Peaceful Sunrise At Morris Island

Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks for viewing

my work and please check out the rest of the Morris Island

Lighthouse series!

I think some adjustment of your levels would add the deep black that the image needs. I took the liberty of showing you what I mean...

Marvellous composition!!

hi Tyler, good composition, but i must agree with Linda. horizon should be straigth and the picture need a bit more contrast.

Linda, Babis, and Emil--Thanks so much for the comments! It's always helpful and nice to get some feedback. I agree with each comment that has been made. Linda, exactly what levels did you adjust? I'm still in the dark ages and haven't used any digital alteration software so I'm trying to learn what things you adjust in certain pictures. Seeing before and after pictures really helps. I agree that your alterations greatly enhance the shot. I knew this shot needed some PS love which is why I've been waiting to post it for months (I have many like this). But, I wanted to get another photo up and am still not around to using some editing software so I figured I'd go on and post it. I noticed the horizon was slighly off as well, which I need PS to fix. Once again, thanks for the thoughtful and most useful comments--I really appreciate them as they help me to learn!

I have a question I thought some of you may be able to help with. I know how pictures "should" be is subjective, but I do need to learn more about what is generally accepted the best. Attached I'm putting two different exposures from this day that have a similar composition to the one I posted above. One is a +1 and the other is a -1 1/3. Obviously the minus exposure gives the black look like Linda altered mine to have. What I'm wondering is, in a B&W shot, do you worry about showing the texture or appearance of things such as the sand as much? In the overexposed shot, the sand looks real, while in the under, you get a big black spot. I know I've been told with many of my color sunrise shots that I need to lighten the sand because I exposed for the sky. I was just wondering what you guys think about B&W. I can see that the less exposed shot appears more pleasing but I was wondering what you guys thought about the sand. Please take a look at the attachments--all thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Here is the second shot to compare. Do you guys think this one is better than the original I posted for critique? Now that I look at it and have seen what you guys are saying about the black color I think I might. Thanks!

I have learned over the years what we see is often not what the camera sees...each time we use our eyes, our iris adjusts to various light in any one given view...thus we will never be able in a single exposure do this on any single picture. Our one eyed instrument, the camera is to limited for this. We then must find some middle ground. Ansel Adams used the following rule, expose for the hightlights and the shadows will take care of themselves. It is not that easy of course, otherwise he would not have spent so much time after exposure working each print to perfection, or rather HIS perception of perfection. What we find pleasing seems to find certain rules...and this is even harder to learn. One rule I have learned is that gray needs white and black to really look good, most of the time, exceptions of course. High and low key work for example.

 

Me. I like the darker sand, sure I know sand is gray, but I also know that the sky has detail, with out digital software, your only choice is to darken the sand to get the sky...

Thank you for that response. I agree! I think out of the 3 pictures I put up here I like the one that is underexposed the most the best. I hesitated to post it because the sand was black, but you are right. Maybe I can get photoshop going and play around so that the sand can look natural while also showing the highlights better. I agree with you though--too much gray ruins a picture. Thanks for the insight and comments--I really do appreciate them!

Tyler...that was one of the original purposes that PN had when it started. Ratings without comments are not really helpful...Keep up the good work!