Ok…I promise to stop posting sunrise pictures after this one for a week or two…
This was my first attempt from this location and what I was shooting right before the image I posted earlier this week. I came back here a second time and probably got a better composition but I haven’t even started looking at that file yet. This is from the top of Otter Cliff looking back toward sand beach in the far distance.
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I tried something very different with my editing here. Instead of a traditional dodge layer, I brought the file in from LR as a smart object. Then duplicated the smart object with the TK panel. This allowed me to edit the raw data to get the color and luminosity I wanted, then paint that back in with masks. Interested in thoughts on the outcome. Personally, I think it has some potential benefits there are some extra steps but it isn’t crazy.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the image as a whole. What drew me to the scene initially was the light on the rocks as well as the distant mountains.
David, keep those sunrise pictures coming! They’re great, and this one is no exception. I love the soft light on the rocks, but the under lighting on the clouds really pulls me in. My only thought is that I think there’s a bit of leftwards tilt. I brought it into Photoshop, and adjusted the rotation to make the main tree vertical, and the whole scene seemed (to me) to line up better.
Good color harmony here. Nice opening to the image as it pulls the eye to the right. It seems your primary element is the coastline with the light in the FG and MG consistent with that of the sky. The sedondary element seems to be the tree, which is an excellent contrast to the smooth surfaces elsewhere in the image. There is a bit of clutter on the left of the frame, but it is managed well as being low light/low contrast. I’m wondering if it would’ve been possible to exclude this aspect by moving camera right to better isolate the main tree? Alternatively, you could crop a bit from the left of the frame to mitigate the main trunk on the left border? I’m just blabbin now…it’s a beautiful shot. Let me know what you think
After I suggested that you consider Acadia as a destination for your July trip, I felt really bad when you visited during tropical storm Elsa, and we were getting 4 inches of rain down here in southern New England. After your last few posts, I don’t feel bad anymore, you were in fact very fortunate to get this type of storm light, and you certainly rode it for all that it was worth. Excellent image David.
I think @David_Bostock is right about a slight clockwise rotation, and as @Jim_McGovern mentioned it could also achieve a slight crop of the clutter on the left. With that said, the tilt of those trees is partly natural, exposed at the top of Otter Cliff, they take a beating from the wind. but aesthetically, a rotation would help.
In terms of processing, you handled the yellow sky much better here, it looks very natural. I think the dark look of your processing works with these stormy weather conditions. My only other suggestion would be some gentle dodging on the mountain and the strip of forest beneath it, and maybe some gentle dodging of the highlights in the water. But those are both subtle and subjective tweaks, overall you have a very fine image here.
Hey Ed, thank you for the comments, I’ve added another version below. Again, first trip for photography, but one of the things I noticed is that I was always so focused on the next shot that I don’t think I really knew what I had until I got home. Not that I didn’t enjoy the “moment” but I never really looked back at what I had taken until I was sitting in the airport flipping through some cards and even that was hard to tell on my laptop. I do have some smaller scenes to process as well, I would guess in total I probably walked away with 7-10 good images with these being some of the best of mine to date. Acadia is a gem.
This is so true for me as well, even after many years of landscape photography. I know when I have great light, but sometimes even subtle changes in composition can make a big difference, even in great light. Since this was your first major photo trip, the other thing I would suggest is not to get too aggressive deleting shots immediately. Come back in a few weeks, or a month, and your impressions of what is “good” can shift over time. You have to live with the images for awhile to appreciate them fully. And as your processing skills advance over time, you can sometimes revisit images and take them up another notch too.
The defiant tree standing lonely on that cliff makes for a great subject. The very far left looks just a bit too dark. I would raise those shadows just a tad to show more information.
@Vanessa_Hill Thank you! It wasn’t there for long, but I was able to run around and find 2-3 shots!
@Igor_Doncov some of that was intentional. It is pretty messy in there, here is another version where I raised them slightly. That tree has been through some rough days/nights no doubt!
