Shower of Sun Rays

I had posted this shot a while back and it got great reviews. There were a couple flaws with the cropping and also, the horizon was so crooked it even made me a bit dizzy looking at it. Now that I finally have photoshop and am able to level the horizon and crop exactly how I would like, I wanted to see what people thought. I loaded this picture yesterday and had to reload it tonight. Over the past 24 hours there were 2 comments...I will paste them below.

 

Comments before reuploading:

 

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CHRIS H (SOCALIF) , December 21, 2006; 02:48 A.M.

Now you're talking, Doc! This is a great image! Wicked good composition, with excellent tones and contrasts. This is very well balanced with sky v. land/sea. Just enough detail on the foreground sand to keep it from going black. Very, very good. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you and yours, my friend! Cheers! Chris

 

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TOM L. , December 21, 2006; 08:37 P.M.

Tyler, you got a real keeper here IMO, incredible image, great contrast, light, Great work!

 

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A BIG thanks to Chris and Tom for their kind words on a photo that I hadn't even submitted for critique!

 

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! As always, thanks for stopping by to view my work!

If anyone is interested, here is the conversation from the old post where the horizon was tilted terribly and the crop wasn't as good.

 

tilded

marco m , October 22, 2006; 11:04 P.M.

The photo is very beautiful. Only one detail that could be corrected: the horizont is not horizontal. marco

 

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Tyler Wind , October 22, 2006; 11:11 P.M. (edit | delete)

Marco--Thanks for your comments...I was going to post a comment saying "I know the horizon is crooked!" right after I requested the critique but you beat me to it! :) I just don't have photoshop yet and do not know how to correct it. And, I didn't want to say I realized it was slightly off in the critique request because then that would be the thing people focus on. Anyway, thanks for your kind comments. You are very right--it's a bit tilted...I'll have to see if I can straighten it up when I get PS installed. Thanks again for the thoughtful remarks!

 

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Stephen Whitehead , October 23, 2006; 08:32 A.M.

The silhouetted shapes of the lighthouse and beach make a strong composition, matched by excellent placement of both lighthouse and horizon also, congrats. Best regards Stephen

 

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Michael Greven , October 23, 2006; 10:52 A.M.

Beautiful picture. I like the way the sunrays are visible. Well composed, but the tilted horizon is a slight flaw.

 

 

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Tyler Wind , October 23, 2006; 11:45 A.M. (edit | delete)

Stephen and Michael-Thanks for your comments! I really appreciate them. I'm gonna work on that tilted horizon--am I correct in saying that photoshop has a function that can fix it? I have several pictures in my portfolio and many that I'm waiting to adjust before I post them that are in the same boat. Thanks again for the comments!

 

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Jonathan Farmer , October 23, 2006; 04:41 P.M.

6-6. Very good use of contrast and shades of gray. Good composition.

 

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gary mcghee , October 23, 2006; 04:43 P.M.

great shot,such a feeling of solitude. i like your choice to convert this to b&w as i don't think it would be half as good in colour.

 

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PS

Stephen Whitehead , October 23, 2006; 08:53 P.M.

It's just a case of rotating the canvas by an arbitary figure - my guess would be 1 deg anti clockwise. This will fix the horizon but put your borders out - Use the crop tool to remove the now out of square edges.

From the PS toolbar select: Image, Rotate Canvas, Arbitary

 

 

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Pawel Sawicki , October 24, 2006; 02:31 P.M.

Beautiful in its simplicity. Black and white sunset and this curved line...

 

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Brian Naughton , October 24, 2006; 06:21 P.M.

Very nice shot - no complaints!

 

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Linda Keagle , October 25, 2006; 08:27 P.M.

You got very good response on this, Tyler. Good work...

 

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J.K. York , December 14, 2006; 03:12 P.M.

super shot Tyler. fantastic sky. love the tonality. this shot has a lot working for it. the curves of the beach, the sun rays, and the wind ripples in the water contrasted against the smoother areas. very nicely done. regards, J.K.

 

Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks for taking

the time to view my work! Merry Christmas!

great composition

Thank you, Marek! I appreciate your kind words.

 

This photo has killed what little faith I did have in the ratings system. When I had the previous version posted with the horizon tilted terribly my overall average was almost 6/6!!!! So, I fix the horizon, repost the picture, and now can't even break 5/5? Apparently this picture is getting drastically uglier with time or else people actually like a crooked horizon!

Good morning, Doc! Hey, I'm glad you posted this in the 'critique forum.' I hope you realize that paying any attention to ratings in here will just 'make you crazy!' Personally, what means the most to me, are the comments of my friends and peers. Those who take the time to actually write something, can generally be relied upon to give you a pretty accurate assessment of the work at hand. Don't be discouraged (even though we all do), just keep on putting your efforts up and let us all take a shot at 'em. This is a great image; and more importantly, you like it too! It is an excellent B&W, with a superb composition. Enough said! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to You and Your Family, my friend! Cheers! Chris

Chris--Yes, I realize that the ratings will (do) make you (me) crazy! I just thought it was ironic that this shot was my highest ranking of all-time when the horizon was noticably sloped so I fix the horizon, repost it, and it was my LOWEST ranking shot of my recent work. I guess when you are only basing the anonymous rankings on about 8 people or so, it is hard to put any faith in them. Don't worry, I pay most attention to comments (and the ratings from those who give comments). And, besides, I am becoming more and more confident in my photography so the ratings--whether good or bad--have less meaning to me. Sometimes I get high marks on a shot that I personally admit is really not that good. Then there are times, like with this shot, where I look at it and am completely baffled how someone rated this THREE/THREE!!!! But, even if everyone rated it 3/3 it wouldn't really change my opinion because out of all the pictures I've ever taken, this is one of the few that I feel like I could confidently print out as a poster, frame it, and hang it on my wall and fool people into thinking it was shot by some famous professional photographer. I'm by far my own harshest critic--I don't mince any words in saying that most of my work needs a lot of improvement but I also can confidently state that there are a few shots that I think most normal people would enjoy, regardless of what the ratings say. This is definitely one of those few. Thanks for stopping by to visit again--I enjoy your comments and encouragement VERY much. I fully assure you every comment you make is greatly appreciated! Merry Christmas, my buddy!

Thanks for your comments on my photo recently. I have had a look at your portfolio, you have some good work there, in particular a good knack of capturing some fine light. This shot is no exception. The composition is very good here. The s of the shoreline lead to the lighthouse. The 'god rays' are well captured although it could be intensified by the use of an ND grad at the time of capture or even in PS. I will critique some of your other shots later when I have more time. Have a merry Christmas and peace to you.

Tyler, The light and exposure is perfect IMO. So with that and the overall composition I see an incredible image, just enough detail in the foreground and the almost 3-D effect of the sky realy make this one jump out! Pay no attention to the low ratings, it is very good!

Youve captured a magic moment. I love it because you do not manipulate your pictures. Its natural. The rays are beautiful.

Lighthouses sure are fun to shoot, aren't they, Tyler? This is my favorite of your lighthouse pics. The irregular water line and the rays of light make this a beautiful shot in my estimation. Well done. Several months ago I, too, took and posted some lighthouse photos. Please check them out if you get the opportunity. Thanks.

Second time I leave a comment to this picture. Great light, composition, tones. An excellent B/N.

7/7 for me, No doubt!

best,

Marco

Kah, Tom, Ashley, Keith, and Marco--Thank you all for stopping by and leaving comments--they are very much appreciated! I was worried this picture had gotten "uglier" with time since I corrected a few things, reposted, and got substantially lower scores but you guys have reassured me--thanks! Marco, I especially appreciate you stopping by and leaving another comment--you were the first to point out the tilted horizon--I finally got it fixed!

This is my favourite of your lighthouse shots (though the others are good too). Love the sky.

Hi Tyler,

don't worry about the ratings of photo.net, they do not respect at all the real value of a picture. They really depends on the time you post them, the day of the week, and of the tastes of the few people that stop and give that rating.

Keep on shooting and posting!

Best,

Marco

 

compliments, this is a very beautiful shot! i like the composition and the fine light. the greytones are excellent. for me there is only one little thing to improve, i would have used for this shot a greytone-gradient-filter (is this the right translation in English??) for darkening the bright part of the sky a little bit.

greetings

Carmen