Detached. Not in a “Help, we are drifting out to sea” way, but more of a letting go of unnecessary thoughts relating to things beyond my control. It’s a sense of freedom. This is a spot close to home where I feel safe setting up my gear and entering into “Slow Time” with some Long Exposure shots. I love to just set up the compositions and then look around for bit while they run. My goal was to have the image be inviting, relaxing and uplifting.
Thanks Andre for this image. It certainly looks like a beautiful place to chill and watch the time go by.
The colour palette is very uplifting and expresses your intent well. Warm colours, big expanses of atmospheric low contrast are ideal for that feeling of openness. I am curious to the role the rocks play in this image.
They look like rocks, they’re angular, contrasty with deep blacks and crisp details.
How do they express drifting? The second consequence of their inclusion in the frame is to create a clear tension between the sea’s horizon and the top of the rocks.
Thanks for the comments Alister. It’s been great reading all your NPN critiques. I find your approach to critiquing quite interesting, as it tends to approach things from a different perspective.
I agree with you regarding the rocks. I wanted more space between the rocks and the horizon but my tripod legs were at their max. height. I actually tried to lower them to eliminate the space altogether but it didn’t feel right, and when in doubt I fall back to feel.
Thanks for pointing out the contrasty aspects of the rocks. I’m looking forward to trying a low contrast version. I think it will work well with my overall vision for the image.
You asked me what role the rocks play in the image. The truth is without the rocks, the sand wouldn’t be there and I wouldn’t have the graduated colour palette to play with, but they play a minor character in the story I’m trying to tell.
Thanks again for the feedback, muchly appreciated.
I quite like the color transition you have working in this Andre. The colors are very complimentary also. I can see why you go to this spot to relax.
There is slight tension between the rocks and the horizon but none of the rocks are actually touching the horizon, so it works ok for me.
I find that extreme motion in the sky with the clouds, particularly on the left portion of the image, contradicts the sense of zero motion in the foreground. The bottom is very tranquil while the top imparts a sense of rapid movement. The top is also unbalanced with lots of clouds and motion on the left side and almost no clouds and much less movement on the right side. However, the angle of the rocks and the streaking clouds form a nice shaped triangle wedge that I find helps the balance of the image nicely!
Thanks for the comments David. I chose this image over a few others with the same composition, because I liked the symmetry between the clouds and the rocks.
I really like this image Andre. The tones together with the long exposure speak to me. I would definitely work on the rocks and play with a 16 x 9 crop. Great work.
Again, I don’t critique images based on opinion or preference, I just look at the emotional consequence of the composition. Thanks again for the feedback.
