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Don Railton
02-21-2014, 08:06 AM
Thought I would try something different with a sunset... We all love the rich colour gradients typical of a good sunset but could we love this approach..? what do you think, does it work for you??

1D4 + 18mm Zeiss
3.2 sec @ F14, ISO 100,
full frame and tripod used.

Processed in ACR, converted in CS6 to B&W, nik sharpening.

DON

Luis Patacao
02-21-2014, 11:50 AM
Hi Don, Its really a different approach and i do like the feeling of it, what i don`t like has to do with the harsh separation between the rocks and the sky provided by the horizon line being visible. I believe this image would benefit from a lower POV in order to "hide" the horizon line, thous avoiding the separation above the rocks.

Morkel Erasmus
02-21-2014, 04:00 PM
Hey Don. While I like your contrast/toning and foreground, I feel the sky is not adding much here and I'd have liked a higher POV here (contrary to Luis), enabling you to shoot with the ocean stretching to the top of the frame, instead of having sky. As is, cropping it out might give you a different look&feel?

Jay Gould
02-23-2014, 06:50 PM
While I agree with Morkel that the sky adds nothing, I would eliminate all the rocks too. The bottom half of the image is a great graphic.

Diane Miller
02-23-2014, 08:13 PM
For me, the sky is a very wonderful, if subtle, element. I love the darker and lighter clouds against the middle-gray. An alternative image here would be to crop some off the bottom and right and let the clouds be the story.

Don Railton
02-23-2014, 11:39 PM
Hi All, a range of different comments/ suggestions and I respect them all, so thank you very much. Morkel, It's ironic you suggested a Higher POV as this was my first set of photos on a flattened tripod right at the waters edge. The sea was particularly calm so I took the opportunity to get in close in the foreground. Normally I am much higher for the gears sake and to improve reflection capture.. Luis, I was not possible to get any lower, but I could soften the horizon line by alternate tweaking in the B&W conversion. I will look at this tonight. Jay, when you say eliminate all the rocks I assume you mean only the two larger rocks left and right of mid frame and not those in the foreground.. This will focus attention to the interesting ripples and tones in the FG I agree, which is the guts of this image. Personally, I liked the flow of these ripples drawing the eye out to the wide open expanse of the ocean. I would have wished for a better sky, and hoped for a better sky but it never happened. Maybe its the residual aviator in me Diane that still likes an almost cloudless sky... Thank you all again.

DON

Rachel Hollander
02-24-2014, 07:53 PM
Hi Don - Absent a bright ball or a sunburst, the b&w hides the fact that this is sunset, although the lit underside of the clouds does give a clue. Count me in the camp that thinks the fg has much more interest and would crop the sky.

TFS,
Rachel

Don Railton
02-24-2014, 11:09 PM
Very good point about the 'not obvious' sunset Rachel, one that escaped me, so thanks for that..

regards

Don

Andrew McLachlan
02-27-2014, 08:06 PM
Hi Don, another vote for less sky in this one. I do love your experiment here with the B&W at sunset and the foreground rocks and water look great to me...such experimentation is how we come up with new things and test ourselves. Looking forward to more experiments :S3:

Grady Weed
03-03-2014, 05:41 PM
I like it as is Don. Perhaps you could darken the clouds to make them more palatable to the eye. Just a thought. I have looked at this one for some time now. I do like B&W images. Keep posting.