Rising Sun over Horseshoe Cove

Inspired by Alf Bailey I stood in this stream on a cold January

morning waiting for the sun to crest the horizon to complete my vision.

My intentions here were to use the strong compositional lines created

by the stream to draw the readers eye to the sun burst. The rocks and

tree stump would be placed in the foreground to give scale and add

some depth. This wasn't processed as an HDR but there was some masking

and layering done to re-create the scene I envisioned.

There is one element here that I am not satisfied with but will see if

any raters/viewers comment on it. As I seem to be out of touch with

the rating public if there is something you would like to see

different please take a few moments to comment. As always thanks in

advance to all that comment and critique.

Best regards Joseph!

PDE

Hello Joseph,

It's such a relief to have a photographer explain what his/her intention was when asking for a critique! By the look of this, you've realized your intention very well. The composition works exactly as you describe and I also like the way the refelected blue in the water contrasts with the yellow.

I don't see any obvious things that you might not be happy with. Perhaps the rock on the right about a third of the way up the photo? 

Wonderful photo!

Mike

Thanks Pierre for the comment. It is always appreciated.

Hi Mike, I thought maybe the balance of this photo was off a little with most of the "action" occuring on the left 1/3rd.

If I added say a photographer to the upper right 1/3rd taking a picture with a tripod or someone standing in the foreground in the lower right 1/3rd I felt like I would have had more balance. Of course I could be wrong, but that was my thought. Your thoughts?

Hi Joseph,

A nice scene viewed small.

Technically, it appears as if the the diffraction effect (rays) from the lens at F/10 caused an unnatural  appearance to the rising Sun. Usually, the rays are more well defined and uniformly distributed when passing through such a small aperture.

Best Regards,  Mike

Hi Mike,

I softened the sun a bit which is why you have that affect. I did this because when I view the sun at sunrise with my eyes it seems softer to me that what the camera captures. The rays seem to pour over the horizon and are soft to my eye so I tried to reproduce that in post processing.

I felt the detail below the horizon around the creek was pretty sharp, it doesn't show that way on your screen (which is why I am guessing you like to see it small)?

As always Mike thanks for the input buddy.

Joe

I'm very flattered that you found my work inspirational Joe, and also it's very gratifying to know I'm not the only one prepared to get my feet soaked : - )

This is a very well thought out photograph, the timing and composition are spot on. I don't think the absence of any obvious focus points to the right of the image prove detrimental in any way, in fact I would interpret it as being minimilistic and relating to the open solitude and peaceful mood that the image conveys.  (Just one idea you might consider when faced with a similar dilemma, is to ask a friend or willing volunteer to stand at a chosen point within the frame and take the shot with them as a silhouette, adding the human interest to counter the perceived inbalance) Though I must stress that in this case I don't think it was required.

How long was the longest exposure in the series of shots? Or was there just a single shot with different applications to layers?

I like the colour gradation very much and the light from the sun is well controlled and sits within the frame in a near perfect thirds position.

If I was faced with this composition I would have tried to isolate 3 - 5 rocks as foreground material surrounded by water, and without any rocks touching the bottom of the frame. All this is conjecture of course that supposes that the rocks could be moved / positioned and that there was time to achieve it before the sun rose.

The tree stump is a really interesting piece of foreground material, and I might have been tempted to try and manipulate that into a solitary foreground item in perhaps another shot.  As for raters, well they can be fickle. A lot of people see sunset / sunrise images as being overdone. Personally I see them as a miracle that happens every morning and every evening, each one being unique and different in some way, and you captured this one beautifully!

Best Regards

Alf

Hi Joseph,

When I view images from my lab on the best available monitors made for image analysis work, what I look for are the fine details. I did not see what I have seen in many other super wide angle lens off in the distance. Of course this can due to the lens issues, too.

As for the close range scene elements,  the perception of "sharp" is due to the fact of the it is easier to relate with the larger components present.

Unless I am  teaching a class on diffraction effects in optics, I am not a proponent of using excessive f-stops on good lens, especially the very short focal length lens that have an inherently large DOF.

Best Regards, Mike

Joseph, I agree with your comment that the composition is a bit off-balance, but I certainly would not have included a photographer in the upper right to add balance-- yuck!  I have a tendency to get lower, but doing so would have eliminated the "s" effect of the stream, and the "s" is something I would have tried to enhance.  Perhaps there wasn't much you could have done, but maybe shooting from the right side of the stream could have helped by creating a longer lead line and placing the sun on the right side? Mike makes a few good points about the use of f/10; if you wanted blurry rays you should have shot wide open.  Personally, I like very sharp and clean sun beams because they are often very difficult to capture.  Further, with your lens choice, at f/10 your depth of field was likely roughly 2-feet to infinity, and so f/10 may not have been the best choice as the closest object appears to be about 4-5 feet away.  Hope you return to the scene and post more.  Regards, Jeff       

The color is great, and the lines created by the water add interest.

Very nice sunrise, great exposure and colours.