Channel Islands National Park

It's noticeable to me but does it matter?

I think I notice what you're talking about, but it didn't really strike me as anything until I read your post. Then again, I am always in awe of landscapes such as these as I am still in winter. Thanks for sharing

truly amazing Photograph. ND grad is not noticeable at fist, but at second it is and I wish it wasn't there because it would make it a photo of the week.

Yeah, I can see it; but it sure doesn't detract fom the effect. It'd be interesting to see what it'd have looked like if it had been slid down just another quarter inch. The rocks in the FG make this pop so well; and a perfect shutter speed. Intriguing how the two contrails match up, spot-on, with the flow of the clouds. Which Channel Island were you on? Cheers! Chris

Steven, I run into this problem quite a bit. If your sensor was able to record any detail at all in the rock I would double process this shot in RAW and then do a blend on the blacked out area to get the detail to show up. Regardless though, this is a very powerful scene -- well done!

very beautiful scenery,good job

Steve, if you had not mentioned it, many of the comments would not have pointed it out. Its a concession we make to have good exposure in the sky and the foreground. Basically a trade off. The twice processed RAW has potential, but my guess is that there will be considerable noise there. The other solutiuon is to blend two different exposures, but we know that can be tricky, especially if there is the slightest movement. One other trick that Marc Adamus uses is to hold the filter and move it slightly during the exposure. Perhaps in this case, the filter could be turned counter clockwise to about 45 degrees. The last possible solution is to design a filter that fits neatly over the sky portion of the scene. While I may not be much consolation, I think this is an awesome photo.

A very striking and attractive image. Perfect? No. What image is? We as photographers know all the imperfections of our best images. The sky is fantastic as well as the FG. The black rock structure is a problem here as you know. When my cheap plastic Cokin Grad ND finally got too scratched up to use I found I have more control doing two exposure blends with Layer masks. I will usually brackt 5 or 6 shots and pick two of the best and use those for the blend. So far have not had the need to go into HDR to get the look I'm after. With this you might try an increased exposure on the RAW as mentioned above.

 

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I do appreciate the helpful comments. This was only one exposure and I didn't bracket because the water moved the tripod. You know those rough Island waves. Well at least I didn't have to do much post processing.

ND not really noticeable, great water effect!

Hello Steve

Very nice composition to begin.

I love that water twirls in the foreground and that light glow on the water surface. Very nice contrast and overall sharpness.

It would be a perfect if the filtering effect wasn't so obvious. That big cliff in the upper right corner looks like a black-hole on my screen (without any details in the shadows) - which quite spoils the overall impression. I therefore agree with Mark's comments about turning the grad to about 45 degrees. I'm quite surprised that the filter has darken that region so much (it's not a very strong one, isn't it ?).

Any chance to recover some details from that part ?

One final remark is to remove some CA from that rock in the middle of the horizon.

Beside that - lovely shot.

Cheers

Piotr

Nice work.