(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Hi @philip1,
Welcome to NPN, hope you enjoy this great forum.
As for your image it’s a great seascape no doubt, I do enjoy smoothed water and the green tones of that water are gorgeous. The cliffs make a great leading line to the sea and that huge rock.
Composition wise I would only try to raise the tripod a bit or move left just to make that main spot of water be continuous with the sea.
Those white houses are a bit distracting but can tone down the whites on LR or PS or even try to cloned out.
It’s a great seaside image, and a very interesting first post. Keep them coming and thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Welcome to NPN, Philip!
Nice first post! I really like the smooth water and its color. I do agree with Joao’s observations, except that I would leave the buildings. There a re two white spots just to left and above the cluster of buildings that I would clone out.
I love the textures in the rock, and you’ve retained good detail and color there.
The sky looks to have a cyan cast that might be worth reducing a tad. For more drama, you could darken the clouds a bit and play around with their contrast.
All in all, nice image. We look forward to seeing more of your work.
-P
Welcome and this is a nice first post. I think the overall composition is good and the foreground rocks are attractive. For me the color seems a bit off which is most noticeable in the clouds which have a peculiar warm tint (particularly in the upper left area). The other thing that draws the eye is the white to dark ‘ring’ of surf on the lower left that seems to glow in a peculiar way. I might lower the contrast in that section. Both of these ‘issues’ can be easily dealt with.
Thanks very much, Joao. I wasn’t sure if the houses were too small in the overall picture to be an effective part and would seem more like a distraction! I really appreciate your time and thoughtful comments and I will revisit the image. The coastline of north-west Scotland is such a rewarding place for a photographer!
Hi Igor and thanks for your well-thought remarks. I absolutely take the comment in regard to the sky and will return to Photoshop to take this on board, plus look at the other things you mention. Best wishes, Philip
Thanks Preston ‐ I much appreciate your time and comments. I wondered about whether the houses were too small to be effective but the little outbuildings do come over as annoying little blobs unless they are on maximum zoom, so cloning out is the answer! I know I have to sort the colour cast in the sky too. Thanks again, and best wishes from UK. Philip
Welcome to NPN Philip, i’m glad to have you on board. This is a nice first post, and certainly the location is very dramatic. I like the look of the smoothed out water, and it seems very appropriate for this image. I think you have already gotten some useful comments, on colors, etc. I have a couple of suggestions for tweaks. First, the near cliff edge in the lower left corner seems slightly soft to me, and stuff in the near foreground like that should be sharp. You didn’t indicate what f-stop you used, but you could have used more depth of field here and/or a different focal point. Second I’m slightly bothered by rock shelf that exits the right of the frame, it slightly pulls my eye outside the image. Only thing I can think of is a slight crop from the right to make it less prominent.
Looking forward to seeing more of your posts, and don’t be shy about commenting on the images posted by others, that’s a great to learn and participate in NPN as well.
Welcome @philip1!
Lots to like here! I really like those distant mountains; they are a small part of the image, but they add a lot. Great suggestions above, and I’d play with a small crop off the top and right just enough to remove that red rock in the LRC.
Thanks, John. Yes, when I look at the little rock it is slightly annoying me now! Best wishes, Philip
Hi Ed, Much appreciate the detailed remarks, and those of the other members! I shot the picture at f11, but I probably focused at infinity rather than at a distance to ensure everything was in focus. The left cliff is a lot nearer than the big rock in the sea, and I wasn’t sure if the slight out of focus in the left cliff helps to give a sense of depth, but… probably not! Philip
Thanks to all for your very helpful comments. I’ve tried to address points brought out by getting a bit more “bite” to the sky and removing the colour cast, cloning out the outlying buildings near to the main cluster of cottages (plus a couple of other distractions), getting rid of the lower right rock which spilled out of the image, and doing my best to get a bit more sharpness into the cliff at left front without introducing artefacts. For a couple of the other improvements I’ll have to return to the scene, which I very much hope to do at some point not too far into the future. Keep healthy, everyone!
Welcome to NPN Philip. The long exposure works well here. I also like your composition.
This still looks warmer than what I thought would be best. Here is a temperature I had in mind.
I also feel that the foreground is most important yet it feel cut off but to all that sky. Here is another option. I don’t know if it’s better or not. Yeah, it might be a bit better. No, maybe not.
That’s a lovely coastal scene and nice subject, wonderful find. Compositionally, I’d like to see a little more separation between the large rock on the right and the rest of the rocks. This may not have even been possible, but I could see moving the tripod a little into the scene and to the left to create a little more separation between the elements while pushing the large rock a bit more to the right sightly improving the overall balance. It might seem a bit nitpicky, but the way I always approach compositions. It’s still a great image and one to be proud of.
Thanks so much, Robb. I think you are probably right. Since I’ve put the image up I’ve wanted to go back and tweak the composition in a couple of ways (such as you mention). On the whole I am fairly pleased with the image though. I’ve just joined NPN and am really overwhelmed by the helpful and positive comments and the sense of a photographic community! Philip
Hi Igor, you’ve really taken time with scrutinizing my image - thanks very much and it is really appreciated. I think the colour balance you’ve suggested does make it work better plus the cropping in the second of your edits. There are a few things that I’ll need to revisit the location for though!! Very best wishes from UK, Igor. Philip
Thanks, Eva. NPN proving to be a great photographic environment which I am delighted to find! Philip
Philip,
Another welcome to NPN! A terrific first post with this excellent coastal landscape.
Some great feedback and I will just chime in and vote for Igor’s last crop and color rework. The fun and interesting thing here is that each of the iterations are really quite subtle. And honestly, if folks didn’t bring them up, then other members and the original poster might never see and/or be able to recognize how making little tweaks can really improve an image.
We’re looking forward to more images and for your participation in the galleries and discussions!
Lon
