Seaside Erosion (In Action) + Repost

[Jimmy_Arcade]

I have been falling in love with desert 'scapes, but as the heat index increases in the Southern California desert locations, cool weather seascapes start to sound more appealing. Living near the beach, I’m ashamed to admit I’ve started to become bored with the same beach scenes. So, I sat down and mapped out different beach locations, which offer a different perspective. I came across this beach in La Jolla, California, struck out for a photo mission, and fell back in love with seascape photography.

For this image, I was particularly interested in capturing the live-action erosion of the beach, so I used long exposures to create that snapshot in time, in hopes of conveying the action taking place, in real-time.

This is a composite of 3 different images from the same composition. Because the tide was high and waves were crashing in no discernible patterns, I stuck with this comp for a while, as I wanted to capture the best parts of each directional shift of the waves and piece them together. The base image consisted of nearly everything you see in the image, with the exception of the middle and background instances of the waterfalls. I used two additional exposures to paint in those mid and background waterfalls and some of the white-washed water in the basin.

While the sky was okay, I wasn’t quite happy with the overall look and tonal balance, so I replaced the sky and the image came together in a more coherent manner, from my perspective.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Any and all feedback welcome

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

How do the colors tones work? At first, the image was very warm, but I cooled it down to make it more peaceful and pleasing to the eye (or at least, that was the hope). Does the balance between the rounded rock on the far-left middle create too much weight on the left or does the wave crash on the far-right middle balance it out, as I had hoped it would?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Canon 6D MK1 w/ Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II
•
Composite (3 shots of same landscape comp + sky replacement)
16mm - f/8, f/11, f/16 - ISO 100 - 1/5, 1/2, .8 sec

If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.

@jimmyarcade

Re-worked Image:

Original Image:

[Bonnie_Lampley]

Oh, I love the foreground and the turbid water showing the erosion is cool. The brown tones contrast well with the blues in the water. Tonally, though, the sky looks odd (maybe because you said you replaced it - ha). The gray clouds don’t seem to work with the blues and browns. What was the original sky? You said it was tonally off. Did you try changing the tones or color balance of the original sky?

And I hear you about the heat index! The shoreline calls!

[Ed_McGuirk]

This composition feels well balanced (left to right ) to me. I think it’s well balanced because the left and right rock are similar in size (and thus visual weight). And there is a nice symmetrical arrangement of the three rocks together. I don’t really see the spray along the right edge as a significant factor in adding balance, it’s too small, and too near the right edge. Some folks (like me) might even consider it a minor distraction, since it is a small bright element that pulls your eye away from the center (where all the neat rocks and waterfalls are).

Something about the color of the sky does feel slightly off , as @Bonnie_Lampley said it’s the perils of compositing skies from another image. This is subjective personal taste, but the sky looks too warm to me. I think if the sky was cooled down you could create some warm/cool color contrast against the rocks. Here is a rework taking my stab at that, as well as cloning away the spray on the right (again a matter of personal choice, it may not be your vision for this image). The cooler sky just feels more stormy and moody to me.

[David_Haynes]

I love La Jolla because there is so much going on with the rock formations and you grabbed yourself a great spot to shoot. I love the three rocks down the middle of the frame and the two large rocks, right and left are fairly balanced as far as weight but what throws the weight off to me is the rock on the top of the rock on the left side. The water splash on the right side adds a lessor amount of weight but does add good balance to the scene so I would keep the splash in the image but I agree with both @Ed_McGuirkand @Bonnie_Lampley about the sky. It just feels and looks a little bit out of place. However, I think Ed’s rework is MUCH better and looks a lot more natural to me. I agree that the summer heat has the shoreline calling but like you, I love the desert for photography!

[j112 (J. Mark Pelton)]

Gorgeous image as presented, but I have 2 critiques. I agree the scene might be stronger without higher level rocks on upper left, but it may have been difficult to shift camera to right and keep this wonderful foreground arrangement. I also think cooler color balance would be more attractive- I would almost prefer the foreground rocks as grey rather than brown.

[Larry_Greenbaum]

@Jimmy_Arcade

… is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)Canon 6D MK1 w/ Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II•Composite (3 shots of same landscape comp + sky replacement)16mm - f/8, f/11, f/16 - ISO 100 - 1/5, 1/2, .8 secIf you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.@jimmyarcade

The comments already made, especially @Ed_McGuirk’s and his cone of the spray, seem right on to me. Yet, I too am detracted by the artificial sky. Do you have the original sky? How would the image look when the sky is cropped as in my example, but with the original sky? Outside of the sky, the image is wonderful.

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@Bonnie_Lampley @Ed_McGuirk @David_Haynes @j112 @Larry_Greenbaum My sincere gratitude to all of you, for taking the time to contemplate what works and doesn’t work in my image. The varying opinions, on the inclusion/exclusion of the rock on the left and the wave splash on the right, highlights the same indecisiveness I felt while post-processing this image. Weighing all of these different perspectives, I think I actually like the inclusion of both the rock and the wave splash.

As all of you have kindly and gently pointed out, the sky replacement seems to be the primary aspect, which stands out like a sore thumb. This was the best sky I could find, at the time, but will continue to look through my past images, to see if there’s something that fits better. In the meantime, I have posted the JPG version of a close-to-raw image, in order to give everyone visibility into the original sky, which feels very muddled to me.

I’ll continue to mull over how I want to process this, but your compliments and suggestions have all been taken to heart and I’m grateful for them. When I get to the point of posting a new rendition, I will let all of you know.

Here’s the JPG version of a “close-to-raw” (added gradient to sky, to darken it a bit, but that’s it) version of the base image:

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@Bonnie_Lampley

What was the original sky? You said it was tonally off. Did you try changing the tones or color balance of the original sky?

@Bonnie_Lampley, I just posted a near-raw image, in my response to all who have commented, so you can now see the sky. To answer your question, I did not do much to try changing the tones or color of the original sky, because it felt a bit muddled, with not a lot of interesting structure and the tones were a bit odd. If you have any suggestions for tonal adjustments to the original sky, I’m certainly open to them, but I’m not a fan of the original sky, to begin with. Thank you for taking interest!

[Ed_McGuirk]

@Jimmy_Arcade

The varying opinions, on the inclusion/exclusion of the rock on the left and the wave splash on the right, highlights the same indecisiveness I felt while post-processing this image. Weighing all of these different perspectives, I think I actually like the inclusion of both the rock and the wave splash.

Photography is inherently subjective, and different people react differently to to different things, it’s just the nature of the beast. This is your image, and in the end only you have to be satisfied with the results. One person’s wave as balancing element, is another person’s distraction.

But as you have already figured out, when 4 or 5 people all give you the same comment about the sky, then it’s time to sit up and take notice. With that said, I still think it’s primarily the warmth of the original sky that looked a bit off, and not the clouds or the light in the sky itself.

@David_Haynes

However, I think Ed’s rework is MUCH better and looks a lot more natural to me

I think if you play around with the color temperature of the sky in the original post you can stillend up with something that works well, without having to go looking for a sky from a third shot.

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@Ed_McGuirk

I think if the sky was cooled down you could create some warm/cool color contrast against the rocks. Here is a rework taking my stab at that, as well as cloning away the spray on the right (again a matter of personal choice, it may not be your vision for this image). The cooler sky just feels more stormy and moody to me.

@Ed_McGuirk, thank you for going the extra mile to post a re-work of the sky, with the cooler tones. I do think that works better than the warmer-toned sky I had worked on. Can I ask you to help me understand the method you used to add the cooler tones? Did you use Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Selective Color, or a simple Camera Raw white balance adjustment? Thanks, again!

[Ed_McGuirk]

@Jimmy_Arcade

Can I ask you to help me understand the method you used to add the cooler tones? Did you use Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Selective Color, or a simple Camera Raw white balance adjustment?

I use TK Actions for processing, and Tony has a tool called “Neutralize Color Cast 1”, which I ran on your image, placed a black mask on this adjustment, and then painted it into only the sky with a white brush. If you don’t use TK actions, I was able to create something very similar with Lightroom/ACR just pulling the WB temperature slider more towards blue. I did this WB shift using the Lightroom Adjustment Brush, so that the effect could be painted into the sky only. The LR/ACR gradient tool could have done the same thing too.

Lightroom WB is the easiest way I think.

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@Ed_McGuirk

I use TK Actions for processing, and Tony has a tool called “Neutralize Color Cast 1”, which I ran on your image, placed a black mask on this adjustment, and then painted it into only the sky with a white brush.

@Ed_McGuirk Much appreciated! This is very helpful. I do use TK Actions and have tried a number of actions, but I have not yet done anything with the “Neutralize Color Cast 1” color action. I’ll play around with this, as I’m always keen to learn more about uses for TK Actions. I also appreciate you providing alternative options; such as LR WB shift, via adjustment brush. If the TK Action options is too complex, at least I have a failsafe in LR. I’ll give it a go when I get a chance and post a new image. My full-time job is as an IT professional, so I’ll be starting my work day, shortly, and probably won’t get to further edits until later tonight.

[Ed_McGuirk]

@Jimmy_Arcade

If the TK Action options is too complex, at least I have a failsafe in LR.

TK NCC1 is a one click wonder. Play with the opacity of the layer to tweak if you like. After you get the sky how you like it, throw a black mask on the NCC1 layer, and paint in the effect to the sky.

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@Ed_McGuirk

TK NCC1 is a one click wonder. Play with the opacity of the layer to tweak if you like. After you get the sky how you like it, throw a black mask on the NCC1 layer, and paint in the effect to the sky.

RE: “one click wonder”. Typically, the ease of use is the beauty of the TK Actions, so I’m not entirely surprised. I’m what I would consider a Photoshop novice, but I’m learning by jumping into the fire and trying new methods. Initially, I was very intimidated, but I’ve learned a lot in a short period of time. Now, I just need to execute what I’ve learned in a more balanced manner. Ha!

Thank you for providing additional instructions. I’ll be giving this a go later tonight!

[David_Haynes]

Hey Jimmy,
I just want to reiterate that I think the original post with the replaced sky is great if you apply the tweaks that Ed came up with for the sky. The original post is just a little too warm and the WB adjustment that Ed came up with really fixes the only thing distracting about the image and turns it into a great image. I do prefer the splash to be included in the scene though. In any case, it’s a beautiful sea-scape.

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@Bonnie_Lampley @Ed_McGuirk @David_Haynes @j112 @Larry_Greenbaum Thanks to your helpful feedback and Ed’s PS tips, I have re-worked the sky in the original image. 404 error resolved. I’ve added the re-work in my original post, above my original image. Cheers!

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@David_Pottinger_Dunn_Haynes

I just want to reiterate that I think the original post with the replaced sky is great if you apply the tweaks that Ed came up with for the sky. …I do prefer the splash to be included in the scene though. In any case, it’s a beautiful sea-scape.

@David_Haynes, thank you for the reiterating and sharing these encouraging words, going out of your way to re-emphasize your enjoyment of the image. I agree with you, regarding the sky holding it back from becoming a better image. After having re-worked the sky with Ed’s suggested method, I’m very happy with the re-work. I’ve added the re-work in my original post, above my original image. Much gratitude!

[Bill_Chambers]

The re-worked image is lovely, Jimmy. The cooling of the sky actually makes a significant difference in the quality and enjoyment of the image IMHO. I feel your composition is fine, as is the shadow detail and the wonderful detail (roughness) of the rocks. Excellent chosen shutter speed also. Well done!