Barmouth Lights (Click for larger view)

The wind was howling around my ears and it was all I could do to just stand still, I

pushed the tripod legs into the sand to try and give it a bit more stability. In addition to

this the sun kept popping from behind the clouds and blowing the highlights. So out of

8 shots I salvaged this one. Lots of things wrong with it, but I liked the effect. Your

thoughts and comments are always welcome. Thank You.

Alf I think it's certainly a worthwhile shot.  I love the colors of the boat out front and it's anchor line. The water appears almost like slush ice to me, it wasn't that cold was it? I know 39 second exposure, that wind must have been brutal. The larger view does give us some nice detail and helps me appreciate the composition. The sky gives us the impression of either blowing out towards the boat or in towards the center of the image, but either way I do like the look. Take care my friend.

Best Always,  Holger

Yeah, it's a keeper.  The dramatic sky just grabs your eye and won't let go until the clouds lead us right down to the colorful boat.  Very well done (but isn't it warm enough over there for your famous hidden ducks to appear?)... Mike

Hi Alf,

You have a couple of dust spots in the sky.

Jeff

Very interesting to have found that boat which is not floating, but firm on the ground which makes it the only one inmobil compared with the others which all move with the 39 s. exposition and the high wind. Congratulations.

The sky is just amazing. Nice work.

Brent

Great image, very appealing and excellently composed. 

Personally, I think this is excellent. I like your choice in a slightly longer exposure (somewhere around a second, I'm guessing), and centering the sun. The only thing I might have tried different is getting a little lower for the shot. I think doing that would've created better separation between the main foreground element (the boat) and the bridge in the background. As well, that might have offered a different and unique point of view. It sounds like you were already dealing with a lot of challenges, though. 

My eye is immediately drawn to the motion in the clouds. I follow the action of the clouds back to the part of the image where they're calmest, then down to the boat (which seems like the subject). The line of boats intersecting the subject leads me back to the mountains, across the bridge, and out of the image to the right. For me, this image works better without the line of boats in the background, although they do add a little more perspective. As well, it's not exactly practical to swim out there and get a line of boats out of your frame. 

I'm a hobbyist photographer, and don't have a ton of experience. That isn't intended to negate my own critique, only to provide you a little more perspective on it. 

Great work!

Hi Alf,

  Beautiful scene with wonderful composition, colors & dramatic sky.  it doesn't get any better than this.  Take care, Patsy

Alf

I know the location well, the Mawddach Estuary is one of the wonders of Wales. Just pointing a camera at can result in an attractive photo, but with the extra effort and skill you have used has resulted in something special.

Many Thanks for your thoughtful feedback, very much appreciated! 

The "slush" like water is a result of the long exposure, it was blowing a gale and the water in reality was quite rough. It wasn't all that cold at all, just very windy.  I didn't brave the elements for to long though about 90 minutes then I set off to another location : - ) 

Best Regards 

Alf 

MIKE 

The ducks obviously had more sense than I did, okay it was 6.44 am in the morning but the wind was another factor why I had the beach to myself : - ) 

Sincere Thanks! 

Alf 

JEFF

Thank you!

Duly noted and dealt with : - ) 

Alf 

DANIEL

Well spotted!  The boat was actually grounded on a sandbank, and whilst the tide was coming in, there wasn't enough water under it to float t completely making the ideal subject as you noted.  

Many Thanks & Best Regards 

Alf 

BRENT 

It was a very frustrating experience, every time I thought I was going to get a shot, the sun would appear from behind one of the clouds and totally blow all the highlights.  Got there in the end though : - ) 

Many Thanks! 

Alf 

LESTER 

Thank you for your thoughts and kind words! 

Best Regards 

Alf 

KEITH 

You make some good points and valid observations. The exposure time was 39 seconds (I think you may have meant around a minute)  Separation is an important element of landscape photography and getting lower might have been a good alternative, but in all honesty I was getting a lot of sand in my face as it was, getting closer to the ground just wasn't appealing.  I totally agree with you about the line of boats, I would have liked nothing better than for them not to be there, but sometimes you just have to deal with what is in front of you and try to make the best of it.  After 8 attempts at shooting this scene, this was perhaps the best of the bunch.   The failures included blown highlights ( when the sun appeared from behind the cloud during the exposure) and camera shake due to the high winds moving the tripod.  I pushed the legs of the tripod deeper into the sand for more stability. There was one or two other shots that might be okay too.

Sincere Thanks for your thoughtful feedback, much appreciated! 

Best Regards 

Alf 

PATSY 

Many Thanks for your interest and supportive words, much appreciated! 

Best Regards 

Alf 

GERALD 

I love this part of Wales, it is very scenic!  But getting here early was a priority and I set out at 5.15 am to get here before the crowds of tourists. 

Sincere Thanks & Best Regards 

Alf 

Superb work! beautiful natural colors,composition and wind direction very well chosen!

Many regards! Hanan

Alf, your photography and the images you have been displaying are so perfect and aesthetically beautiful that I find myself tongue-tied almost all of the time. While this image is up to your high standards of technical capture, there is something about what I call aesthetic balance that has caused me to revisit a few times while being intimidated by all of the other comments. I realize, from what you said, that the conditions were extremely challenging so kudos to what you achieved here.  

The sky is so light and dramatic that it captures my attention and I really don't want to look at anything else. The fact that the "still boat" is red and 'fixed'  offsets the sky just a bit but I return quickly to the sky with its fan-shape and it keeps me there like a moth to the light.

I downloaded the image and with photoshop CS, using just the 'highlight' portion of the shadow/highlight command, I darkened and tamed the sky without adding any color. I also used a layer mask to reduce the contrast in the sky.  

It looked better to me but in the end I know that you have a philosophy of doing the work in the field and applying little or no adjustments in post processing. As a consequence and in the end, I am not sure of the 'value-add' re describing what I did to tame the sky. 

In conclusion, and mindful that some of my earlier images might fall into this category, I still think it is a very good image but my current personal tastes lead me to prefer  a slightly darker sky without any added color.

My sincere thanks for taking the time to analyse the photo and comment, much appreciated. 

This is not one of my favourite images, and really only made it onto PN because of the sky.  The lack of separation of the boat and the other background elements really bothers me, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it. 

Whilst you are quite right about my philosophy being a "less is more" approach when it comes to processing, it isn't always the right approach and I am always very open minded when other photographers make positive suggestions as you have here.  Thank you once again Tony, I shall re-examine this with fresh eyes and try your suggestions.

Best Regards 

Alf 

When I think of all the times you have talked about the conditions when you are really wanting an image - and after hearing what you described here, I am amazed that you got this shot.  When the wind is blowing that hard I am surprised the sand wasn't 'exfoliating' your face!! Not to mention what it could do to your equipment. I think this magnificent sky would have attracted anyone to try to get a capture. Sure the line of boats would be better to not be there - but you captured a 'slice' of real life in this one.  I do really like that the older boat is in the foreground. It, with the combination of the sky, plus the softness and reflections on the water are what do it for me. One day when I decide to delve into Landscape, I don't know that I would ever obtain the expertise you have over these last few years, but I do know that you know what you are doing and pass that information on to your students. Congrats on this one Alf!

With all the other boats blurred and obviously moving during your long exposure, I'm surprised the big boat in the foreground is so sharp.  The effect of both sky and water is impressive!  If this were mine the only thing I would do (and you may not agree) is to slightly lighten the black bottom of the boat so as to distinguish it a bit from the water.  Small picayune detail, but that's probably what I would do.   Sorry I've been away from PN for awhile.  I retired and we're on a long RV trip.....much of the time without cell phone or Internet coverage.  :-)

Strange, I can accept the distortion a time exposure gives to a flowing stream but I expect clouds to be sharper.  No sound reason for this that I can identify, just the way it strikes me. The rest of the shot is amazingly sharp for the conditions you were working under.  1 out of 8 is a better keeper rate than I get.  Must be your discipline & dedication! Best, Len

Hi Alf, what a dramatic sky - it gives a sense of depth and movement to this image! Great overall composition and light. Very effective. Best wishes. Sarah

Thank you so much! 

I found sand in places where I didn't even know I had places! : - ) 

Fortunately Nikon equipment is pretty robust and dust proof, I only once had a bit of damage from a grain of sand when it lodged itself between the plastic protective screen and the LCD screen itself causing a scratch.  This one was a challenge though, the combination of the wind and the unpredictable appearance of the sun halfway through the exposure was enough to make me utter more four letter words than usual : - ) 

Long exposures is one of the next lessons for my students, but the weather here is very volatile at the moment with the jet stream riding just to high to the north.

Thanks again Gail! 

Alf 

CHRISTAL 

Congratulations and may I wish you a long and happy retirement! 

A long RV trip........sounds like my idea of heaven! 

Not a bad suggestion to lighten the bottom of the boat and easily accomplished in Light - Room.

The reason the foreground boat is so sharp is that it is grounded on the sand, the tide has just started to turn and minutes before I could see the keel of the boat on the sand. 

Many Thanks for your thoughtful feedback Chrsital. 

Alf 

LEN 

I think I can understand your reasoning, after all you never look up at the sky and see it quite like this. The only natural phenomena  I can draw any kind of comparison with is the Aurora Borealis, but of course this lacks a few stars : - ) 

I don't know about discipline and dedication, probably more like grim determination and stubbornness : - )

Many Thanks Len, always good to hear from you! 

Best Regards 

Alf 

SARAH 

Many Thanks for your thoughts and kind words, much appreciated.

I think the sky is the best thing about the image, wish I could have found a better background.

Best Regards 

Alf 

We've had it on and off very Windy and Stormy with the sun peaking out in between.  Jim has tried to wax the car 3 times this afternoon!!!  The sky gets clearer, he takes out the car, no sooner gets started and the weather changes again.  We had is 'scary windy' the Saturday evening. Lots of thunder and lightening and the winds were wild. Many of us on our Court had never seen our trees 'bend' just the way we did. There was lots of debris flying in the air.  Shaelyn and Shauna were visiting for a quick overnight and when Shaelyn and I wen out on our back deck, there was a lot of mess there. Someone's cigarette but was on the deck-we are 2 floors high on the deck and I can't imagine where it came from!! Hopefully we will all get a bit better weather in the next week.

The only consolation for the high winds is that it provides some interesting photo opportunities, particularly if you live close to the sea. But you have my sympathy, the one type of weather that really makes me uneasy when I am indoors is high winds.  All that banging and rattling, I'm always convinced that the roof is going to come off. I hope that things settle down for you very soon. 

Take Care 

Alf 

Being at the end of the line makes me try harder not to repeat comments that others already have posted.  That's the risk I run by getting to this late.

I'm not overly concerned that the sky overpowers the image or that my eye is immediately drawn to the highlights, especially.  Quite honestly, my eye initially went to the boat, and still does.  Possibly this is because of the vibrant blue and red.  The saturation level of the blue in the area of sky in question does not come close to that of the boat's colors.  

One other exceptional element . . . I am awed by the contrast between the sky (very dynamic) and the water (peaceful, still); this obviously is created by the long exposure.

My best always,

michael

Sincere Thanks for your thoughtful feedback. It begins to look like I have over-saturated the boat colours to some degree, but it was in fact painted very vivid colours. It was constructed of heavy gauge metal and a closer view reveals the age of the boat and the many storms it must have weathered.  

I would have been a lot more content with this shot if the background had been less busy, but it was the overall cloud movement and calm water effect that I sought to achieve from the long exposure so in that respect, it was moderately successful. 

Best Regards 

Alf 

The clouds are eyecatchers but the boat is the fix point. Well done.