Simple and Sweet??

[Don Railton]

Hi Guys

Another experiment by me in minimalism, and to simply gauge reaction... I can see a few 'rules' I am breaking here but they are intentionally being broken, but please let me know what you think of this anyway... This was taken about 18 months ago at a beach in Broome on the North Western Australian coast. Broome and the Northern half of Australia does not have winter as you might expect, their year is split into the wet season and the dry season, so its a very popular holiday spot when its winter down south...

1D4 and a Zeiss Distagon 18mm manual lens, hand held.
1/2000 sec at F8, ISO 800. (Shot in AP mode... and I would not use those settings today..)
this is about 70% of full frame, cropped for composition.
processed in ACR...

DON

[Don Railton]

Ok... 74 views and no comments likely means it probably should be titled "Simple and Boring..." and it's OK to tell me that, I really don't mind...

DON

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Don - I don't think the number of views without comments necessarily correlates to much of anything. Lots of non-members/non- forum participants view images and they can't comment. It looks like the landscape forum has just been pretty quiet and I know Morkel is on safari. I really like the diagonal of the tide line in the fg as well as all the colors. The sort of blank sky, though a brilliant blue, isn't really doing anything for me. I would crop about 2/3 of the sky out and go to a pano if it were mine.

TFS,
Rachel

[Diane Miller]

I got interrupted last evening and didn't get to this one, but I like it. I'm not one to abide by "rules" and I think this has a lot going for it where it "breaks" them. I love that razor-sharp horizon! The bottom half is well anchored, but I might be tempted to bring out more of the subtle detail in the sky.

John Paul Caponigro does similar minimalist landscapes.

[Don Railton]

Hi Rachel.. Thanks for commenting.. I wasn't aware that views accumulated included non participants who cannot comment, I will adjust my thoughts accordingly. I knew Morkel was away however... Understand your comments about the sky, to include so much was one of the rules I decided to break, see reasons below...

Hi Diane, thank you for commenting also... I feel like I have twisted peoples arm to comment, most unlike me... I Will look up John's images, thanks for the reference.

This image is my variant of the sort of images you see in art and homeware shops where someone wants an image that's largely based on its colour being complimentary to the tones and theme they have furnished their house with. I wondered if people see past the colour splash (blue in this case..) and actually look at those images or do they stand back and take in the whole room as satisfying blend of colour and texture. So if the image did not stand up by itself (based on comment in his forum), its likely to be the second, ie an ordinary image that fits into an environment may become 'extra' ordinary...

Thanks again for the comments..

DON

[Diane Miller]

I think the image does stand up on its own merits. Ask any gallery owner what percentage of customers are looking for "something that matches the couch".

[Don Railton]

Thanks Diane, I am very grateful for your comments.. I'll tweak the sky and see what I can extract...

DON

[Hazel Grant]

This one showed up in the thumbnails but won't open for me. not sure why. Just wanted you to know I tried:)

[Miguel Palaviccini]

I like the idea, but may have tried a couple of different things. I think the foreground (near water and sand) is a bit more eye catching than the background (blue sky), so I think I may have gotten a bit lower and pointed the camera down just a tad. This would have helped to really exaggerate these features.

That said, the colors are great and the idea was there. With such a cooperative subject, always try out new things (diff settings, orientations, tilts, etc).

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Don, I am getting to this one a little late, but I do like where you were going with it. I like Miguel's suggestion of more sand in front and Rachel's idea of less sky up top. For me I think if you slowed things down with a ND filter it might break it down into an even more simplistic look.

[Don Railton]

Thanks guys..! I did try extracting more detail from the sky last night, but without any success worthy of a post... Image breaks up into noise without a lot of extra detail. What I did do was drop in a sky from another image taken at the same place a few minutes later (different direction) which has a lot more cloud and that lifts the image considerably... Did not post because I have a bee in my bonnet about composite images posing as photos, but that's another story.

Miguel, thanks for the suggestion on going lower, I think that would work well given the sky was lacking details.
Andrew, I have a 10 stop ND and that would push a dreamy feel into the image and that might be a good thing to play with in future experiments. Will keep it in mind.

So, my conclusions are that while the Op with its big slab of blue sky may appeal to some and would undoubtly find it way onto walls in that form, (I still quite like it..) the better photo will engage the viewer in every quadrant with subtle detail.

Rachel's call for less sky wins the vote (and I would have normally posted the image this way) but I wanted to see what response it generated, so I am extremely grateful to all of you for contributing...

regards to you all

DON

PS thanks Hazel for trying. not sure what the problem is..

[Hazel Grant]

A couple hours later....and there it is. Don't know why I couldn't see it earlier. your summary above pretty well covers it. The only other comment I'd make is perhaps to clone out those dark spots in the white water and make it one clean white line to match the cleanness of the sharp blue line. I found my eye going right to the one on the right.

[Don Railton]

Hi Hazel

Yep, good call. I could easily lighten those.. they are shadows as the wave rolls over..

[Don Lacy]

Hi Don, I love simple and I like what you are trying to do here my issue is with the centered horizon line I am not sure what you are trying to emphasize is it the blue sky, or the sandy beach as such the image is to balance if possible, Sort of like putting your subject dead center in the frame.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'm finding myself more and more drawn towards simplistic images. That doesn't mean I convince myself to shoot them often enough, LOL :bg3:
I like this, though in lower light it would probably be more appealing in terms of contrast and tonal depth (but you would lose the BLUES!)
It was said above, this kind of image often sells for large amounts of money...and maybe that validates the rule-breaking in itself.

[Don Railton]

Thanks for the insight Morkel. The appeal for me in exploring simplistic images is an attempt to 'honing in' on the essence of landscape photography (what ever that is, and I'm still trying to define that for myself).. I agree completely with the lower light being a better option for this image. This image was taken about 2 years ago without any thought about presenting it as I have, in the time subsequent I have learnt a little more and seen potential in this and other images that previously I have looked over and dismissed.. Thanks for your comments..

DON