Shot this image this past Sunday afternoon at Gulf Islands National Seashore, near Pensacola Beach, FL. It was a lovely day, sunny with white puffy clouds one minute and ten minutes later a squall line would move through and soak you for 5-10 minutes and then it would sunny and beautiful again, in other words, a typical Florida summer day. That sequence occurs three times while I was there.
I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, opinions, etc. whether they be concerned with artistic merit or technical processing.
Nikon D810 w/ Nikkor 12-24 @ 14mm
1/320 @ f/16
200 ISO
Tripod
RAW image converted in ACR (CS6)
Post processing done in CS6 and NIK
This is beautifully done, Bill. With the brightness and colors this captures the spirit of your area really well. The fact that you were able to capture the shadows so gently with mid day light is amazing. Great composition with that bush sprawling out away from the camera. A great usage of foreground that integrates with the middle ground. And that strip of ocean is the right amount to show it’s there yet not take away from the clouds. Just a really optimistic scene. Well thought out and seen composition.
I don’t know what suggestions to make really. The seeds against the sky are pale in parts of the image and not in others. It’s a small thing and you have to really look hard to notice it. I’m not sure it’s even an issue frankly.
Bill, you’ve got a really compelling scene here, the kind that I know I’d need to wear my Ray-bans to shoot. The Pensacola area is familiar to me, but this also reminds me of my first visit to White Sands some years ago, except of course without the surf. I really like the freshness of the grasses and how their shadows radiate out from the FG grasses. To me the exposure looks great considering the sunny conditions. If I had to nitpick, I would suggest that a bit more sandy space below the shadows at bottom left would be better.
Kudo’s to you Bill for attempting a mid-day shot, and for coming away with something that works pretty well. The use of 14mm here makes the dune grass in the foreground look very dramatic, and I like how you composed this so your eye gets pulled in a diagonal line from left to right. And those clouds aren’t too shabby either. At first I thought the sand might be a bit too bright, but if you tried to drop the exposure the sand might lose some of it’s vitality, so in the end I’m okay with it. Nice work.
This works very nicely, Bill. At first glance, it looks quite bright, but the large version shows detail in the sand. The composition has very nice elements, and I especially like the foreground plants.
My only nit, and a minor one at that, is the piece of grass impinging on the cloud near the right at edge near the top.
I am just curious, but I wonder how reducing the exposure would look? As I said, it looks real nice as -is, but just wondering, here.
-p
Wow Bill! This brings me right there! I want to feel the sand beneath my feet… but then I don’t want to burn the crap out of them…
I think it’s almost rare to have a bright, daytime image work as well as this one does. It simply captures all the beauty there is to be had here. The sky and clouds are wonderful and you’ve composed just the right balance with the sandy landscape; I like how the sea grass ties the two together.
I got no nits or suggestions. You are at one with the Florida coast.
