The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This image was taken on June 1, 2024. My first trip to Point Lobos was 56 years earlier, back in the spring of 1968. I did not have a camera with me at that time.
In case you’re interested, the “receding cliffs” in the left foreground are only about 20" tall.
Specific Feedback
It’s one of my favorie images because it’s not one of those “epic” images of a muscular surf drenching a rugged coastline. Instead it’s an image of a location I often go to detox after a hectic work-week. I’m curious to know if this more pastel image captured why this location is a favorite of mine.
Technical Details
Extra low tide. Calm surf. Foggy day. Wide-angle lens. Tripod legs horizontal. Knee pads on both legs. Long pants and a jacket.
Interesting perspective here, Franz. I read that the “cliffs” are only about 20 inches tall. That’s crazy. You certainly put those long pants, knee pads and tripod with legs splayed out to good use. I don’t think anyone would guess the dimensions of this scene. The soft use of colors and lines leads the eye to a sliver of water in the background. Just enough water to give the viewer a hint at location. Along the sea. Just enough sky to show the foggy conditions which persist most of the time here. Some would maybe want more water or none at all but the sliver tells a story about location and it seems pertinent to me. I love Point Lobos and this is a wonderful and different take this area. Well done.
What a wonderful seascape from Pt. Lobos. I want to get back there so badly, only a couple of hours away for me.
Like Dave, I’m amazed at the scale, or lack of one with the cliffs. At firs glance I would thought they were the scale of say, the Painted Hills or something like that. But closer examination discovering it’s a tidal area, then it starts to become clearer - but then the image gets even better! Overcast sure, but you have at least some variation/definition in the clouds and with the light, all the colors really come out.
Wonderful composition as well. Can’t offer any suggestions and certainly no nits.
Very nice. Point Lobos is just a cornucopia of photo possibilities, and yet one of the hardest places to photograph. You have done it justice. I like how all the lines in the image lead in to the URC. If I was to ask for anything, it would be a little more contrast in the sky to reveal some of the texture and variation in the clouds to mimic some of the variations in the rocks.
For what it’s worth, I had already darkened/increased the contrast of the sky quite a bit - as compared to what was recorded in the RAW file. Even going farther than what is in the image I submitted - as you had suggested. But in the end, I throttled the darkened sky version back into my stylistic comfort zone.
For this image, I used a 24 mm wide angle lens - to take advantage of it’s rectilinear distortion properties to amplify the vertical height of the tidal region.
The inspiration to do this came from some recent portrait images of landscapes that I came across on the internet, where a wide angle lens was placed close to the ground so the “foreground” (e.g. the bottom of the frame) looked much larger than what it actually was.
I got me to thinking that I can amplify the left/right sides of the frame instead of the bottom by simply rotating the camera into landscape mode.
I forgot to mention in the original post that I had to focus stack in order get everything in focus.
Franz: The color palette and the striations in the “cliff” were the first things that caught my attention. I think you took great advantage of the conditions and your comp options. Nicely seen and superbly captured and presented. >=))>
