Surf Apocalypse

[James Clark]

I caught a silhouetted surfer just under threatening clouds above.

[Paulo Bizarro]

This is great.

[francois]

I love it, the surfer is perfectly placed. Great mood too!

[stamper]

I very much like the image and the processing but I feel the surfer is too small relative to the size of the frame.

[graeme]

I very much like the image and the processing but I feel the surfer is too small relative to the size of the frame.

Not if you printed it very large.

I really like this image, great colour combo.

[James Clark]

Not if you printed it very large.

I really like this image, great colour combo.

Thanks Graeme.  I was about to say the same thing.. I edited this on a 27" and it looks great.  I followed up on the thread on my iPhone and Stamper is 100% right.    I'm now replying on my laptop, and we're *all* wrong

[kencameron]

I very much like the image and the processing but I feel the surfer is too small relative to the size of the frame.

To my eye the smallness of the surfer is kind of the point. Great colours too.

[stamper]

Not if you printed it very large.

I really like this image, great colour combo.

It would still be too small relative to the size of the frame however large you print it?

[graeme]

It would still be too small relative to the size of the frame however large you print it?

I think I'd want to see a large print of this image from close up so the size of the surfer would be fine ( for me, but that's just my feeling ).

Graeme

[stamper]

To further clarify. The image without the figure would be a fine image that wouldn't need a crop to work but because the figure is the focal point to make it work then the figure has to be bigger which means a crop would be advantageous?

[graeme]

To further clarify. The image without the figure would be a fine image that wouldn't need a crop to work but because the figure is the focal point to make it work then the figure has to be bigger which means a crop would be advantageous?

Not arguing - just a thought:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fc%2Fc2%2FPieter_Bruegel_de_Oude_-_De_val_van_Icarus.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FLandscape_with_the_Fall_of_Icarus&docid=lTQ1DUbDUIG3eM&tbnid=EXdNjKVSv5pHMM%3A&w=2000&h=1278&client=safari&ved=0ahUKEwiOiLOo_ojMAhUEmBoKHci5CYkQMwgdKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8

Graeme

[James Clark]

To further clarify. The image without the figure would be a fine image that wouldn't need a crop to work but because the figure is the focal point to make it work then the figure has to be bigger which means a crop would be advantageous?

I appreciate your (and everyone else's) input here, and have given some thought to the basic point of the figure in the lower right.  A couple of things - first, I'd argue that the figure is important to the image, but not necessarily the focal point and rather just another element like the tongue of land, or the wave itself.  The figure adds context and is a touchpoint for a human element, but I don't see this as a surfing picture per se, but rather as a oceanscape in which the human element is one aspect of the landscape as a whole.  The surfer is being shown in context, but the context is the story, not the surfer.

The second observation I have is that I tend to use this convention quite a bit  - I am apparently fond of a small element offset into a corner - just enough to provide the larger image with a reason for being.  For example (ignore the halos please - this one isn't done yet   ):

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Let me illuminate (pardon the pun that follows) this discussion from a different angle. Stamper has a point, just not the solution. The OP image needs some dodging (lightening up) of the white wave crest. That in itself would create a stronger contrast with the surfer figure, making it visually, if not physically "bigger."

P.S. Nice b&w and a properly sized figure in it

EDITED for misspelling

[James Clark]

Let me illuminate (pardon the pan that follows) this discussion from a different angle. Stamper has a point, just not the solution. The OP image needs some dodging (lightening up) of the white wave crest. That in itself would create a stronger contrast with the surfer figure, making it visually, if not physically "bigger."

P.S. Nice b&w and a properly sized figure in it

Thanks - that's a solid suggestion.  Know what's funny?  Your comment regarding a little dodging around the figure to bring him/her out a bit more is *exactly* the last step I took in the second image for that exact reason

[kencameron]

The OP image needs some dodging (lightening up) of the white wave crest. That in itself would create a stronger contrast with the surfer figure, making it visually, if not physically "bigger."

Or better still, the surfer needs to be a little bit further back into the wave, so there is white all around the body. But this is a photograph, not a painting. Oh well - back to the beach at sunset, hoping for surfers.

[Jens Peermann]

Great idea to have the yellow band against an almost monochrome rest of the image. The upper third of the sky does not add anything to the image; I would crop it.

[James Clark]

Great idea to have the yellow band against an almost monochrome rest of the image. The upper third of the sky does not add anything to the image; I would crop it.

Good suggestion.   That could also emphasize/reflect the white wave crest relative to the area where the sun is shining through the clouds.