for the first time (I have come back several times) is the smoothness of the rocks. To me this is looks a lot like attempts I have made at very strong noise reduction that takes all of the grittiness out of things like rocks and stationary clouds. Perhaps I just like my rocks to have a bit of grain to them.
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Hi Arlen
You have a lovely moody image there but the horizon is way off IMO. On the right hand side where there is no land visible and you just have the horizon where the sky meets the sea, it is a good bit off. What ever about the peninsula that should be straight. The problem is if you plan to print it at a large size it will be really apparent and once someone sees it's off that sticks out in ones mind. My guess the fall of the beach is quite inclined so there is a bit of an illusion that when you straighten the image it looks off. I straightened it using the straighten tool in CS5 and the ridge of the house was bang on. If you look at the old image and move the ridge to the top of the screen you can see it's off.
But it is a lovely image and well done
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Great photo. I hope you will excuse me when I say my very first impression is that it reminds me of the Robert Capa photos from D-Day.
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Thanks everyone for your kind feedback and helpful comments. It's definitely worthwhile to get some skilled eyes double-checking my own perceptions now and then.