When photographing the beach it is often difficult to find interesting subjects. Usually, you are in front of an open space trying to find foreground elements to tell your story about your feelings. That afternoon walk by the beach was gloomy with overcast conditions. Feelings of calmness and serenity were predominant. With the ebb of the tide, the sea gradually drew back revealing more of the beach and some beautiful curved lines formed at the sea bottom.
Specific Feedback Requested
It was a low-contrast capture and I tried to bring some contrast to the foreground, but not so much to avoid a dramatic feeling. The curves on their own helped the feeling I was looking for and I didn’t want to lose it. Please make any suggestions that would improve the image mood in terms of composition and post-processing.
Technical Details
1/30 at f/11 ISO 160
21mm
post processed in Lightroom
I find this image to be depressing and not very calming. Perhaps if the contours of the water were smooth instead of broken up then a sense of calmness could be conveyed. I actually like this very much for how it conveys. I would crop out half of the sky to further make the point.
Thanks Igor for your sincere critique. I respect it! Depressing is far away from calming and that means the foreground element choice was wrong in the first place.
I actually quite like it, Nick. I think the B&W treatment works very well. This is a moody, but peaceful ocean image. I guess that may be partly because I am in Oregon and our coasts almost always look like this.
I am finding the extremely textured foreground mixed with the extremely low textured, low contrast background an interesting juxtaposition. The fog over the hills is just superb and I love it for the calming and moody feeling I get from it. I don’t find the foreground calming at all but I don’t think that hurts the image. It’s just different. Two extremes in one image. I think your processing tries to impart a calming feel with the low contrast you’ve given to the image and for the most part it works well. I like the leading lines that the foreground presents but I think I would burn down the two arms about half way up so that they don’t draw the eye out of the scene. I would also maybe dodge the beginning of the leading line to give it a little bit more presence near the bottom of the frame. You might also clone out the little boat in the water on the right edge. Fascinating image.
Thank you very much David Bostock and David Haynes for your critiques. I didn’t post process the image with an intention to create this juxtaposition. It felt me like this was the right thing to do. Of course when we are talking about art, sometimes feelings tent to surpass logic and rules. I will dodge and burn some of the suggested areas and lower the texture of the foreground. Thanks again for your valuable opinions and artistic view!
I think if you’re after gloomy, dreary mood and atmosphere, this works towards that end. The lower contrast certainly works towards mood - as opposed to more contrast, more detail, etc. that moves the image towards shapes, patterns, detail - and less mood. If that makes any sense.
I like this as presented and wonder how much overcast sky you need up top? The more you crop, the more it becomes about the tidal area and less about the mood.
So my drastic crop - if I continue with my theory is that the dreary mood is reduced a bit with a crop that is emphasizing the patterns and details of the foreground. I’m not sure this is what you were after - but easy for me since I wasn’t there experiencing the moment…
Aesthetically, this is quite intriguing. As others mentioned, the textured and relatively higher contrast foreground is an interesting counterpoint to the soft background. In that regard, it’s quite a fine image. But the composition conveys just the opposite of calmness and serenity,
Those attributes are often conveyed by horizontal compositions, in landscape orientation, with soft textures. The textures in this aren’t so contrasty, but the vertical aspect and angular lines in the foreground convey tension to me. There are interesting triangular shapes made by the “arms” of the foreground water, but they aren’t calming. I find them rather dynamic, in fact.
I’m sure the feelings you had on such an overcast day at the beach were of calmness and serenity (I feel the same way on such days), but the interesting composition you made has a lot of tension. Anyway, this is a fascinating photo, but perhaps not in the way you imagined.
