Hunters Beach in Winter

It was a miserably cold and rainy winter afternoon at Hunters Beach in Acadia NP. The tide was coming in, and I thought I would try to capture some wave motion. I have some other ones with less splashes, which I will post later, but thought i would throw this one out here for consideration first. The subtle, yet beautiful colors of Acadia’s rocks added some visual interest on what otherwise was a dull grey day.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Any and all critique and comment are welcome

Hey Ed, have you considered cropping a little off of the right to tighten the frame so that more focus is given towards the wave splash and you have the one big boulder to help anchor the image?

Ed , I am with Bobby Burton. But I should cropping even some more. To get all the attention to that wave splash and the majestic boulder.

My contribution

I can see why you were attracted to this scene. However, the white ice isn’t working for me here and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I have this vision of white linen hanging out to dry. The lower right is where all the beauty is for me. The glowing rocks under that excellent light. The parallel streaks of white foam. And the breaking wave. I also think a frame here would prevent the dark rocks to bleed into the NPN background. I would crop thusly.

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I don’t want to sound like an echo but I agree with everything that Igor has said. I also like he crop he proposed.

Nice job Ed. Great eye to see this scene. I also like @Igor_Doncov version. Not better, just different.

Mainely speaking, Ed, I think you have two great images here. Your original - since we don’t hang out the laundry, I don’t have a problem with the hanging ice - speaks to me. The green rock brings the viewer left toward the splash and the detail in the image is superb. The second image is @Igor_Doncov’s crop. The story in the crop is different than your original which tells more of the
Maine story.

Dull, gray days can be quite interesting, I think. The colors really pop here, especially the reds. Because you say that the splashing waves were your point of interest, I would suggest cropping off the right, as others have said. I would go so far as to suggest a 1:1 crop of only the left side, if you want the wave to be the star. Igor’s crop is pleasing, but it’s not so much about the wave, rather the large rocks and their interaction with the water. Lots of stories to be told with this photo.

Ed,
I am with @Michael_Lowe on this and like the original as well as @Igor_Doncov version. Having been there with you that day, the ice was quite a prominent feature and I do like it included. Igor’s version simplifies the scene and I like that as well, but it may not represent your vision.

@Igor_Doncov @Ben_van_der_Sande @Tom_Nevesely @Michael_Lowe @Bonnie_Lampley @Larry_Greenbaum @Bobby_Burton thank you for your input and comments, I do appreciate them.

Quite frankly this was such a miserable cold, rainy day that I was happy to come away with anything. This is not one of my better images, I’ll admit. But I thought it had potential, and kept growing on me as I was culling/processing this shoot. I think I have gotten a lot of good input here that motivates me to process this image further.

There were actually two things that attracted me here, the splash, but also the red and green rocks on the right. Igors rework does a good job of playing up those two elements, and I think is an interesting interpretation.

I looked at this before reading any comments and found myself consistently drawn to the snow on the rocks rather than the spray. I did a scroll crop and it solved the issue, then I saw @Igor_Doncov 's version, which nicely solved that issue for me. Without the crop, I find it really isn’t working for me.

Thanks Harley, I am actually leaning towards your suggested scroll crop to a pano solution. I think it eliminates the distracting ice, while retaining more of the colored rocks on the right.

To me this image is a good example of trying to avoid pre-conceived notions. I had met @Alan_Kreyger on a workshop with David Kingham, and we struck up a friendship, exchanged images etc. Alan went to Acadia for the first time in 10/19 on a workshop, and he both liked the place and the workshop leader’s winter in Acadia images. Alan asked me if we could go to Acadia in 02/20, and off we went. Unfortunately it was the warmest winter in many years, with little snow, and it rained most of the week we were there.

This was from our last afternoon, and by that point I was desperate to get “winter” into my images, and then I saw this patch of ice. It distracted me from what I really liked about this scene, the colorful rocks and surf. The comments here helped me to realize this.

Ed,
You make a great point about pre-conceived notions. It is also interesting to note how all of us can be influenced by the our mood and attitude when we approach or compose a scene. I had never visited or researched this location so pre-conceived notions for a composition were not a factor for me. However, I did have the same “desperation” as you to include the winter icicles and surf into my composition and also shot several similar images. Food for thought, If this had been our first day of the trip with cold temps and snow predicted for the next week, would we have included the icicles?

Good point, the answer is almost certainly no.

Ed,
I’m a little late to the party here but I echo most of what’s been said already. The top 1/5 of the frame above the snow keeps pulling my eye away from everything else. I would suggest cropping that snowless portion off and keeping the snow. It says winter and cold to me and that’s a memory of this shot you will always remember so I think it’s worth keeping although I love what Igor did with his crop a lot. Not sure you can improve upon that. Well done Igor. Colors look great to me and I wouldn’t change a thing. Glad you came away with a keeper.

Ed,
As I am sure you already know sometimes we just have to accept what the great outdoors throws at us and make the best of it which, you have expertly done for this image. There is a lot to like in this scene from the splash of the surf, to the pink Acadia granite along with the water motion swirling around the seaweed covered rocks. I like what @Igor_Doncov’s crop has done by distilling this down to just the elements you need. Nice eye to spot this out of the chaos along Little Hunters Beach.