I went to Point Reyes and it was covered in fog. I decided to head over to Drake speech and got to see some waves that were coming into the shore with the fog just dancing on the top of the horizon I took my camera and did a panning (ICM) shot to get this blurry effect
I would like to know how to make this image better in terms of more artistic and creative
Shot at f 11, iso 64, 120mm lens At 1/25 s. Processed in Lightroom
Hi Nick – In first looking at this photo, the beautiful pastel colors of the waves jumped out at me. I really love that part of this scene so that is what I would emphasize if I had taken it and was processing it for my portfolio.
I do not think the sky adds much and the warmer color competes against the pretty cool pastels in the water. I took the photo into Photoshop and experimented with cooling down the color of the sky to better match the colors in the water. After trying out a few different approaches, I decided that I would suggest cropping out the sky entirely. Without the sky, the pretty pastels and soft textures in the waves come through much more strongly. For the crop I am suggesting, I centered the curving line of the wave at the bottom. Since your subject suggests peace and tranquility, centering that element of the composition amplifies those qualities. If you do not want to crop our the sky, you could consider a sliver of sky that is equal to the sliver of sand to add a warm element of balance on both the top and bottom of the frame.
I think you could also brighten the photo just a bit and maybe add a tad of saturation to the blues and greens. The sand at the bottom helps the viewer determine the subject but I also think it provides an important grounding. If the triangular shape in the bottom wave wasn’t there, I think you could crop out the sand for a different rendition but with the triangular shape, a tighter crop feels a little messy to me since the triangle gets awkwardly cut off when removing the sand.
Sarah- thank you a million for your detailed wonderful feedback! I agree that cutting the sky out adds to the tranquility style I was going for. Really really really appreciate it. You made this shot so much better!
