I usually shy away from this sort of photograph – the grand landscape/big-ass sunset. It always feels to me like pulling my pants down at a party – sure I’ll get attention, but do I actually have anything to say?
In the thirty days we were out on our canoe trip last August this was the only sunset that I photographed. It had been a very difficult day. We were paddling through extremely high winds (mostly at our back, thankfully). Out in 2 ½ foot rollers, we almost put a hole in the canoe in a forced landing on a rocky shore. Fortunately, we made it and got our tarp set up just as a major storm hit. By the time we had eaten an early supper we were pooped and ready to pack it in. But as we were heading to the tent I looked behind me and saw this – the clouds just starting to break as the sun was setting. What’s a guy to do except grab my tripod, quickly find a set-up and hope for the best. Usually, I’m content to sit back and watch the show, but I think I lost my head a little bit over this display.
Although neither the darks nor the lights are clipped, the histogram is weighted to the left. I wanted to maintain the sense of “ominous splendour” but wonder if it reads too dark. Your thoughts on that, general impressions, and anything else that comes to mind would be much appreciated.
Beautiful cloudscape. Love the look of ominous power and threat. Very minor, but I could see cropping some water to make the sky even more prominent. A fine image. You do have something to say.
I never even considered pulling my pants down at a party. Hmmmmmm…
Kerry,
First off I loved the analogy of the grand landscape and pulling your pants down at a party! This certainly is not to dark for my tastes as the mix of those dark storm clouds complimented by the bit of warm color along the horizon portrays your ominous splendor perfectly. I for one am glad you decided to photograph it for the rest of us.
I hope very much that the next time I see a fabulous sunset I think of this image and not the one you conjured up with your words
The struggle between light and dark is portrayed very well.
For me, I see the water at the very right being a bit brighter than the water a bit to its left. I added a brightening curve to that water to the left and extended it into the clouds. I like the more balanced feel to the image, but maybe I sacrificed conveying a bit of the struggle.
I think this is spectacular!! The brooding grays against the golds are gorgeous and tonally so well handled. I think @Harley_Goldman has a good idea about cropping some off the bottom. The exposure looks perfect to me. The right side is naturally darker but I might be tempted to pull a linear gradient across diagonally from the LL to about the midpoint of the image and have a look at darkening the exposure a little.
