Hi everyone. My first venture out with the camera post lockdown was to a local beach to shoot the sunset. I felt a bit rusty having not used the camera for a while and even more rusty with post processing.
Anyway, this image was taken some time before the sun set as the sun was bursting through the clouds causing some cool crepuscular rays.
Foreground wise I’ve gone for a breaking wave which then hopefully leads the eye through to the shimmering light on the midground water and then on to the sun exploding through the clouds. Does this work?
Post processing wise I’ve cooled the foreground and shadow areas and added some contrast to the foreground whilst removing it from the midground to try and help create depth. I’ve dodged and burned and exaggerated the light by boosting the highlights, warming them up and adding an orton effect. I’ve also added a vignette to keep the eye from wandering to the sides.
Any feedback gratefully received.
Chris
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You have succeeded admirably in your intent. I love the way the foreground waves are mirrored so beautifully in the sun’s rays breaking through the clouds. The image does indeed have great depth and subtlety of tone. Your work in post is right on. An image to hang out with. Print it.
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Thank you very much Kerry. The more I look at the sun looks blown out although the histogram shows it as just under. Do you think that area is too bright?
Personally, no, I don’t think so. The sun has to be strong but not so strong that I don’t pick up the waves in the foreground. I think this works well.
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Nice image. I Love the mood you got here.
There are two small things that caught my attention; just above the white water, there are some grey “stripes” – I can’t realize what are those, and seems you got a nasty dust spot on the top right hand side.
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Thanks very much. Woah! I didn’t see that dust spot. There a couple of bits that need cloning out from the very bottom too.
Do you mean the horizontal lines in the midground? That was an incoming wave yet to break if that’s what you’re looking at.
Nicely done Chris! I quite like the platinum palette/effect you got going on here. It’s a damn awesome shot too. i like the arrangment of the elements. gives good flow.
Couple of things - I dont mind the blown highlights too much. I think they make this better. However I think you have pulled them back a bit too much so that you dont have smooth trasntitions between hightlights and the clouds. Some lcoal adjustments should do the trick.
I i had to be super critcial, i think the image may be a touch flat. You could try setting a white point for the foreground and see what that did. And maybe setting a black point for the sky. To me these adjusments give a a bit more edge.
I’ve made some edits below - let me know what you think 
There is a great big black dust spot top right on the edge. About 1/4 along the top edge 
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This is a very powerful and symmetric scene with excellent repeating elements throughout. Perhaps you were hoping for a bit more color, but if you were, it would dilute the beautiful luminance contrast present here. You have a very interesting scene here where the contrast of light/dark areas are brought forward and not impaired by crazy color. While I think the scene as you presented is very successful and more realistic, @Eugene_Theron’s recommendations makes for more drama…so ultimately, it’s your taste that can decide. Were any crepuscular rays added in post?
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Thanks for your comments. Yes @Eugene_Theron I think your recommendation improves it I’ll make some adjustments to the original. Not sure how I’ve missed that dust spot.
No, the rays are real. All I did was enhance them with some local adjustments to make them pop. I did consider adding some more rays artificially but I thought nature did a pretty decent job to begin with.
I like it. The sunrays seem to mimic the water in the FG. Well done.
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This is a great composition Chris! I especially like how the lines from the crepuscular rays connect to the foreground waves. The color and processing look good to my eyes. Nicely done!
As a side note this might even be more powerful in a black and white image.
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