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I know this isn't overly "original", but wanted some advice on how it

came out. I shot RAW, converted to black and white & messed with the

levels a little in each color chanel. What is this lacking? Contrast?

Composition? Any thoughts on what if anything to add? The sky area

seems a little strange if you look closely (my levels adjustments

made it seem more pixelated almost) anybody see that? Ways to fix or

avoid it? Thanks to any who stop by

So few landscapes are done in B&W; I suppose because they are much more difficult. This is very well done. I like the way you have combined the hardness of the rock in the foreground with the background softened by the fog. There is a sense of calm amid the motion of the water.

I wouldn't worry overly about originality, just about everything has been photographed at this point. I like the composition in general, but it is lacking contrast and detail in the shadow areas, but I think the fog would be fine if there were more 'punch' in the rocks. I don't do much digital work so I can't really offer technical suggestions, but consider what this would look like if you made a longer exposure so that the water were less frozen and more misty. If you can figure out how to get better shadow detail with your equipment without blowing out the lighter parts of the image it would add to the impact.

 

Try to think about what part of the scene really makes you stop and look and then work to isolate that part by removing everything that does not contribute to that aspect. Also think about ways to present your vision of the scene to the viewer in such a way that it is clear what is important to you. A sense of place is good, and can be used to great advantage, but the inclusion of elements that don't add to the main idea can be distracting.

 

Keep working the idea and don't let people distract you from getting what you want by saying it is unoriginal or some other garbage. If you want to make the shot, make it. Always ask questions why you have them and keep posting your results.

 

- Randy

thank you nigel and randy. I was a little too early in the p.m. to get a much longer exposure (this was around 5 or 6 seconds) so I combined my polarizer and a split nd filter (hence the punchier rocks vs. the foggier background (though it WAS foggy (and cold))). Anyway, I'll try to add a little more contrast... I think there's room without overdoing the whites of the water. Again, thank you both very much for the great well-thought comments and words of encouragement. When time allows, I promise to visit both your folders as well.

cheers!

Jeff

I love black and white. This is done very well. I agree with the comment about the contrast. I would also point out that there is some very nice definition in the rocks down front that if it was brought out a bit would make the photo even more interesting. But, overall--WELL DONE!

Best Regards, Marty

Perhaps a bit too soft in the foreground, I tried local contrast enhancement with USM (Amount 17, Radius 70, Threshold 0) and applied the LCE only for the foreground, with a gradient mask in PS, like the grad ND in-camera. Had to rotate and crop a bit, because the sea level is tilted counterclockwise

I like your work. I'll have to give that a shot in PS, it looks good to me. thanks

... I'm guessing this might be the image you mentioned in your critique post regarding my SF Bay photo.

Very nice image - there are several things I like about it; I'll mention some of them here.

Of course, the overall mood of the photo captures very well one of the moods of this part of the coastline on one of those dark, foggy days.

I also think the upward sweep (from right to left) of the lines in the darker rocks in the middle and the water between these rocks and the rocks in the foreground nicely leads the eye into the other upward curve (from left to right) of the distant bluffs disappearing into the fog.

Regarding the "originality" issue, I think that some people obsess on it in an odd way. It seems that any image that reminds them of images they have seen before is automatically "not original." In fact, it may simply be that they have not looked beyond the most superficial features of the image and there can be a very "original" expression of the photographer's viewpoint in such an image.

Maybe my point of view on this comes from my musical background, which includes a healthy dose of some very avant garde musical experiences along with deep appreciate for "the classics."

I was also thinking about this topic in relation to another photo I posted recently - I think there is more to it than the casual observer may see. (And that's why I expect and don't obsess over the ratings that it got here... :-)

Jeff, I like the overall mood , composition is well built. I would have liked more details in the shadows, as was said already and I think the suggestion offered helps to give it the punch.

 

About orginality, as everything was done already, the assumption is that there is nothing original anymore... but if a composition is well done, another point of view can have original saying even at first glance it was already done.

Thanks Prina, Dan etc... I think that the originality aspect on this one is a thorn in my side especially so on this shot since I... (teary eyed confession) went out specifically looking for "this" shot. Ie: I had seen this exact (i think) stretch of coastline near Garrapata state park shot MANY many times & just loved the way it looked. However, I do have a little salvation in that I had always seen it vertical and it had always had a bluish-tone and misty-water quality to it. Sooooooo..... In a way, I'm beating myself up for having gone out specifically looking to emulate (fancy word for "copy") a certain shot I'd seen BUT, I was able to eeke out my own shot in the end from the same spot.

 

 

Overall, there obviously isn't much "new" that could be done here (without losing the "landscape" and going abstract or something anyway), but I did go a little beyond what I'd seen and rejected the vertical (non of mine seemed to work too well & trust me, I shot tons), opted for Black and white, and ended up with a little different feel to it (partially thanks to the weather).

 

Thanks again for all your kind words

Not original... And so what?

Subtle mood and subtle DOF as one would expect from such a day. That's the reason I think that Carsten's version is not real. I much prefer your end result.

Nice mood, Moody.