Tide Pool Intimate

Where I live, April is an in-between month, not really winter, but not yet spring either. So April is a good month to shoot along the seacoast, where to me the concept of seasons doesn’t really matter that much. Last week I was photographing sunrise along the rocky coast of Narragansett, Rhode Island, and right after sunrise it clouded up. So I decided to explore some of the tide pools, and found this very colorful section, which fortuitously was under only a few inches of water, so everything was very clear. I suppose one could argue that I should post this image in Macro, but because the image covers about a foot across, I have decided to categorize this as an “intimate seascape” and go from there. To some degree, it makes me think of a starry sky as well.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Any comments of feedback is appreciated

You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.

2 Likes

Colorful abstract of a real life scene. The detail is amazing considering it was covered in water. Unusual subject, handled beautifully.

Perhaps this is because I haven’t had my coffee yet but this reminds me of Christmas and I like it. The slight curvature from that green vegetation on the bottom looks like a garland and the white plant looks like a Christmas ornament. At first those are the only things to enjoy here but give it a few more seconds and you start seeing other things that are just so special, too. The darker circular green things with lighter green rims scattered throughout the scene is fascinating. The contrast with the reddish rock is just genius. Very well seen, Ed. The only thing that I would consider working on a little more is that brighter green blob near the UR corner (moss?). Its color seems a little out of place. Or is it?

Wonderful array of colours, held together nicely by the white plant in the centre. Fine detail making for a very attractive image, abstract up to a point yet not losing a sense of the natural forms.

Ed, this is a wonderfully interesting abstract.! Before I read your description I thought it was a fungus scene similar to what we might see here in our wooded areas. The things that was confusing me were the unfamiliar beautiful orange and reds and the interesting textures of the foliage. Your description and a closer look solved the puzzle for me. New England just does not conjure up scenes from the sea to this midwesterner! Very creative and colorful for a transitional time of year in the woodlands.

Ed, great colorful abstract. Excellent colors, shapes and textures. Looks real good.

Beautiful abstract Ed. I love the colors, textures and the repeating patterns. I’m amazed you got such a sharp shot through the water. Well done.

The white plant in the center is pretty clearly a coralline algae, but all those white spots make me guess there was a massive set of barnacle larvae within the last year. If in fact they’re tiny barnacles, as I’m guessing at the viewing scale. If not, I’m really curious what they are. Neat, curious image well seen and composed!

This does indeed have a festive look about it. It looks like it’s snowing, to me. You must’ve come across a recent barnacle spawn. Although, some barnacle species never get large. Actually, this reminds of those glass spheres you shake to suspend the ‘snow’ and it floats over the contents. It’s a nice abstract with vivid colors.

@Ian_Wolfenden @Harley_Goldman @Patricia_Brundage @Igor_Doncov @Hank_Pennington @Adhika_Lie @Alan_Kreyger Thank you for your comments,I’m glad you enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure how this one was going to play, it is a but unusual/different. Hank and Igor, I believe the white dots are tiny barnacles, it makes sense that they would be barnacle larvae. To provide scale, the long side of this image covers 12 inches across, so those barnacles are maybe 1/8" wide, or less.

Actually they’re now adult-form barnacles. The larvae are free-swimming and look much like free-swimming crab larvae under a microscope. Interesting enough, when they settle to the bottom, they land and attach on their backs with their legs up. The little “feelers” you see poking out of attached barnacles are actually their legs gathering food from the water!

Great score, and there must be a heck of a big barnacle bed up-current to lay down so many in your scene.

Wow. This is a wonderful intimate arrangement of colors, and intimate details, Ed. The multitude of white barnacles reminds me of the night time sky. I wish I could find something like this when in Acadia, but then I have not spent a lot of time looking either. Great eye to spot this beauty.

Ed,

Sorry, a bit late in responding, but wanted to comment.

What a wonderful array of colors and texture, detail. I actually like the centered comp with the “light stuff” in the middle commanding the center of attention. In fact, I’d go as far as to suggest a very slight crop off the right and go full centered composition.

The only other feedback would be to increase the contrast in the lower portion in the darker areas (sorry, have no idea biologically what to point to…) :wink:

Beautiful colors and I’m amazed this is captured thru water - never would have guessed.

Lon

@Ed_Lowe @Lon_Overacker thank you for stopping by to comment on this image, I’m glad that you enjoyed it.

Ed, I have spent a lot of time along the Atlantic coast trying to shoot tide pools, rarely have I found anything with as much color and interest as this one. Maybe it has to to do with shooting in April instead of summer, I don’t know.

Lon, I got very lucky with the water, most of the stuff in these tide pools were under a foot of water, which makes everything look washed out. But this section only had about 1 or 2 inches of water, and with a polarizer it looks clear as a bell.