Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
The second of three waves from Ocean Shores last week. I preferred the sky in this one.
No specific questions, but all thoughts and recommendations appreciated.
NIKON Z 7II
NIKKOR Z 24-200 f/4-6.3 VR at 54.0 mm
1/500 sec. at f/10.0 and ISO 250
I like this one more. I like this a lot, in fact. The jagged rock thrusting themselves towards the white conveys the violence. I agree about the sky. It does set off the white very nicely. The white wave has great tonal richness and posseses voluminosity(sp?).
Wow! Great drama. B&W emphasizes the power (as does your title!). I slightly prefer this one, but both are great.
John,
Hard to chose which one I like better as both showcase the power of nature with those thunderous waves. I too prefer the sky in this one, but you can’t go wrong with either one IMO. I also like the jagged diagonals of the rock. Beautifully done!
John, your work is incredible - these two and the whole body of it.
Here the drama and energy of the ocean and the vibrant lighting are exceptional. (I’ll try not to run out of superlatives.) But also your compositions are so interesting. I assume they are intentional. In this current one, the vertical lines in the rock all point to the wave while the clouds almost circle above it like a crown.
The drama catches the eye, but the good compositions help keep people looking longer.
John, so glad you were able to get to Shore Acres for the King Tides. This is awesome. Great clouds framing the wave. Also, nice to see the lookout on the right with a couple of people looking on. Great sense of scale, and wow, what a wave.
You’ve inspired me to go back to my shots last year and see what I can do to them in B&W.
Looking forward to seeing the third one.
Cheers,
David
Wow – I can hear the thunder!! Both are fantastic but I would lean to this one if I had to choose – the sky is wonderful!!
I like this one better too John. this has such an imposing moodiness to it. the wave is so powerful, the details in rocks and trees and foam is excellent. The lighting is soo good. Part of what has captured my attention so much with this is the brooding clouds in the BG. You can’t do much better than this.
I too like this one better, it feels more balanced, and the wave is more imposing. But I really like the two people in the other image, it adds a sense of scale, not only purely in terms of size, but the sense of the raw power involved. The grey scale in this image is wonderful.
Perfect title. I love the texture of the splashing wave and the dark foreboding background. It feel like the contrast between darks and lights is just about right, but I wonder if the brightest of the waves might be turned down just a bit. Either way, as a mountain man that has a bit of salt water in his veins, I LOVE this image!
Thank you all for the thoughts and feedback! I’m glad to see that others favored this image as well.
Thanks for the suggestion @Paul_Holdorf. I’ll play with that, especially if I go after a darker version overall (more similar to the image I just posted.)
For me, I wouldn’t reduce the whites, but I would explore darkening and adding contrast in the rocks. I think that would separate them and make the white waves pop even more. But no criticism. I love it and I would love to have been there.
I like this a lot. You got some of the elements which I think are hard to capture. Waves are tricky. I like the fact that the light is pretty muted, as waves with light blows out the texture, and you have captured that here. Also, and I hope you know what i mean, some crashing waves just don’t work, as they can be weird shapes, and these work. And lastly, clouds can make a busy image, ie waves and rocks, look too busy, but you have a lost of contrast with the foreground and the background textures of rock, waves and sky. Well done, beautiful painterly effect of the image. I particularly love the sky.
Very powerful photograph !!! The waves ,the sky and the rocks. All really make this photo work and black and white shows the energy and tone. Really nice !!!
Thank you @ed15, @lorretta, and @Gill_Vanderlip !!
I’ll play with that separation Ed. Since I posted the more recent wave shot with that darkening you mention, I’ve been meaning to go back a fiddle more with this one.
Beautiful and dramatic. The tonality is rich. Not sure I would change anything about this image. I can almost feel the impact of the wave. I haven’t photographed waves much, but when I have, I have come away empty handed. Hats off to you!
Great image John. The B&W tonalities are striking. Perfect SS also.
Thank you , @Jason_Ray_Photography and @Michael_Lowe !
