Sleep paralysis (+1 re-edit)

With a little more on the right (not as much as I thought I had) and cloned out house light.

Not from down south, but Big Sur in California 2014. Sunset from the balcony of our hotel. The marine layer is famous in this area and the nights were were here it came in heavy and climbed high up the hills on the ocean. It’s one of the best reasons to stay in Big Sur as if you need more. No clouds in the sky, but we had them anyway.

Specific Feedback Requested

It was a tough trick managing the tonalities in this shot, but I think it works. How are the proportions? I have some room on all sides of this crop if it feels unbalanced.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Lumix GH3
Lumix G Vario 35-100mm f2.8 lens @ 80mm (160mm equiv.)
f/13 | 2 sec | ISO 200
Tripod

Processed in Lr to manage the dynamic range and the colors. A couple of graduated filters at the UL & LR corners to even things out. A little dodging and burning to improve the transitions in the fog. Some color channel work to bring out the subtleties in the sky. A little sharpening & some NR.

@the.wire.smith

Kris,
The balance seems just fine to me although I would be curious to see just a bit more on the right for comparison. I particularly like the way the muted colors of the layering hills direct me to the in your face colors of the sky and the light fog provides some wonderful atmospherics to these peaceful scene. My only suggestion would be to clone out that one light as it does catch my eye. Minor stuff as this is gorgeous.

Kris, the layers in the land and the ocean (with it’s subtle waves) make a great lead-in to the glorious sky. I’m curious, was the sun above this or off to the side?

Great color and light to showcase the coast. I would be curious to see more shown on the right. Not sure if it would be better or worse. Hard to say. I would clone out the bright spot showing through the trees.

The sun was to the left and either just behind the horizon or just above. I can’t recall. I just looked at the rest of the shots and there’s one of the sun 1/2 way over the horizon so it’s just set after all.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I’ve clone out what is actually a house lit up. I can’t remember if it’s a private residence or a rent-able property. There are some for big bucks at this hotel.

Not a huge difference, but I like the extra real estate on the right.

Thanks Harley. I don’t know why I didn’t take a wider shot except that the view might have been cut off by hotel buildings on the cliffs.

I like the repost even better with that little extra bit of real estate on the right side, Kris. The removal of that light also works.

1 Like

A gorgeous capture of a CA coast sunset! I was curious about the magenta cast on the land, and did a quick and dirty correction with Color Balance. I liked it but it removed some excitement from the sky, so I did a graduated filter to leave the original color on the sky and down into the water, where it seems to fit as a reflection from the sky.

I like your edit Diane. The pink overtone is soothing but removing it adds drama. Thanks for taking the time. Am in Carmel right now. After breakfast, heading to Paso Robles until Friday.

Beautiful photo Kristen! I prefer the originals with the magenta in the foreground. I have just a small nit: the tops of the three hill (two on the right, one left of center) seem overly dark. Were they that way are is it a result of the editing? In any case, I would lighten them to match the rest of the hill.

Nope - they were too high for the fog to reach! Thanks for the words of praise and taking the time!