I took this photo at one of my regular sunset spots on the Oregon coast. This is a composite of two photos, one for the sky and one for the foreground seaweed. I edited this last year but decided to tackle it again now that I am playing with lum masks. I tried a lot of editing techniques I am relatively new at. Still, I love this mainly because I had gone to this spot many times only to be greeted with a marine layer blotting out the sun and any chance for color.
Specific Feedback Requested
How does the blend look? Are there notable halos around the rocks? Is there anything distracting (highlights, shadows, rocks, anything)?
How do the two edits compare (I choose to include the small wave in the new edit)?
Cool scene for sure. On the whole I prefer your second edit. The highlights are too muted in the first edit and I like them for their visual flow. Also the sky looks a bit too light compared to those in the first edit. For squashed highlights like that you’d need a very dark sky so it looks unnatural in my opinion.
What I often do in a scene like this is to take down the exposure and flatten the image in one layer and then use a white mask and a black brush to paint the highlights of the non-darkened layer back in. I do this to lead the eye through the photo on the natural path the light took. In this case I would keep the highlights bright in the center of the photo and darker to the sides (especially the big bright area on the left). Sculpting light this way also adds dimension and contour which I think you would do well to bring out in the seaweed.
The dark wave (?) on the sea in the background is a bit weird and I like that it’s gone in the first one, but that area could use a bit of texture if there is any to be had. Again, it’s quite a bit darker and the whole thing just seems muted and relatively dead. It can live again though so maybe another go at it. So much beauty and potential.
Sure looks like this was a wonderful and memorable sunset. I like your emphasis on the seaweed (given your composition and attention to the low tide area) and the composition is balanced pretty nicely with nearly a 1/3 - 2/3 ratio.
I actually prefer your original; and for a couple reasons. First, the shadow detail is a bit more visible in the original and many of the dark areas are blocked up with no detail in the new edit. While I like the luminosity of the sunset sky in the new edit, it just seems a little over bearing for the scene - not sure if it’s too saturated, or too dark… not sure. The original edit I think just needs to have the brightest highlights turned down a notch.
Also in the new edit, there are some weird things going on in the water. The wave has some kind of fringing at the bottom of the wave and also similar at the bottom of the rocks in the far back. Also, the very bright water right above the notch in the rocks is way brighter than what the sky is showing us - another reason why the sky doesn’t seem to match the scene - or the water.
The original edit has a weird masking thing in the ULC - I think just something you missed in processing. Then other than a slight reduction of the bright values in the original, I think that one is processed more naturally.
I think as Kris eludes… this is a beautiful sunset scene and I think can be elevated with a few more tweaks.
I think that both @Kris_Smith and @Lon_Overacker make great suggestions and observations. I’ll simply say that I much prefer the old edit. The sky looks lovely and more natural (maybe bring the highlights down ever so slightly but don’t add any contrast or saturation and maybe fix the very, very ULC where there is some missing information) and I like the foreground better as well. This was well composed with good foreground interest and openings in the rocks leading to the sunset.
However, as Lon said, there are some weird colorations happening in the water particularly at the base of the rock with the bird standing on it. There is a large yellow band that runs between the two large rocky outcropping there that doesn’t seem to fit there. Also, the edges of the rocks show movement like your tripod slipped or something.
As @Matt_Payne said, if would be nice to see the original RAW files to see where the possibilities lie. This is a terrific scene that deserves some tweaks to get it right.
@Kris_Smith, @Lon_Overacker, @Matt_Payne, @David_Haynes thanks for all the suggestions! As Matt asked, I have uploaded the RAW files I used to create this image. The sky photo’s highlights are a little blown out but I could easily salvage them in LR.
In my original edit, I had a hell of a time blending the sky and foreground without crazy halos. I think I did some creative painting to dampen the light halo.
In my new edit, I used Lum masks and that helped tremendously.
I enjoyed revisiting this edit because I feel it is a great shot. To me it’s a complex edit but I am willing an happy to work with it some more!
I think this is one of those rare situations where you are a bit limited by your camera sensor. Is there any latitude to pull some shadows out of that brightest frame? It looks like you were able to push the highlights down on the sky exposure and that seems to have worked out ok.
