Dune with grasses

,

It’s been a while but since we’re all homebound I went back and processed an older image and I thought I would share it and get your thoughts, critiques, and suggestions. Honesty appreciated.

This was shot at Gulf Islands National Seashore, right next to Pensacola Beach, FL.

Take care one & all, stay safe!!

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For me, this photo has a very nice rhythm and flow going on . From the LRC of the sand up to the reeds which then take me to the mounds and finally to wind swept clouds. Lovely photo Bill.

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Swirls everywhere. I love the golden grasses leading the eye into the background dunes and the swirling sky. At first I thought it was distracting but the sand swirls on the LRS are pretty interesting and they a balance to the swirling clouds in the sky. Add to that the shadows of grasses mid frame witch appear to be swirling too. The white balance and colors look accurate and spot on. Very nice image Bill. This extra time is providing some reflection for a lot us as we dive into our catalogues to find something we missed years ago. Good find!

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I spent some time on your image. The good part is how the swirls in the dunes, their striations, and even the reeds work together with the clouds. There is this repetition. The ‘not so good part’ is that there is too much going on. I would crop out the grass in the lrc. I also suspect that those tall blades of grass are hurting the comp. I tried to replace them with edit/fill but it’s too much work so I can’t say for sure. I also found that a white frame lightens everything up and helps the presentation here at NPN. Haing said all this I feel that this image has potential to grow and is worth it. It’s a matter of try this and try that and compare.

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I love the delicacy of this photo! With the curve of the sky and the swirls bottom right, it is almost like an S running through. And then the line of reeds with their sharp angle to the horizon make a great counterpoint bringing the whole image together. The light gives just the right texture to the sand, you feel you could reach out and touch it! For me, the only thing I might possibly get rid of is the reed bottom centre because its shadow is a bit strong - but that is entirely subjective. It evokes for me a wonderful beach in South West Wales, UK, called Penbryn. Philip

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@linda_mellor, @David_Haynes, @Igor_Doncov, @philip1 - Thank you all for your comments and thoughts. Igor, I will play around with your suggestions and see how they work. Thanks.

Bill,
The blue and white combination of colors work beautifully together as does the warmer tones of the dune grasses and I love the fact the the swirls in the sand seem to mirror the lovely clouds in the sky. I am also enjoying the details and textures in the sand when I opened the large version. The diagonals both in the dunes and the ripples in the sand are also another great element in the image. No suggestions from me.

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I think the photo is outstanding as is. No tweaks required. Love how the clouds mimic some of the sand patterns and the swirls created by the blowing grasses are a nice bonus.

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@Ed_Lowe, @Michael_Lowe - Thanks guys for your comments and thoughts - much appreciated.

The complimentary swirls in the sand and sky are amazing; nice job catching that. My only nit, a small one, would be to consider reducing the sky contrast by brightening the darkest blues a little. The image overall says “white,” and those deep blues drag my eye away from the beauty below.

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Thanks @John_Williams for that suggestion. I will definitely give that a try.

Bill, to me this image is primarily about the really light, and the blue/yellow color contrast. The light here is really nice and you have done a great job with the processing of light and color here. This kind of light can be hard to process, but you have done well here.

I do agree with @Igor_Doncov about the grass in the LRC pulling the eye away from the rest of the scene. I think if you went to a 5:7 aspect ratio and cropped the bottom away just below the big arc, it would help. I think such as crop would make both the diagonal line of grass, and the big sand arc, even more prominent in the image.

But overall this is a very pleasing scene, I’m enjoying seeing this image.

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Bill,

I have always enjoyed your Gulf coastal images and this one is no exception. so much to love about this one including the texture and patterns in the sand with the sea grass and delicate shadows. Processing outstanding.

In my view, ALL the grass are important and contribute to the image. I would agree with some other comments that it’s the sky that competing element. The clouds are great, but I think there’s just too much sky. I’m not a fan of the digital vertical format/ration and think cropping it down to say 5x7 would be more pleasing. But heck, that’s not a huge deal to start with.

Lon

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This image is inviting me to the beach, but with lockdown (stay-at-home) that isn’t possible, so enjoying your image immensely, Bill. :+1: :+1:

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@Lon_Overacker and @Shirley_Freeman - Thank you both for your comments and suggestions. I appreciate both so much.

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