Taken during sunset on the Northern California coast. I’ve always liked the sand and sea foam shots and I thought the conditions that evening presented a good opportunity to grab one for myself.
Any and all.
Leica M10M. f/2, 1/750, ISO 160. Summicron 35mm. I cloned out a lot of the smaller rocks that were surrounding the bigger rock. I also masked the edge of the sea foam to make that a bit brighter and whiter.
David, this is a wonderful study in ocean edges. I love the lighting and shadows. Excellent all around.
Thanks so much, David!
David,
Love this! I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I’ve spent a fair amount of time at the beach, at the edge between the incoming and receeding waves; patterns in the sand… seaweed, driftwood, shells, rocks, whatever. blurry, silky, ghost water vs. hard edge, sharp stop-motions… been there, done that. And so when someone creates something that stands above what has been done before… well, then, Kudos go out.
This is quite striking and works especially well in b&w. The highlight in the water is almost subtle but it’s clear how it lights up the rock and the sand. I also like how the light “fans out” around that rock.
The only suggestion or nit I have is that light fall off in the sand - it get’s pretty dark in both the right and the left - so much so that it’s almost too dark. It seems there’s hardly any detail in the sand on the left where it meets the water. I’m kinda torn because I like the little drama of light striking and surrounding the rock and any more light on the sides would reduce that impact - but on the other hand, that darkness almost seems unnatural; I mean just looking at this I’m expecting to see sand for pretty much the full length of the ocean wave. I dunno, maybe I’m over thinking.
Having said that, I still love the image. A simple, striking and fabulous sand/wave nature image.
Lon
@Lon_Overacker , thank you so much for those very kind words. I took a shot at lightening those areas you mentioned, and after going through my post process, by the time I got to the end, there just wasn’t much difference in those areas. I feel like that’s the way the image is supposed to be. The sand is almost black in the raw file. When I lighten that area too much it starts to look unnatural, imho.
