I’ve recently taken the closest thing to a break from photography I’ve had in the past two years. I haven’t had a strong desire to get out and shoot. And I’ve had almost no desire at all to share what I’ve been working on. I’ve been working through images, but much more slowly, not really concerned about churning out images for social media. I’ve been a bit neglectful of this space and hope to engage a bit more frequently and routinely. The image I’m sharing today was a throw away from my trip to Acadia last summer…until I learned a new trick. As soon as I saw this image I wished I had done a long exposure, but I did not. I was caught up in the fog, and hoping for big waves, which never came. This left me with a stack of roughly 30 images all shot at around 1/100s and none of them with any impressive action in the water. So they sat. Until a discussion on another platform reminded me about “stacking” in Photoshop. This is often used with a mean or median stack to reduce/remove noise in an image, here I used a mean stack to average out all the water frames leaving me with a “long exposure” of sorts. Ideally I would have done it in the field, but a technical trick which resolved a problem in the field. The more I played with it the more I liked the receding view along the left with higher contrast leading to low contrast and the trees poking up in the background.
Specific Feedback Requested
I’m stuck between the higher contrast look and a second view with much lower contrast. The high contrast was created first, low contrast followed. I’m interested in what others think and if either stirs something different. Open to other CC as well.
Nice approach to smooth out the water, David. I prefer the first one as it feels more realistic to me. The second one does feel like a more foggy scene however. So I would be proud of either one. Well done and nice to see you here.
I also prefer the higher contrast scene, but I would reduce the contrast as you go towards the left edge of the frame, especially on the rocks. It’s a little heavy on that side for my taste.
I am in the same boat, especially about the absence of any desire to share. And then other things in life start to take priorities and it spirals downward. Good to see you here though!
Wow, looks like we are on the same wavelength here. I am just getting to some of my Fall images from almost 6 months ago. Plus, I have been cleaning out my old computer and transferring images to the newer computer. I don’t post anything on social media and never have. Figured I’d get stuck in a major rut if I ever started down that road. So, I get where you’re coming from. We get bombarded with so many images from every walk of life on a daily basis that it’s difficult to keep engaged. I think almost everyone struggles with this.
As for the image, I much prefer the higher contrast first image. It’s just moodier and more realistic to me than the low contrast image. Great work smoothing out the water with multiple images. Good thing you didn’t move the tripod. I have no nits at all with this scene.
One more vote for the first, more contrasty version. There are a couple of areas where it shows it’s superiority. 1) The rocks in the water are better defined and rise more prominently from the surf’s mist. 2) The fog is better defined in the upper right quadrant because the background trees and hill is more visible.
I’ve never had times when I took a break from photography. That is, even when I’m not photographing I am always looking for compositions with a mental frame. I’m always seeing the world as in pictures. It’s been a life long obsession. I don’t know if that’s unusual or not. This is of course during free time when I’m walking or driving.
Another vote for the first version, and I follow @Igor_Doncov’s motivation for that.
A nice trick to smooth out the water, and maybe the result is even more interesting than if you did it in camera. In general, I only like those very long exposures if the sea is already pretty calm. The long exposure than enhances that mood. In your image there is moderate surf and your edit makes it fit very nicely in the foggy scene.
Difficulties to keep engaged are not uncommon. I often feel reluctant to go out, sometimes because there are other nice things to do, sometimes because I think that “duty calls”. But most of the time, if I just pick up the gear and go to a place I like, it is easy to get the feeling again of being more or less absorbed in the activity. And, in many discussions in this community, it is stressed that we should make images for our own liking above all, so nothing is wrong with not sharing them.
Here’s my vote for the higher contrast version. The low contrast has a lack of depth in the scene - I think that’s why it’s less appealing for me. Very clever to have the idea to stack these to get a “long exposure”.
I’m with you on the lack of desire to share on social media. It just feels like such a huge task to post pix and then keep up with the interactions (assuming one gets any interactions - ha ha). Lately I’ve mainly posted only here because it feels so much more like a real community, not the wild-west of IG and such.
High contrast wins! Thanks everyone for their thoughts and feedback. Good to hear about the ebb and flow from others too.
This image has sparked a question for me about when/why/what subjects etc. are more suitable for a high key look. Just something I’m stewing over a bit after this post.
Now this is true! I still “look” for images, I just haven’t had my camera with me! I have a little time off this week and fully intend to get out and shoot a little bit.
I have no nits at all with this scene.