There are a lot of parks carved into the Lake Superior shoreline and residents come to watch the sun go down. This little peninsula has small coves one beside the other. Private spaces that are around 30-50 feet square. You have to climb up and out to get to each one.
I was in the adjoining one trying for some long exposures with interesting rocks and yet another couple on the cliff. It wasn’t working and I kept hearing more powerful waves hitting in this cove so I went over there. So glad I did although I should have changed up some of my settings for this shot. Eventually I think I did, but the combination of sun and wave action in this image is the best of the bunch. I had a remote cable so I could time the small waves as they came ashore. I wouldn’t have minded bigger ones, but then I probably would have gotten splashed which would have been a pain. I needed to be this close to the edge to keep the white water line where it is.
With no cloud deck it was about the rocks - a theme that would persist for the few days I was there. This was the first sunset and it is near Marquette.
Specific Feedback Requested
General impressions & ideas for improvement are welcome.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Lumix G9
Lumix G Vario 12-35mm lens @ 15mm
f/11 | 1/20 sec | ISO 160
Tripod, polarizer & cable release
Lr processed for a little lens correction and to lift some shadows as well as emphasize the light coming in to the LLC. Some brush work on the waves to bring them up a bit. Texture & sharpening. A bit of color grading to give the sky something to do. Ps to do a bit of clone stamping to remove something I didn’t like.
The couple isn’t the highlight of the image, but it is the epiphany.
That tiny feature catches my eye, but just as quickly lets me return to the rest of the scene. I realize you probably didn’t have control of the way the couple were positioned, but the bill of the cap on the person on the left clearly suggests they were talking, maybe about the sunset, the water, the day they have, or what ever, but it’s perfect.
The horizon is well placed in the frame & absolutely horizontal. Very agreeable.
The wave is just right and the golden edge of the foreground rock is lovely.
Terrific handling of light Kris. I also am enjoying seeing some texture in the small waveletts…splash above rock is cool also. Maybe my monitor but again seems like just a bit too much magenta, personal taste though.
I have a shot a few minutes later after the couple left and it just doesn’t work as well. I’ve come to appreciate people in nature shots once in a while. Two of my strongest images from last year’s cypress lake tour had people in them.
As far as the magenta goes…I’ll tinker with it tomorrow & see what I can come up with.
Tilted horizons are the bane of my existence. Even with an electronic level in the camera, I sometimes tilt. Oy.
Beautiful light and scene, but the little highlighted splash is the winner for me. I find the couple kind of compete with the splash but not a huge deal. The magenta on the splash, water and rocks looks good to my eye as is. Very well done.
Thanks @Harley_Goldman - that little splash was the biggest I caught, lol. Superior was just in a mellow mood. Not that I minded - you should see it when it’s upset.
I fooled around with the magenta and I kind of like it where it is. It’s as it came out of the camera and isn’t cranked - there was a lot of pink in the sky even without clouds.
This is a beautiful image Kristen. I especially like the way that you froze the motion in the water especially the wave breaking on that small rock that looks like fireworks. I also like how the foreground rock and the sun form a point - counterpoint relationship in the composition.
One area of improvement would be to try to position the image so that the rock is more to the left and the sun is more to the right so as to form a diagonal line that leads the viewer’s eye across the frame. Moving your camera a little to the right might have allowed you to position the rock more to the left of the frame. Of course I understand that you have to be careful with the tide coming in so that may not have been possible.
Ah if wishes were horses! There wasn’t much space behind me…the cove ended and more cliffs like the ones in front of me were behind me. Ideally, I’d have loved more separation, but maybe it illustrates how small these little pockets are. I should have taken some shots from on top with the phone maybe. There was a person with a drone…maybe I can find footage. It’s a well-loved area. Black Rocks I think it’s called.
