Sunset Glow

Very nice shot, Tyler, with lovely sunset colors, and the beautifully illuminated shrimper to anchor it.

 

As for the foreground color, it seems to me that the water at your feet is simply reflecting the blue sky above your head, not the orange light from the horizon. Looks natural to me.

wonderful job tyler. I agree with Richard that the bottom third is reflecting the blue sky above. lovely colours and a well executed shot.

 

cheers

I love the composition and colors. Also the light in front of the boat is excellent.

 

I like this photo very much.

 

Thank you.

Richard, Kesevan, and Kiril--Thank you all for your taking the time to leave your comments and thoughts. I do really appreciate you clicking on my picture and taking the effort to let me know what you think. I'm glad you guys like the shot! I'm not spending much time on here right now because I'm studying to take my medical board exam (to license me to be a surgeon) but when that is done in a little over a week I'll make sure I come visit each of your respective portfolios and return the critique/comment favor. Thanks for your comments and if you have any thoughts on any of my other shots, I'd always appreciate hearing them!

R.G. said:...."As for the foreground color, it seems to me that the water at your feet is simply reflecting the blue sky above your head, not the orange light from the horizon. Looks natural to me."

 

 

and,

 

 

K.M. said:.."I agree with Richard that the bottom third is reflecting the blue sky above."

 

 

 

**** Yes, the bottom is reflecting the blue sky. And that is the PROBLEM with the image. There is no blue sky in the image itself!

 

 

Look at the TWO masts in this scene. You have the real one with a very colorful, orange sky in the background. And then you have the reflection of that very same mast, only without ANY of that same color.

 

The blue sky that you both see reflected is what was actually THERE that evening. The problem we have is that he used an orange filter on the real sky which gives this a very nice aesthetic quality. Now, I am not an Einstein here, but folks, put on your thinking caps; a reflection is a mirror image of the real thing. You cannot have two very different skies in the very same image. If the first is orange, then so should the reflection. Or, if the reflection is blue, then so should the original image.

 

 

It may be many things, including sellable and usable. But it is not natural. And THAT is what can happen if filters are not used correctly. Trust me, I have found this out the hard way.

Although I appreciate the effort from the reviewers to pass the foreground off as the "blue sky above," I must be honest and agree with Vince that it cannot be a reflection of the blue sky given that I was using a sunset filter. Vince's assessment about the reflections is pretty logical and the truth. The problem is that after the last 3 nights, I have now have shot this boat at sunset on 8 different nights over the last couple weeks (a total of about 500 frames)--out of all the pictures, there is not a lick of orange color in the foreground water in a single shot. This needs to be written up as a case report or something because I'm baffled. Last night I put the filter on, turned to the side of the building and shot--the whole frame has an orange glow. I then, without moving the filtered turned and shot this scene...the foreground orange magically vanishes. I then spun the holder so the filter was upside down and STILL couldn't make the foreground orange. I understand the logic and how the shot can't violate the fact there is orange glass covering the foregound but this scene is defying it a bit. The only thing I can figure is that the "pluff mud" which sits directly under the water in the foreground is too dark or somehow "eats" the orange color. :)

 

I understand Vince's logic but I just can't make that foreground orange...we have a real photographic mystery! (maybe there is some ghost at the shrimp dock) :) Regardless, thanks for the comments and critiques...I guess if I do anything with this image I'll either just leave it like it is or else likely take Vince's suggestion and add a touch of color in PS to make it look more natural. Thanks to everyone for all the comments!

Can you attach a few of those images from the last couple nights Tyler? We'll get this figured out. If the water is really shallow and the muddy bottom very dark, that could eat up a bit of that color. But the fact that we do have the mast clearly reflected, would lend me to think the sky color should also be reflected. Especially in the lower right corner, where there is pretty good light.

I believe the problem is twofold: the shallow, dark ,muddy foreground, AND even more importantly, too many filters up top. Here is a similar example, that came back to my mind through this discussion.

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5378231

 

You can see how unnatural the foreground reflection looks in that daytime image. But yet the culprit appears to have been the same thing as in your image here; A very shallow, muddy bottom.

 

 

Also, when I look at both of your vertical attachments above, you can clearly see a difference in the foreground between the two images. That "filtered" version is definitely different than the non-filtered version.

 

 

 

What has in fact really added to this dilemma now, is the fact that you used TWO different ND filters, as well as the colored filter on the top of this image, where the bottom ONLY has the slight effect of the tapered off sunset orange filter. In other words the foreground portion is really TOO BRIGHT for the rest of the scene, therefore colors have been comparatively washed out.

 

 

Here is an attachment where the only thing I did was darken the foreground area. By doing so, you can see that more of that orange color is NOW THERE, and a more natural balance achieved. Before, with your original upload, the forground is too bright due to the fact that you over compensated with the three filters you used on the sky. The balancing effect of the filters in effeect went TOO far. The foreground is now too bright, washing out the orange colors in the process. That along with the shallow muddy bottom is why we have orange color missing in this image.

 

 

At least we can move on to other things in life. : )

 

 

I would suggest only using one or two (at the most) filters at a time. Especially when shooting well after the sun is gone down, like here. I knew right away that did not quite sound right. Have a good one Tyler. A nice discussion for sure!

Here is a side by side, easy to compare attachment. The top version is your unedited image. The lower was only darkened, nothing more. (I could have darkened more judicially here, but this still gives you an idea). By posting side by side, you can more easily see that your initial version is just too bright down low and subsequently causing all of these other issues in the process. It is too bright down low because you used too many filters up top. The camera correctly read the upper, larger portion when exposing this. Good thing too.

It's a good work. I like it!

Excellent shot!!! Regards Antino

Zacarius and Antino--Thank you very much for stopping by and leaving your kind remarks! As I said above, I'm taking my medical boards next week so I will not have much time to be on photo.net this week but I will be certain to visit each of your respective portfolios and return the favor of leaving some remarks when my board exam is over with. I hope you will return to view my work in the future.

 

Vince--As always, you came through for me! GREAT job being an investigator! I understood what you were saying and how logical it was, but I KNEW I was covering the lens with the filter and had done everything I could think of to prove it to myself. This shot was, to be honest, the result of experimentation. I was just trying to learn my filters, what effects they give together, and how position effects results and came out with this shot. I was thinking it may have something to do with creating a REVERSE high dynamic range with so many filters but I didn't know I could burn out all the color like I did--thanks to you, now I do. The pluff mud is a factor as well, although at high tide there is probably about 4 feet of water in the foreground (none at low tide). Regardless, it is very dark AND I think I had a polarizer on, which may have cut some of the foreground glare (I know the far water still has nice glow but A) that is the natural appearance and B) I've heard that polarizers have stronger effects at certain angles to the water surface so give the difference in angles that would be a factor as well). Regardless, those details are only exacerbating factors...the real problem is too much density up top which burned out the foreground. To be honest, I probably did this because at the time I was liking the shot with the foreground a little more distinct (overexposed). I think I could have probably lost one stop up top and kept some detail and distinction but at the same time given a bit more natural appearance. I'm also thinking I might go ahead and get a 3 stop filter. I have been using the 1 and 2 stops together quite a bit, which I know is the same effect, but it's more complicated and after some trials I think I'd get my use out of a 3 stop. Also, I doubt I'll need 4 stops that often (if ever) but if I do, I could get it done with only 2 fitlers instead of 3 (like in this shot). Lastly, the sun has finally made it far enough North that I'm back hiking an 45 minutes through the forest and swamp to shoot my lighthouse at sunrise. In one of our other conversations we'd talked about shooting when there was only a tad bit of light left after sunset and getting good results and you'd added that you do the same thing when there is low light BEFORE sunrise. While I'd been staying til all color faded in the PM, I hadn't been arriving more than 10 minutes before the sun peaked over the horizon in the AM. I've taken your advice the last 2 days and, although the sunrise's weren't spectacular, have gotten some pretty promising and pleasing results with my new equipment, filters, and advice from you! As always, THANK YOU!

 

The one thing I have yet to figure out is how to use my Tokina to make a pleasing composition---I don't know if the lighthouse is just too far away to use the wide angle or if I am just not creative enough in my compositions. I find that most wide angle seascapes utilize tide pools, foreground rocks, and things of that nature...our beaches here are pretty much boring grey sand before sunrise so I've been struggling to find foreground interest. I'll keep working at it. If you have any composition suggestions based on my lighthouse shots (old and new) I'd love to hear them. Once again, thanks for helping me get pointed in the right direction and holding my hand while I improve...I definitely owe you! Thanks for all your hard work, time, and investigation skills with this photo--I was very educated by our exchanges.

It is really great