II was lucky as I only had two days on the Oregon coast and low tide happened to coincide with sunset, so I was able to get some pretty nice reflections. There was not a lot of color in the sky so I converted to black and white which I instantly liked better.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any would be appreciated
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
This photo was taken in portrait orientation, but I thought there was too much negative space in the foreground, so I cropped it to landscape . How does this work for you?
Also, the more I pushed the highlights and shadows, the more it took on a moody feeling that appealed to me. Any thoughts on whether I went too far with the contrast? I was looking at it for so long I’d like to hear some other opinions/thoughts.
Any other thoughts also appreciated
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 7D Mark II, EF 16-35.
f/16, 1/25, 33mm.
On tripod
I think I will answer you questions as I go through writing this (I hope) but also wanted to add a few other observations. So bear with!
I like the dark and moody effect you have created in this scene. I think, like you suggest, that you may have pushed it a bit far. The darks are coming accross very dark and when the different elements of the image interact with each other you are not seeing the contrast. For example the dark sea stacks and the dark portions of the sand. If you want the image to be this dark I think you have to compose the image so there is more separation between the elements. For instance if you stood to the left a bit thereflection of the taller stack would have fallen in the bright water and given you separation. British photographer Bruce Percy is really good at separating light and dark elements in his images. Really worth a look.
I don’t mind the square crop but with all the dark elements I mentioned I think it could be a bit too crammed in. Maybe try a 4:3 or 4:5 crop especially if you have a bit more water to play with in the foreground.
In terms of the processing I think I would start by bringing up the shadows to reveal some detail in the stacks. You could trying some dodging and burning to address the clashing of the dark elements. To me, as the image is so busy it’s too dark. It would work better as a dark image if it had less elemnts to it. Another thing I would concentrate on is the sky. I would focus on separating the light elements from the surrounding clouds and make them a focal point. You could try adding some radial filters in that area and play with the luminoisty values.
I just had a thought to help with the dark mid/foreground. You could try grading from darks at the bottom to some lighter dark tones as you head towards the stacks. A grad filter in LR/PS would help with this and create some lightgrading to draw you in to the image.
Hope that helps and hopefully you can understand my ramblings
You’re not rambling at all, and if you are, I like what you rambled.
I’m going to take all you suggestions and experiment with the photo. Not sure there is much I can do about the “too crowded” part. Maybe backing off on the contrast and making some of your other suggestions will help in that area. Also, I looked up Bruce Percy. He certainly does beautiful work. I’ll be taking a closer look.
Thanks so much for the feedback! So much appreciated
Marc, welcome to NPN. The mood that you’ve created stands out well here (ominous and primitive). The high contrast in the fore- and mid-ground strongly emphasize the shapes of the pools and the sea stacks. It does look like there may be some interesting textures in the sandbars. Letting that show would add another aspect in the foreground, which may or may not work with the mood you’ve got here.
