Felt Good While Shooting, But

[Marylynne_Diggs]

Hi Everyone,
This image is another in the series of “why did I stay here so long?” This was an amazing place to shoot, and the light was really cool, and it was one of the last nights with Out of Oregon and I was shooting with Charlotte Gibb. It had one of those 60s, California coastal, golden state kind of feels, even if it was Oregon.

Having said all that, I’m not sure this works at all, and it’s the best one of the bunch. The light was difficult, and once the sun sank below horizon, things got significantly less interesting quickly. I have several crops, I have various waves crashing, and this one looks the best, but man, that color!

Specific Feedback Requested

What would you do with the color of this? I played with white balance, wasn’t sure whether this was just accurate golden light or a cluster of an exposure.

Are the layers of rock interesting enough in their relatively shadowy form?

Is the ocean action interesting enough?

By the time I got exposure dialed in, the waves were not crashing as hard against the rock, but when they were, they were single pillars of odd shaped splatter…not really appealing.

Maybe it’s that I didn’t stop the wave action enough? I was doing bursts, but maybe bursts at 1/60s would have captured better wave action?

Technical Details

Canon 5d3 with 100-400 mm at 142mm
ISO 50, f/16, 1/20 sec
Just a few adjustments in LR

[Brian_Schrayer]

I can definitely relate to the feeling of being excited about a composition in the field and getting home and being disappointed when you view the image on the computer.

I think this image works well. The lighting highlights the rocks nicely and their silhouetted form is definitely interesting.

I think one reason this appeals to me is that in an abstract way the rocks look like a mountain range and the ocean reminds me of clouds. I think the panoramic format suits this image nicely.

[David_Bostock]

Marylynne, I think this works quite well. The light is terrific and the wave action is stopped nicely. I like the angled light on the foreground rocks. It’s a terrific picture. The colors are very monochromatic (one color, not B&W) which is fine and works for the beach.

I did download it and played around with B&W. You might try that to see how you like it.

Cheers,
David

[Matt_Payne]

I love the layer feel to this and that works well for me…
If it were my image I might play a bit by shifting the color balance of the shadows a bit cooler so there’s more balance with color and less color cast. It’s pretty warm as-is but I do like that to. Again, maybe an experiment. I help but feel like the comp is missing something - it’s pretty uninteresting in the lower shadows and I’m not sure if there’s some flare in lower right or not. I think if you were standing in a slightly different spot to make more use of those layers it could work better… but as-is I do like a lot about the image.

[Steve_Kennedy]

Hi Marylynne! I like this image. I really like the bright warm light and the layers of rock with the ocean in the background. Perhaps you could crop a bit off the right side might strengthen the image a bit, but I like it as is.

[Marylynne_Diggs]

Thanks, @Steve_Kennedy, @David_Bostock, @Matt_Payne, and @Brian_Schrayer. I did a tiny crop off the right and, since that’s not much of a change, I’m sharing my first effort at a black and white conversion.

On the color one, adjusting wb doesn’t seem to improve it by much. I do kind of feel like thisf “seeing through amber Vuarnet sunglasses” effect. Reminds me of the 80s, as well as old hollywood films of the California coast.

For the black and white, I tried one in LR initially, and it wasn’t up to the task, so this time I went with Silver Efex Pro. Here is my first attempt at that. The challenge is the lack of tonal variation in the water, and then also in the rock layers, but I think this does a better job than I expected.

I think it might need a little more contrast between rock layers. Holler if you have suggestions.

Thanks

[Matt_Payne]

I think the BW does better at showing off the texture of the rocks but you lose out on that warm feeling…