Hi Jack and Enda,
Thanks to both of you for your thoughtful comments. I'm going to cite selected parts and reply below.
Jack >…the second shot with the sun is too "blinding" IMO. In fact, the blinding light of the second image even makes me squint a bit to see the top image
The blinding element is to a degree psychological but I like it in part due to this. I admit that I am smitten by this image. I did an eval print that is roughly 2’ x 5’ and it is just fabulous, even though I can’t get *quite* the brilliance out of the paper that can be obtained by the LCD. I’ll have to review it long enough to get bored before I will be rational about it. But it definitely grabs the attention of anyone who sees it.
That said I'm certain that the sun being on center makes the image a bit static. What I find compelling about this image is that if one acclimates to looking into the sun, (in the image of course, not outside), it causes the imagination to fire off in interesting ways.
Jack >but would have opened-up a bit more of the beach on the right.
Other comments I received were to include a bit more of the grasses in the foreground and to include less of the sky. The former is certainly debatable and the latter is inconceivable to me. If I'm lucky enough to get a clear shot in future beach sunsets, I’ll definitely follow advise such as your thoughtful comment.
Enda > prefer the 1st image but I think …. Maybe it could look better if you were further to the right so that the rock is located behind the dip…
Other comments have echoed this as well. In future sessions I’ll get closer to the water so that the sweep of the surf can predominate more on the right side. Of course the complexity here is that doing stitches of surf is not so easy to do properly. That detail, plus excluding some other undesired elements played a role in the choice of vantage points.
BTW, the rock in the composition is called Haystack Rock and it’s found at Cannon Beach, Oregon. Someone suggested doing a study of a kind with
Monet’s Haystack studies (scroll to the bottom of the linked site to see the images). I think this a great idea and it will give me the opportunity to re-visit this place periodically.
On this point, does anyone know of a good book on doing painterly/impressionistic techniques with photography? I’d like to learn more about this and the web references I've come across are too minimal to be of a lot of use
Thanks again!