Any and all comments and critiques are welcome, but my main question is- Does this image have any appeal to anyone? I’m never sure about these minimalist compositions. I used my ten stop ND to try and get the clouds to fan out from the middle, but they weren’t quite going in the right direction. There’s non sense of scale here, but this is actually a quite large and deep chasm.
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I prefer this more creative composition to the more typical sunrise/sunset composition. So yes, this does have an appeal at least to me. It’s interesting how the sky turned out with that long exposure. I like how it’s designed.
I like this a lot! I like something abstract in every image. I think it makes it art instead of plain photography. This reminds me a bit of slowly zooming during a long exposure.
I think the image would be strongest by centering the cloud movement and pink spot to the center of the image. All the lines in the rocks point to the center of the sky, but the brightest, pink spot is off to the left, so it doesn’t flow perfectly. I know that’s tough - a different time of year or use Photoshop to move it?
After another look, I like the way the pink light is reflecting off the rocks on the right. If you catch this at the right time of year, so that the sunset is centered, you might get reflections on the left rocks too.
Thanks @Igor_Doncov and @Bradley_Strong. Bradley that’s what I was trying to do with the long exposure hoping the clouds would be centered over the opening in the cliffs but the conditions weren’t quite right to achieve the effect I wanted.
Centered or not, I think this image has great merit. I completely agree with Igor, in that I’d rather see this than the typical sunrise/sunset shot. Love the detail in the rocks and the softness of the long exposure. Would it be better if everything lined up? Perhaps, but not that much better.
Michael, I think is a very successful image and I also like the creative approach you chose. For me this gives a tremendous sense of being very high and looking into the upper atmosphere…very unique!
This appeals to me very much. I like the color palette and the rock/warm v water/cool tension in the image. Long exposures certainly it difficult to identify how the clouds will move. Any 30 seconds could show different movement from another. Centered clouds fanning out would be great, but this is lovely as presented.
ML
Michael, this is a beautifully gentle scene. I like the contrast between the strongly angled rocks and the cloud movement. I like the compositional tension that the offset between the cloud “source” and the notch creates, although having the cloud movement center a bit further into the frame would be nice. (I’m not sure how you’d know about the cloud source without viewing at least one shot.)
Mike,
I liked this when you originally showed this to me and that has not changed. I think this is very appealing as all the elements work beautifully together. The warm and cool tones compliment each other nicely and the 10 stop ND worked it’s magic on the water as well as the clouds in the sky. I particularly like dawn’s first kiss of warm light on the rocks on the right. I am hoping we can find this spot again next month.
Sorry I’m just getting to this one. This a GREAT appeal! The colors are wonderful, but more than that this capture has a great sense of mystery; not quite sure how to describe it, but I love the solid rock, details and reality… but then the edge drops you in to an abyss… beyond the rocks is just a vastness that I can’t put my finger on to describe.
I don’t know what you could do to even improve upon this. I wonder though, how or if you could soften the horizon line to make the transition from sea to sky even less apparent? Ah, but heck, I’m really loving this one as presented. No nits.
I apologize for the late reply, but my time is not always my own. In any case, I offer an amateur landscape photographer’s opinion who shoots (mainly) minimalist compositions. Yes, this image has a LOT of appeal. The foreground rocks are sharp and interesting. The water is cool and featureless. The overall quality of light is great. So, yes, this scene works. My only suggestion is that perhaps the exposure is too long. I have a 10 stop ND filter, and I have found it to be too much in low(er) light. I purchased a 6 stop ND filter which seems to work better. Nonetheless, this scene is cool!
