Before Sunrise at Sarakiniko Beach in Milos, Greece

[andresleon]

Good afternoon everyone! Happy to be back sharing and providing feecback whenever possible!

I've learned that figuring out the correct settings in a brand new camera in the pitch black hours of the night before sunrise in a place I've never been in is a perfect recipe for "learning and growth opportunities", AKA "mistakes."

I visited this beach a few hours earlier when the sun was out and had a chance to scout the area. It is really interesting to see how once's depth and space perception changes with different light and wind conditions. Thus wind gusts were pretty severe and I felt a few times that my camera and tripod would go flying into the ocean a few times. Thankfully nothing that dramatic happened.

Anyways, this location is truly spectacular! the white rocks and the cool blue waters provide a wonderfully other-worldly experience.

This image is a photoshop blend of three exposure: one for the sky, one for the ocean, and another for the rocks. I used a small aperture to get the sun rays and I also used a polarizer to to reduce some the light reflection from the water.

Details:
Canon EOS 5D S
Lens: EF 16-35mm f/2.8 II
Focal LengthL 27mm
Exposure time: 1/2 sec for ocean, 1/200 for sky, and 2 secs for rocks
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Used Lightroom for some dust removal and small light and color adjustments, then used Photoshop to blend the three exposures together. Finally used NIKs tools to increase contrast, remove noise, and sharpen.

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions!

[Don Railton]

Hi Andres

Congratulation on the new camera..Glad to hear it dident blow into the water..! I particularly like the white cliffs and the water action captured in front of those.. very nice. I do think there is a blue cast over the cliffs and water however and the image would lift in my opinion if these were removed. You may have also done a bit of cloning in the sea as i think there is a bit of pattern duplication just above the right hand gap in the rocks. Might be wrong here however. Finally the sky looks a bit too dark for me, and there is a steep colour gradient from the horizon to the top of frame. You might want to adjust your blending here..

DON

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andres - Congrats on the new camera and looking forward to seeing more with it. I like the sunburst but would probably get rid of the couple of flare spots. I like the placement of the rocks in the frame. There are 2 distractions that I find keep drawing my eye - the bit of orange leaf (?) floating in front of the rocks and the stick and rock in the water on the upper right.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice to see you posting again!
I like the composition and inclusion of sunburst.
I just find my eyes drawn to an apparent exposure/luminosity imbalance between the FG, midgrounds and sky. I think the FG may be a tad too light, or the midground too dark (seems like a dark band in the middle of the image). Hope it makes sense?

[Diane Miller]

Very nice scene! The main thing I'd suggest is that the sky is a bit heavy and gray, with the gradient above the horizon a bit too obvious. Easy to fix.

I agree about the flare spots and the sticks in the water on the right.

[andresleon]

Thank you all very much for your comments. I'll work on improving the white balance a bit to reduce the blue tones as well as get rid of the light flares near the rocks. I can't really see the gradient bands that were mentioned which leads me to believe, also, that I probably need to get my screens color calibrated.

The sticks on the upper right side of the image are actually part of a half-sunken boat. I really wanted to reach that part of the beach in order to photograph it, but I didn't have the time. (http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Greece/South_Aegean/Kyklades/Milos/photo1093749.htm)

[Andrew McLachlan]

Nice capture...I would evict the steel pole in the water on the right side if it were mine as there is not enough of the ship visible to make it note worthy....love the starburst!