The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
The effect the motion of receding waves leaves behind around the anchored rock
Midground needs work ?
Creative direction
My main goal is to produce aesthetically pleasing water around an anchor such as the central rock - but also to provide context
Specific Feedback
I am always open to seeing what others see or would like to see
Technical Details
0.8 secs / F 16 iso 200 - No filter
Description
Photographed at sunset along the Palm coast in Florida. I scouted the shoreline during the day and thought I could make something of it at sunset
Hello Karl! I love this image! Your concept and the decision to return at sunset were good ones. The rock is a perfect focal point and I love the water that radiates from it, coming toward the viewer, is lovely. I like that the texture of the area on the left is different from the one on the right. They almost look like butterfly wings! Also, the sky — colors — is very nice. At .8 seconds, I wouldn’t expect the clouds to be so soft, but that might be due to fog.
Some thoughts: I love the soft water, but the rust textures that peek through are a distraction from the rock. They’re competing with it. They may also make the water look blurry rather than intentionally slowed down? And, the wave in the middle looks blurry. I do a lot of slow shutter water photography and am puzzled as to why it’s appearing that way to me. Focus? You shot this at f/16, so DOF problems should have been avoided if you were aware of the optimal hyperfocal distance.
I am looking at it on my MacBook Pro (16-inch), so that might be the problem. I’ll try to view it on a larger screen. I hope these thoughts are helpful.
I love the effect of the wave receding on the shore; it looks like the caudal fin with the rest of the fish being covered by the sea. That combined with the rock, and water swirling around it, makes for a stellar foreground. I think the soft colors in the sky work well too. My only thought would be to drop the saturation of the water/wave in the midground; it seems a bit strong.
I am now going to be honest - the original mid ( wave ) ground was bland. Hence I tried to make something of it and added from a different frame - thanks for your input - back to the drawing board there!
Here is another one that evening - I have touched up those mid ground waves some
@Karl_Zuzarte — ah! I knew that something didn’t feel right about that midground. Thanks for revealing that. The water here is lovely and works well with the rocks, however, you lose that wonderful foreground. You might try @John_Williams suggestion to lower the saturation of the rust color in that midground water. It might help. Also, you might try sharpening that water with Sharpen Ai or the Highpass filter in Photoshop. It might just remove enough blur to make it work.
Beautiful seascapes - both of them. I love the setup/comp on your original post. Love the receeding water the curling wave and the lovely earth’s shadow sky and clouds.
I don’t mind the “blurriness” of the midground wave - after all it’s a longer exposure right? But what I do notice is the crashing wave section of the right half comes across as a bit yellow and also like some of the brights are clipped. If the wave more closely matched with the blue-ish sea foam, that might help. But bigger than that to me, the colors and really just the saturation is a little strong. From the blue/cyan out past the breaker, to the magenta in the foreground receeding water and cyan scattered around in the surf, again I think a little strong. LOVE the sky and the foreground sand looks good too. I think a few color/sat adjustments and this will be super.
Actually, I’d say process the original post like you’ve done with the second image and call it good. Love this image as well. A different, but more dynamic foreground and the wave action is much more integrated in to the overall image.
Sky is gorgeous here as well.
I could see both as large prints over the fireplace…
