fine art waves Golden Wave

I've seen this same picture with the same composition and similar sunset light a dozen of times at least - and some of the previous ones I saw were great, so I'd hardly call this original, but honestly, it's by far the best of its kind I've seen till today. Perfect in all aspects, as far as I'm concerned, and I just love the little motion-blurred tips of water-fingers in there... Wonderful...
And now I'm really wondering what photonetters will possibly talk about, this week...:-) Congrats anyway : you really did a great job.

This looks more like a painting then a photograph. But it is very beautiful.

I get lost in this picture. It morphs and changes shape and becomes displeasing and then pleases. Excellent composition.

To answer some inquiries, this photo was taken at dawn with unique weather conditions. Our area of Southern California had a fire in the mountains behind the city which threw a lot of particulate matter into the air. The light dispersed by this particulate matter had a very unique quality and those colors in the sky were reflected on the wave. The shutter speed was 1/8 of a second and I was panning the camera with the approach of the wave to create this effect. The RAW files was adjusted for contrast, exposure, and color balance. I did run it through a Velvia emulator plug in to augment the saturation. This is not cropped from the original file dimensions. I am enjoying the discussion and if I haven't answered a inquiry specifically, I will revisit and try to answer it.

I agree with all comments provided that we see hair arranged using gel.

Waves are not wet, unreal. The technical skill is perfect anyway.

i think is wondeful and artistic shot, beatiful colors

Beautiful, perfect! The first shot I have commented on in a long time (take that as a compliment!)

How much manipulation is involved here, just wondering?

A nice diagonal composition and wonderful colors .This looks more like a painting then a photograph.But I like it.

I imagine waves will travel quickly out of frame with a 600mm lens, so apart from composing diagonally, setting shutter/aperture to within some window of predictability, and adjusting focus to the best of ones ability, remaining details such as the shape and cresting of the wave can only be left to chance. This balance between the predictable and unpredictable is, to me, what makes this type of photography interesting - you know an interesting picture will result from experience but the perfect compositional details (such as Marc's observation of "the little motion-blurred tips of water-fingers") will be out of ones control.

The opportunity for artistic expression is also enhanced from that of the same technique applied to the more common wider-view ocean-landscapes due to the dynamic nature of water and light when it is so isolated.

With this beauty in my eyes, my thoughts were all about how this unrepeatable photo can be shot or done in editing. Then I visited David's place and now I know that it's not a photo built in PS and that is not unrepeatable. In its gallery there are images of waves even more beautiful, at least for me. The fashinating difference here is a special light stolen with a perfect capture. This light may be unique and makes the photo even more exiting.

I'm pretty sure that the original raw file, viewed at default settings, is milder in contrast and color. But the impressionism here is from purely photographic means - slow shutter speeds, solid technique, great light

lovely colours. strangely, i would not have thought of this as a wave had i not seen the other images in orias' portfolio. it could easily have been a brush of sorts! nonetheless, the colours itself make this worthy of discussion and i can even imagine this framed and sold in a gallery.

Awesome abstract! The color and texture of this image is very unique. Especially the ragged appearance of the edge of the wave as it plunges downward. Very beautiful image!

Hi, the shot is amazing!I really love it!
I have one question - is there a lot of post-processing work or you obtain these colors using some filters at the moment of shooting?
I am asking this, because in my country photosites is a big discussion about using Photoshop in changing the colors of the image...
Regards,
Albena

It seems like simple and obvious manipulations were done to a photo to make it look unreal. Possibly, most people would prefer this to the original photo because the original photo may have been to ordinary. Having seen so much of this type of stuff, it's no longer interesting to me. I do like the overall composition somewhat.

I suspect that the alterations to the image were made to make it more exciting, to bring out the colors, not expressly to make it more "unreal", but that's beside the point. I'm certainly not questioning anyone's right to dislike the image because of assumptions about how manipulated it is. Photography is a big art form, and this[manipulation] certainly fits inside it. That's my opinion.

As for the rest, I happen to like the image. The oranges may be a little too strong, but the overall image is visually exciting and a nicely impressionistic treatment. (Full disclosure: I've shot with David, but I wouldn't defend him (no one's attacking him personally anyway) or say I liked the image if I didn't.) I haven't been jaded by how "common" it is the way some others have, but we all have different exposures and tolerances.

p.s. I'm not meaning "jaded" as a criticism. (Maybe not the best choice of words, but hopefully it comes across right.)

Richard, you are welcome to your impressions of this photo. I can understand that this image could create this response. All I can say is that at the time the shutter was opened, the light was quite unique. The smoke in the air due to a local fire created a light quality that was quite unique at the moment. It is this base color on which the photo was processed. As mentioned, I did use a Velvia plug in to emulate the look of Velvia film which does add some saturation to the overal image.

David, just in the case you're in the mood, I guess it would be absolutely instructive for everyone to see an unprocessed raw version of this image (maybe a 400x600 px jpg post?).

A very special group of images. Makes me want to pick up my camera and run to the ocean :) .

Great job!

Nestor, I would be happy to provide a link to a 600 x 400 RAW JPEG when I get back home on Monday to promote further discussion.

It is hard to critique such a fine work of art. Not sure how much post process work other than resize was done but none the less I like how it flows. It is your signature trait photograph, what else can say but I like it.