Laid To Rest

Thanx for viewing, taken on a very windy day on the Cape Town coast. But a beautiful

sunset made up for it.

Very nice colours and composition. I like the blurr effect. Congrats.

Espectacular. Maxa.

A strikingly beautiful image. Excellent !

great work!! its a beatiful image

PDE

wow... great long exposure..! very good point of view.. the combination of colors and the shapes of the rocks are amazing.. regards

Really amazing image with a special mood. Ed

excellent work. great detail in the rocks. well done.

Wonderful picture.

Great colors and light.

 

BR Siw

Hi Stuart. What an amazing coastal scene. Those stones are fantastic and this is a fantastic moment for sure. I hope you don't mind, but I will assume the devil's advocate role here on this image. As good as it is, there are some creative choices you've made that I think make the image less than perfect. The most obvious is the sky. It is rendered too dark and takes on a muddy tone compared to the rest of the exposure. My guess is the overuse of grads, but I haven't glanced at the details. Whatever method, it is top heavy exposure wise and unnatural looking. My second observation is the milky water. It is an interesting effect, but I think it also is overdone and does not look natural. It is a popular creative choice, but I think is no longer in vogue and does not accurately convey the choppiness and true motion of the water, looking more like fog than waves. The second choice perhaps was unavoidable because of the length of exposure. I have encountered the same problem in situations like this. An inquiring observer might ask why the distant shoreline is so much darker than the near foreground. A blend of bracketed exposures could do the trick, but grad filters will always leave an obvious shadow along the top part of the horizon. Well, I'm sure I've said enough, so I will finish by stating that my observations are still only opinions. What counts is how well the scene is received by the majority. It seems to be quite popular, so congrats for that!! One last observation which is not opinion; the horizon is leaning left about 2 degrees.

This is great shot. The downside is the bright foreground and the dark sky, doesn't look natural. Maybe some curves adjustments will correct this.

 

Regards

 

 

 

Pedro.

Thanx Mark for your input, always appreciate constructive criticism. This shot was an in between shot, as my main purpose was to do a panoramic of the area that i had planned for a while. The sky is extra dark because i used a polariser, maybe should have used a 0.6 grad instead of a 0.9. Will keep it all in mind for next time.

 

Thanx Pedro, yeah use of the polariser was a bit too much, will try to correct the curves like you said.

 

Regards

Stuart

Stuart, I love this shot. It's perfect as it is. I think people forget that we take photos of what we see for our own pleasure. It's not for others and who cares what's in vogue. If I were there, I would see what you've shown us beautifully. The sky was a lid but added subtly to the image, but the main focus is on those wonderful stones with the waves crashing around giving the milky affect. I'm not sure where everybody gets off on this 'it doesn't look natural' comment. A lot of those same people use HDR and image blending to make an image look nothing like what anybody could possibly see, but it's in the name of 'looking natural'.

Capturing what you see in camera is as natural as you could ever get! Congratulations on a great image. I wish I could take one half as good. Regards, Glen

I have to agree with Glen here. It is a fantastic photo, and for Mark, if you ever read this message, go back to your own photos and tell yourself they look completely unnatural. "Sweetness of the vine #485" is a classic example of the over usage of HDR. Unlike Stuart, you have let the computer do the work for you. I'm sure, however, once you become a better 'photographer' (not software user) you will understand this. As for your comment on the foggy look, that's what makes this photo great.

 

7/7 from me, well done!!

Thanx Glen, very much appreciated especially coming from you, i really like your work by the way.

 

Thanx Mr Malpass, i have tried to get better with my photos over the last year or so and nice to get positive feedback on my work.

 

Regards

Stuart

I appreciate your viewpoints. That's what is good about PNet. We can freely exchange so many things about photography. Perhaps techniques, sometimes equipment, most often opinions. As I stated in my critique, my observations were "only opinions". Even if we applaud someone's image and say it is perfect as is, it is still really an opinion. Someone else will come along and disagree, and that too is more than likely just an opinion. When a person posts and image, it is really a request for critique, so it is fair to expect differences of opinion. It is my opinion that foggy water is nothing like what we see, even if it comes that way straight out of the camera. As well, a grad filter that renders the sky darker than the foreground also does not look like anything we actually see. I'm not suggesting I am right as much as I am saying it doesn't look right from my point of view. Expressing an opinion shouldn't be greeted with disdain, and Stuart was gracious enough to reply with none. "Appreciate the constructive criticism" was his response, spoken with mature gratitude. Mr. Malpass, suggesting that I will understand when I become a better "photographer" seems to imply that you are stating that your opinion is better and that you are a better photographer. Rather than an opinion, you sound strongly opinionated, which is different. As for "Sweetness of the Vine #485", I can't defend how it looks to different people, but I can respond with certainty that it is not HDR. It is a single RAW image file with no on camera filtration. No doubt, it was rendered in Photoshop and some creative influences were applied, not much different than the creative influences of strong grad filtration and lengthy exposure times.

Killer!!!The best rendition of this beach stone outlook I've ever had the pleasure of viewing.

 

Having said that, I partially agree with Mark G. I don't mind the dreamy, foggy water, but you should consider reversing the luminosity hierarchy in this image. Retain the brilliant highlights on the stones but darken the midtones esp. in the fog. Brighten the sky highlights as others have stated.

 

There is an unnatural looking lightness line separating the fog water from the actual ocean water - apparent around the triangular shaped boulder standing alone in the surf. The effect you have here is that the stones and mist were heavily dodged; it just doesn't look natural.

 

This is an awesome comp that appears to have all the detail it needs to potentially have impact.

Seeing this on the thumbnail interested me enough to click on the larger view.  It's quite a remarkable shot in many ways.  I wanted to see if any of the comments mentioned the tilted shoreline (which does disturb a bit), so I read through the comments.  Aren't you pleased to have a photo worthy of such intelligent commentary?  I can see both sides honestly, but to me it's okay that this scene doesn't look completely realistic.  Since there isn't any sign of life, this almost takes on an 'other-worldly' look to it, with possibly a thermal element to it as well.  I like your low vantage point and vertical framing, and the rocks are quite spectacular.  I hope you're able to straighten the image without losing too much of the focus or existing crop.

Awesome shot Stuart. Don't change a thing. - Joe