This was probably the most exhilarating photographic experience of my life till now. I had never shot seascapes before and I was fortunate enough to witness the strength of the Atlantic Ocean during November with a friend from the area who was kind enough to show me around. This is definitely my favourite image from the trip, cause of how everything just fell in place (the wave hitting the rocks at the same location as where my friend is standing). It also reminds me a bit of the painting “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich and hence the title of the image.
Specific Feedback Requested
This image is actually a composite image. The sky with the pink clouds and the birds are from the same composition taken about 20-30 minutes before the base image with the person and the wave. My question: is the water on the right side of the image a tad too blue or is it just my eye. Also, I would appreciate any other feedback on this as this is one genre of photography that I have never indulged in before, but I did fall in love with its fast paced nature, which is poles apart from my usual woodlands and details photography. Thanks in advance.
Technical Details
Base Image: ISO 200, f/6.3, 55mm, 1/160s
Sky Image: ISO 200, f/5.6, 55mm, 1/100s
Both images underwent basic editing in LR, then were merged in PS.
I’m not going to pretend to know how your name is pronounced but it’s a nice name
There are a few reasons for blue-ish or teal colored sea water at the shore, it’s often caused by algae or some other plant life under the surface.
I’ve seen water near the shore look very bleak and dull gray but turn to a gorgeous deep blue as soon as we reached deep waters.
It’s completely plausible for the water to be that color at the shore and without it seeing it in person, it would impossible for me to know if it’s the right shade of blue or not, but it looks good to me.
The only thing I see in this image in regards to the water color is an almost definitive line between blue and light gray near the horizon of the water.
A delicate brushing of saturation in that grayish area seems to blend the two colors together well IMHO.
The only other thing I see is what appears to be graffiti on the ruins of the building on the rock structure above and to the right of the photographer, cloning that part out seemed to be a good thing.
The splash of water behind the photographer really helps to bring attention to him in a good way.
Using two images to bring in the cloud color and the birds worked very well and you did a good job of merging them,
I had to look up the “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” and now I can see why this reminded you of that piece.
Obviously I think this is a wonderful seascape image! I would be very proud of it if it were one of mine, and since it isn’t mine, I can just admire yours!
On the edit, I did a saturation layer in Ps, inverted it, then used an elongated paint brush to paint in the saturation, then adjusted the opacity of that layer until it blended with the rest of the blue water…
