The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I often go for a morning or evening hike on the local beach at the Dutch coastline. Walking in the opposite direction of most other beach walkers, I usually end up entirely alone. This is particularly true on evenings, when people tend to go home after the sun has set. On this evening, the sky was quite amazing: partly covered with a textured cloud layer and partly revealing the orange glow after the sun had set. A high tide, the waterline can be rather straight and uninteresting, so Iâm always on the lookout for a small stream or a section with interesting ripples.
This small âloopâ was exactly what I was looking for. On my OM System OM-1, I used the âcomputationalâ ND filter to slow down the shutter speed to 2 seconds, so that the water would be blurred gently (I am not a big fan of the textureless water surface that the âbig stoppersâ often cause). At the moment I tripped the shutter, a small wave just entered the loop, which I felt strengthened the feeling of the endless ebb and flow.
Technical Details
OM System OM-1 MkI with M.Zuiko f4/8-25mm Pro @ 8mm, 2 seconds @ F8, 200 ISO
Used in-camera âcomputationalâ ND filter to slow the shutter speed.
Welcome Gerard, thatâs a heck of a first post in Landscape. Your treatment of the image in so many details is spot on to my eye. I love the composition, and how the flow of the sky matches the flow of the shore and wave. the âinletâ and sand pattern make for an enchanting foreground. The gently processed colors seem to match the scene perfectly, and your use of deep shadow pushes the edge without going over.
I could see slightly less sky at the top as being another option, but itâs a tepid thought because I really donât have much to suggest here. Well done.
Thanks for sharing your details on achieving the water texture; it looks just right for my taste.
Iâd also like to thank you for being willing to dive into commenting on othersâ images. Iâve read some of your comments and really appreciated them. NPN has traditionally been all about the giving and receiving of honest feedback, and unfortunately it breaks down when participants are only interested in receiving and rarely, or never, give feedback to help others. Weâve had a surprising amount of that recently, and you jumping right in are a breath of fresh air.
Gerard this is a great capture of that time of evening after the sun has set, with subtle tones and colors. Takes me there â I can feel myself enjoying being the last guy on the beach! Iâm having a little trouble with the brightness of the horizon overwhelming the foreground, which probably has a better glow than my computer screen is showing me. I do have one question: What size is the exposed, sculpted area in the foreground? It looks like it could be 20 feet across, but might be only 2 feet if you were close with the wide angle treatment.
Nice work on the composition and technique involved. The colors are also lovely. We have the same problem here on the east coast of the US. Featureless beaches. Often have to do as you did. Look for streams or pools of water or receding waves to make some FG interest.
BTW do you happen to know if any of the older EM-1 cameras have the built in ND filter? I canât afford the OM-1.
Not much to say here Gerard other than that I quite enjoy it! Such a calming scene. I really like how you have arranged the foreground particularly. The way it is slightly angled leads me into the scene further and then into the waves and finally the light. Really well done!
Gorgeously varying tonalities, especially in the water! Similar to @John_Williams, I could see a version with a little less sky, to move the horizon up a bit. I also wondered about a shot with the camera aimed down just a bit more, but maybe the bottom of the frame is where the good elements stopped. (Iâm just greedy to see the lovely loop a little higher in the frame!)
Exciting tonalities and textures invite lingering and enjoying the lines of the shore and the little stream. I agree with @John_Williams and @Diane_Miller about the sky. It occupies half of the composition. I find the textures in the sand at the bottom of the frame fascinating and would like to see more if they were there. However, nature doesnât give us just what we want. Thanks for posting on NPN. I look forward to seeing more of your country.
Thanks so much for the warm welcome and your comments, John. Itâs so great to receive honest feedback!
I understand your and @Barbara_Djordjevic remarks on the amount of sky. I was also worried that it would become too much of a 50:50 image, and to be honest, I didnât give it enough consideration when kneeling down to compose the image, and quickly pressed the shutter when I saw the wave coming in. But with longer deliberation I might have emphasised the sky even more by giving it the top 2/3 of the composition, as the rather oppressive sky was what attracted me in the first place. But I have several more with less sky after I found more interesting sand patterns.
Regarding commenting on othersâ images, I love doing this (though I only find time in the weekends) and I think that we should always return the favours we want to receive from others. This friendly and well-intended exchange of feedback is exactly why I decided to give this network a try, and I havenât been disappointed so far!
Thanks so much Barbara! I do agree with your comment on the 50:50 composition; impressed by the sky but also by the foreground this is how I responded at that moment, but I should have given it more careful consideration.
As I wrote to @John_Williams , I might have given the sky 2/3 of the composition however, as it is what impressed me most. I was completely in awe of the blue-orange contrast and the oppressive cloud cover being driven out by the light.
I also pointed the camera down a bit to capture the reflections of the orange in the sea, which might also have shifted the composition toward the 50:50 too much. I also tried getting low and closer to the ripples, but lost much of the reflection of the skylight in the âloopâ, so backed off again. A case of including this and giving that awayâŚ
Thanks for your comment Diane, also much appreciated!! Please read my replies to @John_Williams and @Barbara_Djordjevic to explain why it turned out as a 50:50 split (also a bit too much to my taste, also because we always learn that we should avoid this).
A bit further on, I found more interesting patterns along a sand bank, and include another here for you with a bit less sky (but still including the blue-orange division, which was what intrigued me the most). Thanks again!
Hi Michael, thanks for your reply; much appreciated!! Indeed, the search for interesting patterns is not always easy, but can be quite rewarding. The sky alone was already great here, but still my images with patterns are more interesting than those without (see some more in my replies to other comments).
Iâm sorry to disappoint you: the Live ND option was only included from the OM-1. The OM-1 Mk II even has Live Gradual ND filters built-in, but that also doesnât mean I am going to upgrade. It is a great feature, but with my EM-1 MkII the screw-in ND filters also worked well. Just think that there will be even newer features when your time has come to upgrade!
Dear James, thanks for your reply! So much appreciated!
The highlights were quite bright already, and I had difficulties controlling them and bringing them into balance with the quite dark other parts of the composition. I personally do like the message it gives of the light driving out the darkness.
Even though Iâd have liked that very much, there wasnât much glow (if at all) on the ripples in the front, so I had to âmake doâ with the reflections off the water.
The rippled âloopâ is indeed about 5 meters or almost 20 feet across, so you guessed right. Thanks again!
Your second and third posts are also wonderful!! That must have been a very good day! You have the sort of shallow beaches that many of us rarely get to see, and they can provide some wonderful opportunities.
