Love Hurts + Repost


Original


Repost

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Thank you all again for the wonderful feedback on these beachcombing photos. Here is the last one of the five. It was not the last photo made, but I wanted to bookend the series with a grouping of stones.

This little heart caught my eye as I was passing over it. I love finding heart shaped stones at the beach. I have found many over the years and each and everyone has fascinated me. I still wonder what forces are involved in shaping the stones into heart shapes.

What was completely serendipitous was the small blade of sea grass that mimicked the shape of the stone on one side, but then a few minutes later, to find the same sinuous shape in the sand partially surrounding the stone of the last post. So it is a heart wrapped in half-a-heart, a heart and a half!

Even though this is a photo of hard stones, for some reason, it conveys a softness to me, maybe its in the light, maybe its in the soft glow on the stones themselves, but it conveys what love feels like. Solid as a rock, compartmentalized for everything, all fitting together, and still with enough room to move about with no one thing crowding out the other. And yet, step on one of these stones barefoot, or have one of them propelled at you and it will hurt like heck!

With Valentine’s Day just 10 days away, think about those who you love, and do something to express that love to them - don’t be hard hearted.

Specific Feedback

Any feedback is much appreciated.

Technical Details

Nikon D850, Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Macro, at f16, 1/5 sec, ISO 100.
Processed in ACR and the finished in PS.


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1 Like

Youssef: A great find and a great climax to your beach series. I hesitate to pose an alternative but I could see this cropped tighter around the heart. The things that caught my attention the most were the bright orange stone in the ULC and the relatively empty LLC. I applied a quick and dirty crop which I think gives the heart and the sea grass more prominence. Back to you. >=))>

Thanks Bill. I considered that very crop but decided to go with the full frame to see what feedback would result. Looks like we are on the same wavelength.

Interesting the difference that Bill’s crop makes. It feels to me that the larger stone in the upper right is looming over the scene rather ominously in the cropped version, whereas the counterbalance of the stone on the left side seems to balance it and remove that feeling in the initial post. Should you decide to crop it, I’d consider coming down below that upper right stone.

It would be a bit tricky, but I’d consider bringing up the shaded part of the sea grass just a bit as it tends to get lost in that area-though it does make it more of a discovery when you find it.

Another beautiful beach image, Youssef.

Gorgeous! What a series this was! The light here is so soft, fitting the elegance. I love both crops, and the description is fittingly lovely!

A great series of shots, Youseff. I sure have enjoyed them. I think I like your original post best. I guess it’s a matter of taste. That heart stone is placed well and the lighting is pleasant. Well done.

If you were to tell me to choose an image do depict happiness, I would choose this one because that’s what I felt the moment I saw it. It’s a beautiful image with vivid and yet natural looking colours and a wonderful pattern of circles from edge to edge to edge. I’m a bit unsure of the top right corner. With the light being brighter there my eye gets pulled to it. Maybe a small crop or a small cloning job would be worth considering.

Thank you @Bill_Fach @Diane_Miller, @Tom_Nevesely, @Dennis_Plank, @Shirley_Freeman for your feedback. I have made some additional edits. I dodged the sea grass in the shadows to give it more presence and I have burned down and desaturated the reddish stone in the ULC to reduce its visual influence and I cloned out the small sunlit spot in the URC. However, after much debate with myself, I decided to keep the full frame and not crop it.

Youssef, this is another lovely look at beach stones. The three in the middle are surrounded well. The bit of sea grass is a fine addition and the wet glow of the stones makes them feel very inviting (as you say). I prefer the original post. The warm glow near the upper left adds to the attractiveness and is balanced by the yellow tones in the lower right. Toning down the bright upper right corner is an improvement

Oh yes, I like the repost. Suttle changes but it helped an already good image to look even better, in my opinion.

@Youssef_Ismail , I think your repost looks really good! :+1:

Excellent job on the repost, Youssef.