A quiet day on Weston’s Beach . I was concentrating on the designs and forms in the littoral zone. Most of the morning had been non-productive. Then about noon it turned around for about an hour - not the light, just the vision. I have 5 good images all taken in a 2 hour period. This one has a mystical feeling to me and seems to ask questions, maybe to resolve the punctuation. The color, light and contrast of the sand dust makes this a strong image for me.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any feedback/criticism is welcomed. How do you respond to the image?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
ISO 200, 65mm, f/20, 1/100.
A monocromatic image where the color of the earth, the soft light and the low contrast all is aimed to enhance the design, a naklace with two pendants. An original image that stimulates the imagination. I love the photo.
A good abstract that somehow conveys a dark feeling and yeah, I see the mystical as well. Nicely seem and executed. I sure know how the “vision” can run hot and cold. Sometimes I see compositions all over and other times nothing. All between my ears.
I also love Weston Beach and wish I lived closer to it.
I have seen these sandstone designs and have been influenced by what I saw. They are usually considerably lighter than this. I find to be a somber interpretation but in all honesty nothing comes to mind directly from looking at it. The extending lines seem somewhat threatening and the threat seems to come from the left. There is a left to right movement I feel. That’s very subjective. I also see a downward movement due to repeating folds in that direction.
One thing you might look at is the small black circle in the upper right and about a 1/5th from the top. It almost looks like a processing thing due to it’s preciseness.
Overall, it’s an interesting image that takes an investment of time to try to understand what you’re getting at.
Wonderful lines and shapes there Guy. I downloaded this and played with a few things in Photoshop; your version was the best. I really like the overall dark tone of the image; it adds a mystique.
And I would add great use of texture to the list. I like this image a lot Guy, one of my favorites from you. I love how you have integrated the difference in colors (gold vs. brown), with the nexus of shapes in the lower left quadrant. The shift in colors enhance my appreciation of the shapes and lines. The flow of the lines creates a lot of energy here.
@Giuseppe_Guadagno
I hadn’t noticed the torso and neck form until you mentioned it. That makes for an interesting reading of the image.
@Ed_McGuirk
Don’t give me too much credit here, the image took little processing. The settings seen below, no curves, no masks, no hsl, and using camera faithful profile. I was about 1 stop under from what an incident light meter would measure but the normal exposure was just too bright for me.
@Igor_Doncov
Thanks for responding. You mention that the images you have seen are usually lighter than this. I am curious if you feel that images should reflect the real world light/dark values or you are just commenting on the fact that I chose to go off scale of the normal?
To me it is akin to placing zone 4 pine trees on zone 2 on the meter to determine a b&w exposure where the trees are quite dark, but maintain some tonal change and detail. At least that is the same concept to me.
I am still having discussions with myself over how far to take images in post. My background and influences yell at me when in color, but leave me alone in B&W. I think it is coming down to the fact that since I can’t really imitate color reality due to the engineering of cameras and software I should just try to make creative images that please me. I occasionally play with overboard imagery in LR/ PS but I am doing it for a purposely as decoration or design, not personal art.
The spot in the u/r was a question for me. I can easily remove it, but the purist in me says it was part of nature. I am still debating it.
I believe I said that these sandstones look lighter to the naked eye when seen in person. I suppose that depends on the time of day you show up.
In my case photography has been a journey from reality to an interpretation of reality. Actually, little has changed. The difference is an expression of inner reality rather than empirical outer reality. I’m still not at the point where I use photoshop to experiment with different colors and tones to create visually pleasing combinations. That form of change from reality isn’t for me. At this point I’m fine with even drastic changes from reality. I’ve spent a lot of time recently on some of the post impressionist painters (Gauguin, Cezanne) and their use of unrealistic colors to express their impressions of reality has influenced my outlook on photography.
I think photography is a journey during which you repeatedly change your outlook. I think most photographers start out trying to make pictures of the nice places they have been to and seen. I believe my beginnings were like that. But everyone is different. I strongly believe that you can capture external reality as it exists (a lighter image in your case) and express your internal state as well. In fact, those are some of the ones I most admire.
