Harboring Light

After taking a break from photography over the past year, I had

forgotten how much I enjoyed and missed capturing nature on my camera.

On a recent camping trip, I made the choice to venture down to a

harbor and experiment with the evening sky. With my camera in hand

once more, I ended up with one of my favorite shots to this date. Let

me know what you think, thanks.

is this the real colors? excellent

Nice work. the color of the cloud seems over-saturated. Is it? Just want to know for my own learning. good luck.

This is one of those shots that just works! great stuff!

I was afraid that I had over-edited the sky. After some burning and saturation changes, it just seemed to fit the overall feel of the photo. I appreciate the critiques though, as I still have so much to learn as well.

Hey Mike

   Congrats on your successful return to photography! You have a gem here; it always feels good come back on such a high note. Regarding the sky colors: in this Brave New World of digital photography we - pros amateurs and consumers - have come to expect unusual and sometimes over the top brilliance. We can use the processing tools on hand to render a scene as we remember, as we felt or go a different way. Having stated that, accuracy is what most nature photographers will seek first, and then perhaps amplify or vary to imprint themselves into the image. I don't think your sky is unreasonably saturated - we've all seen skies that were so brilliant we almost cried. Perhaps it is a touch too magenta.

Thanks Marc. You make a very valid point.

I was looking through the EXIF info on this shot and noticed the white balance was set to "cloudy." This is where the warm tones may have come from. I always find myself unknowingly changing the settings of my camera with my nose whenever I hold the camera up to my eye.. heh. It wasn't until I started using an SLR that I realized I had a big nose!