The trickiest part of taking this shot was trying to set up my tripod in the spot that I wanted. I had on a pair of rubber shoes but the uneven ground with all the rocks made it challenging to move around.
I had a vague idea of what settings I wanted and dialed those in while I was on the shore. We managed to get a few decent shots that evening with out any major mishaps but at one point we were holding on to our tripods as the water surged around us up to our waists.
This is one of my earlier shots when I started to appreciate the beauty of the softer light that you can get when shooting away from the sun.
You are right about the beauty of soft light! This is a great composition and plenty of mood with the long exposure. I do love a good long exposure seascape photo!
I think this photo could benefit from a little added contrast, particularly in the larger rock structure. I am learning to dodge and burn my edits better currently and would try that with this photo. This would help with the contrast in the rocks and to highlight the soft light in the water.
Woah, that sounds like such a risky shot, but worth it. Quite soft, yet dramatic. With that in mind I tinkered a little in Photoshop, doing a lot of what Ben talked about in his post - dodging and burning with luminosity and color masking. I hope you like it. It was too gorgeous to resist. You’ve got some amazing places to work and you work them well.
Lovely, intriguing image. The receding rocks serve as stepping stones to draw me through the photo, as does the transition from dark to bright moving from bottom to top. The clouds even echo the shapes of the rocks. Very nicely done.
@Kris_Smith@Chris_Baird@Benjamin47n Thanks for the comments .
Kristen thanks for taking the effort to share your additional Layer stack workflow.
I already added quite a bit of local mid-contrast to the image and was worried I was over processing it, but your suggestions added just the right amount. Thanks.
WOW!! I think this is drop-dead gorgeous!! I wouldn’t have had any suggestions to improve it but I think @Benjamin47n and @Kris_Smith have added a bit more magic. The layers are so stunning here, with the bit of brighter area in the waves reflecting the bright part of the sky, and the clouds so beautifully picking up the color and texture of the water. The centered composition is fabulous!!!
Hi Andre. I love a good centered composition and this one does that well. The contrast with the harsh rocks and the soft rocks works really well. I love how the long exposure emphasizes that. Just a great photo.
