Contemplation of the Tides (+revised)

Image Critiques
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Revised Version

Revision 2 (latest)

Revision 2 - IMG5DMarkIV_1020NPN3MB-8.jpg
Revision 2 - IMG5DMarkIV_1020NPN3MB-8.jpg1800×1013 512 KB

What changed: I cropped a little less and removed stray branches from the big rock and removed the foreground rocks in the ocean. I’m undecided about whether they lead us toward the more distant rock and the person at its tip or whether they distract. Tides cover them occasionally, so I just raised the tide a tish :wink:

Revision 1

Revision 1 - IMG5DMarkIV_1020NPN3MB-7.jpg
Revision 1 - IMG5DMarkIV_1020NPN3MB-7.jpg1800×1013 516 KB

What changed: I cropped the image (was 10x20 and is now 9X16). This enabled me to lose the ghostly tree at the left edge and draw more attention to the human at the edge of the more distant sea stack.

Added after receiving feedback from the community.

Original Version

Original - IMG5DMarkIV_1020NPN3MB-6.jpg
Original - IMG5DMarkIV_1020NPN3MB-6.jpg1800×900 465 KB

Critique Style: Initial Reaction

Please share your first response before reading the hidden notes below. The photographer is looking for an unbiased initial impression.

Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive

Questions for Viewers

I was hoping for a moody, contemplative feeling in this composition and processing. I like the light shafts and the dark shoreline. I’m not sure whether the sky is too bright and featureless or actually helps draw the eyes to smaller, more important elements in the scene.

About This Image

This is one of the last images I took at Second Beach. I had avoided the human element as much as possible. In fact, I had raced ahead of a small group to get that shot without them in it. Afterwards, I saw one person standing at the seaward edge, looking out and down.

This figure is an important part of the composition, but I don’t know whether he is noticeable enough.

Technical Details

Canon 5D4 with 24-105mm at 24mm
ISO 100, f/18, 1/100sec
LR conversion to black and white

Feedback Requested

Do you see the person? How long does it take you to notice him? I did some darkening of him, and slight brightening of the area around to draw attention there. Did it work?
Thoughts on the following:

  1. The overall luminosity and contrast?
  2. Should I remove the small rocks in the between the viewer and the sea stack? The driftwood near the horizon line? Are they distracting?
  3. Thoughts on the brightness of the featureless sky?
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Marylynne, I think you got the mood you were after. I like it. I like the way the distant feature echoes the one in the foreground.

I could go either way on darkening the sky. I tried it and the result was different but not necessarily better.

My only qualm relates to the tree in the upper left (number one) that’s somewhere between present and absent. I think absent would be better.

Visual Notes

[1] Tree ghost.

visual notes
visual notes1600×800 90.7 KB

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Marylynne: Makes me want to be there. Not sure where this is but it reminds me of the Oregon coast which may be my favorite lifetime place on the planet. I can hear the muffled surf even if I can’t see it. Nicely done. >=))>

PS: After reading your notes I had seen the resemblance to Face Rock at Bandon, Oregon although I could tell immediately it wasn’t that.

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Thanks Don and Bill,
I wondered about that tree, @Don_Peters. I was going to crop more off the left, but then I would have lost the shafts of light.

@Bill_Fach: This is at Second Beach on the Olympic Peninsula. Do you see the actual person? Or just the rock with a face-like appearance. There is a guy at the tip of the distant sea stack, and I’m not sure how to draw him out more.

Maybe a crop from the left would help with that.
ML

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The original poster added a revised version of their image.

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The original poster added a revised version of their image.