Amazing Sunset: North Sulawesi, Indo

[Jay Gould]

Hi, we were scuba diving off Peter Hughes' new vessel Paradise Dancer, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Every night had great sunsets; one night - this night - the sky exploded in a burst of colors. The image doesn't come close to capturing that which the eye saw! If you like this, I have another I would like to share.

Canon 40D
EF 24-105 F4L at 55mm
1/90 @ f/8
ISO 800
HH
Processed in LR 2.3
Minimal cropping

[Mike Tracy]

I am no means a landscape guy but here goes. No disputing the gorgeous colors presented to you and I find the cloud patterns of interest. I like the idea of the boat and wish it was more prominent in size, a tad further right in the frame and more on the same plane as yourself. Ideally to me it would have been nice to somehow either include some of the colors from the islands foliage if even they were darkish green or show more of the jutting area itself within the composition.I also find the horizon too close to center and would experiment with either taking off from the top, the bottom or maybe both.

I like the serenity of this and would have loved drinking a beer on the stern watching this transpire.

[Kyle Marie Barcelos]

I really love this picture, the colors are amazing. I would of cropped off some from the bottom, the clouds are what got my attention, not so much the water. Great job. Love it, can't wait to see the other.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jay...Beautiful sunset you had there. Half the time I see one of these I'm in the wrong place. I agree with Mike about the positioning of the boat I would have liked to have seen it more to the right.(about 2 more boat lengths) I don't agree about seeing foliage on the island. Based on the lighting that would be almost impossible without looking very strange.I might crop a bit off the bottom but not very much....

[Jay Gould]

Thanks for the comments; here is repost with the horizon and the boat meeting the Rule of Thirds - turns it into a vertical. Do you like it better? I wonder how much noise I can remove when I learn PS?

[Mike Tracy]

Thats what I had in mind when I rambled. In retrospect after I commented and left the house I thought about the darkness of the island and agree with Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jay..yes, stronger image! I like it alot better....

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Jay,
Very good advice given above. Mike was right on with the boat moving a bit forward (not bad Mike for a non landscape guy!)and agree with Kyle on the bottom crop. Dave wa right with the silhouette suggestion and how far the boat moved up would have been effective. The colors are great and while I do like the re-post, it may offer a bit of noise in a full size version. I offer the re-post as a suggestion of what everyone was trying to convey you try in the field next time. I moved the boat forward and enlarged it slightly......again, my personal opinion was that you could have zooomed out to 105 in the field or chosen a longer lens to achieve the same result......waiting for the boat to move forward.....if it was staionary......move left to try and compose with the boat more right or do a much tighter vert.....like you did in the re-post......with a longer lens. Many options in this case and all worth exploring. I always recommend that if some scene catches your eye to explore as many different compositions as you can in the short amount of time the colors allow. Changing lenses and vantage points is always the best option. Doing these type of things in PP'in is the last resort and solely up to you!

[Jay Gould]

Hi Jay,
Very good advice given above. Mike was right on with the boat moving a bit forward (not bad Mike for a non landscape guy!)and agree with Kyle on the bottom crop. Dave wa right with the silhouette suggestion and how far the boat moved up would have been effective. The colors are great and while I do like the re-post, it may offer a bit of noise in a full size version. I offer the re-post as a suggestion of what everyone was trying to convey you try in the field next time. I moved the boat forward and enlarged it slightly......again, my personal opinion was that you could have zooomed out to 105 in the field or chosen a longer lens to achieve the same result......waiting for the boat to move forward.....if it was staionary......move left to try and compose with the boat more right or do a much tighter vert.....like you did in the re-post......with a longer lens. Many options in this case and all worth exploring. I always recommend that if some scene catches your eye to explore as many different compositions as you can in the short amount of time the colors allow. Changing lenses and vantage points is always the best option. Doing these type of things in PP'in is the last resort and solely up to you!
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Hi Roman - thanks muchly for the repost - I too like it better! :D

I assume you used various PS techniques to lift, enlarge and move the boat (shades of the Fabs' discussion - when to disclose! ;)). I am only working in LR; the next several months will be PS immersion.

In this case we were stationary at anchor (see sunset #2) and the small boat was slow moving with a fast changing sky. I too would have like the small boat further over; no why to know how quickly the sky was going to darken.

Thanks so much for taking the time; I have also started a thread specifically about filters for landscapes and I would greatly appreciate your input.

Cheers, Jay

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jay,
Thanks for the clarification. Well that rules out moving!......so the only option left was the longer focal length and the comp in your re-post! If i get a chance i will pop in to the filter post.

[John Ippolito]

Hi Jay, a beautiful sunset you captured here. I like all of the versions, but strongly favor Roman's. Moving the boat did wonders.
I spent a couple of weeks diving the Lembeh Straits on the north end of Sulawesi in '97 (there were no liveaboards operating there at the time). Some amazing muck and critter dives that rivaled Papua New Guinea.

[Jay Gould]

Hi Jay, a beautiful sunset you captured here. I like all of the versions, but strongly favor Roman's. Moving the boat did wonders.
I spent a couple of weeks diving the Lembeh Straits on the north end of Sulawesi in '97 (there were no liveaboards operating there at the time). Some amazing muck and critter dives that rivaled Papua New Guinea.

Thanks John - absolutely the most magic diving I have ever done; 60 dives over a 30 day period. We are definitely going back!!

You are right that moving the boat did wonders; however, it is not what I saw - it is what has now been created as digital art. I don't have a problem with doing anything and everything in PP; it simply isn't the scene I shot.

Jay