Lighthouse

[Kobus Tollig]

Canon 50D
canon 10-22 @19mm
1/1250 sec, f/16
Mode: Av
Metering: Multi-segment
Exp comp: -2
ISO: 100
Flash: Off
3 shots blended here. Used CS3 for blending
All C&C welcome and appreciated

[Robert Amoruso]

I like the idea here Kobus, I like the placement of the lighthouse, I like how the clouds either guide you eye to the lighthouse or seem to emanate from it. I like the FG and the lower elevation it affords as I feel I am walking up to meet the lighthouse.

What is throwing me is the sun due to its brightness, it dominates the scene and I feel overpowers the real subject or center of interest, the lighthouse. It doesn't help that the sun is so close to the lighthouse too.

Your option here is the clone out the sun in PS or when the images was made to have moved to eliminate the sun either by waiting longer or moving - both of which might not have yielded the mode you have now.

[Kobus Tollig]

Thx Robert for the constructive comment. Appreciate it. And i see what you say

[Christopher Miller]

I really like this, Kobus. The clouds and lighting make for a very dramatic scene. I see Robert's point on the sun though it doesn't bother me a lot. Perhaps if the sun had been closer to the horizon, it would have been less of a problem. I think the lighthouse could use a little lightening up and would like to see a little more sharpening.

[David Thomasson]

Another way you might deal with the sun is to dim it. I used the white dropper in a curves adjustment layer. Double-click the dropper,
sample a darker hue adjacent to the brightest area, then click on the bright area. Invert that mask and paint selectively with white
(low brush opacity) to dim the brightest parts. Nice mix of lights and textures. Good job!

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/2607/lighthousefgj.jpg

[Kobus Tollig]

Thx for the comments appreciate it lots

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Kobus,
This is interesting as I was leaning Christophers way until I saw the repost of Davids.......I really like the effect on the sky......but feel he lost a bit of the mood in the FG and lighthouse. I also looked at cropping off 1/3 of the sky above the lighthouse point.....seeems to emphasize the lighthouse more and you can easily check with a browser crop. Interesting take on a nice subject..

[Morkel Erasmus]

like the mood of this bud. the cloud lines work nicely - I think toning down the sun some and maybe brightening the FG will enhance this!