This area is one of the best spots on the California coast, as there are numerous offshore rocks and sea stacks looking towards the lighthouse and then walking back the opposite way. Add in the persistent wind and the sound of the surf crashing on the rocks and you have an incredible experience photographing this location.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I particularly liked the dark clouds in the sky and the contrast between the light toned cliffs and the darker rocks in the water. I converted the raw file into a b+w image as I thought the color version was a bit distracting, and the textures are the most interesting part of the photo. Looking for any general feedback and C&C.
Technical Details
Shot at f/16, 13 sec, ISO 100
Converted to b+w and processed in Lightroom
Ted, I like the ominous sky and the many contrasting elements: the rocks in the water and the blurred waves, the lighthouse against the sky and the detail in the cliff. I can almost feel the cold wind and an incoming storm
I can only imagine how exhilarating it must have been to be there in person.
I wish that we could convey through photographs the scents, the sounds, the wind on our face and the feelings that we observe while there in person, and it really doesn’t come through even in video in my opinion.
But, images like this do serve well to remind us of past experiences we’ve had and this one in particular does that for me.
I like your choice of shutter speed, it makes the water look smooth, yet there is a sense of texture there within the lights and darks.
It’s difficult to find scenes that work well in B&W but this one works very well IMHO.
This is just my personal view but if the horizon of the water were slightly below the plateau where the lighthouse resides, it would add a better sense of grandeur for the plateau and lighthouse.
I would think that a lower perspective or maybe move back far enough to place the plateau above the horizon of the water would have been possible but I could very easily be wrong about that since wasn’t there.
However, there is a way to change that “if you’re interested”.
In the example edit below, I simply copied a small section of the sky above the water and moved it down a bit, then blended it. To smooth out the transition I put it through denoise at a very light strength, it seemed to work pretty well but again, if this doesn’t interest you, please disregard the edit.
Ted, you’ve got some fine drama going in this b&w view with the brightness of the cliffs, the swash and the lighthouse set off well by the cloudy sky. When I look at the lighthouse, I see a cylinder of extra brightness around it in the clouds.
Thanks Mark. I’m seeing that extra bit of brightness that you are talking about, but not sure what’s causing it. I may want to re-process this image to see if I can remove it. Any suggestions?
You can get haloing from pushing the Clarity (also known as microcontrast), but that’s usually not this wide. I’m thinking that you did some dodging of the lighthouse that carried over into the clouds. There’s a small chance that it’s real. Checking the raw file will show you if it’s processing or real.
