Hopeman Rocks

Unusually for me I opted to clone a section of grey cloud across a

hot spot in the sky that distracted just too much. It has improved

the image enormously but I still feel guilty about it.

It looks pretty good to me. Is the cloned section in the upper right-hand part of the sky? The composition, near-far is good--the sunset hued sky is a bonus which adds a bit of interest at the top of the scene.

I like so much the perspective. Fantastic. Congratulations.

Great image, colors, dof ... thanks for telling us about cloning.

Alberto

Well,Ian thats great image!!!

Beautiful pastels and textures. A little bit more of the sea would have been perfect for me.6/7

Very pretyy shot. Great capture!

Hello Ian! Your talent of photographer is great and that is why, in my opinion, you don't need to be a purist of the "not manipulated photo" nor to feel guilty to have cloned a cloud. As for me, I think that the "manipulation" begins as soon as the moment of the shot. Why to touch up a sky with PhotoShop would be more a manipulation than put a gradual grey or a polariser filter on your lens ? Why to clone a signpost would be more a manipulation than to move on the right or on the left to hide it behind a tree ? Sincerely, I don't understand this debate. Photography is manipulation of the reality. As far as I am concerned, since some days, I indicate systematically in the informations about my photos this two words : "Manipulated ? Yes". Even if I have not used PhotoShop.

Henri is right, "not guilty". Great perspective, DOF, and colors. Masterly composition. Congrats, Carsten

I agree with Henri too. No hair shirt required. Marvwllous colours and subject from a beautiful part of the world.

Ian: I really like this image as it is. I wonder whether there's also something special here in another way: a landscape orientation of the top portion. -Hope it's okay that I took the liberty to do another...

Hi Howard, no problem with you experimenting with my pics it makes for interesting discussion. I have both orientations actually in full frame 6x7 and they both appeal to me. The reason I prefer the upright is because once you have enjoyed the general composition it is quite good to have a look at the amazing detail in the immediate foreground. The huge depth of field allows one to almost touch the textures. However both are satisfying.

A beautful and unusual palette Ian. I particularly like the way the foreground lichen colour lifts the subtle green tones elsewhere. I can see why you would have had to clone out a harsh white spot on this occasion, the soft mood you have here would have been considerably disrupted. Although it might have been nice to see a little more water, I can't see how you could have done so without substantially upsetting the composition.

Beautifull and original combination of colors

What a beautiful shot!!! light, colors and details are all excellent!!

 

Cheers, allon.