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Ed Vatza
09-26-2009, 01:38 PM
This image was made this morning at Chokecherry Beach, Sandy Hook, NJ about 7 minutes after offical sunrise.

Canon 30D, Canon 24-70 f/2.8L lens, tripod-mounted. I also added a 3-stop GND but pretty much slid it all the way down to essentially eliminate the gradation for this image.

1/160 sec @ f/11; ISO 400; -1 EV

Harold Davis
09-26-2009, 03:52 PM
i like the sunburst. there's a white spec that's a little distracting just right of the right ray. easy clone. i'd like to see at least a sliver of beach to anchor the image a bit. the clouds look fantastic. nice contrast in them, but i think they need something in the foreground to add more interest.

Dave Leroy
09-26-2009, 05:03 PM
Nicely done Ed. I also like the sunburst and wonder if a smaller aperature would have even made it stronger. I had not thought of adding beach and agree it may add to a very nice photo. Clouds look great. Dave

Roman Kurywczak
09-26-2009, 05:43 PM
Hey Ed,
You placed the sun nicely in the frame but I do agree with others on the smaller aperature for the sunburst.....that would have been enough for me to carry the image. You were definitely walking a fine line though because at f22 you would have lost the speed on the clouds to keep them sharp but f16 and 1/80 sec may have given you enough. I doubt you could push the 30D ISO any more so next time in the field try a bit of a bracket just to see if you can get away with it. As presented I would eliminate some of the lt. blue areas at top edge of frame leaving a solid darker grey band at the top. An alternative is to go even lower with the crop to more of a pano.....leaving an interesting shape to the lighter blue may also work. Yeah...the grad won't work in this kind of image unless you had the sand Harold mentioned. Nice job looking for other options when the birds weren't available.

Julie Kenward
09-26-2009, 08:33 PM
Roman, is that your way of telling Ed to "take a little off the top?" :D:D:D

Beautiful image, Ed. I also agree that a bit of land might anchor it all but I can see why you went the way you did. I certainly couldn't stop looking at the clouds for a good ten seconds so the drama is certainly in the top 2/3 of the image. I bet it was even better in person.

Robert Amoruso
09-28-2009, 12:32 PM
Ed,

These types of images are very difficult to make interesting. Now don't take that the wrong way as I think this is an interesting image as the the previous commentators.

The problem revolves around the FG and getting something interesting in it. Since I send a lot of time at the shore I make many images like this. I generally have a few things I do to make an interesting FG.

1) Include shoreline with a some form of interesting texture, reflections, object if possible.
2) Slower shutter speed to get a silky smooth look to the water. This can be such a contrast to sharp clouds and provides visual interest to the image because your viewers are not expecting it. It increases the tension in the image.
3) To solve the cloud movement problem of slow speeds, I make one image at a higher speed (clouds) and one at a lower speed (water). Then blend the two in PS. With a flat horizon, pretty easy to do.

I will go on calm days, low tide and use that to yield me a FG that I can do something with. I have even converted the shoreline to B&W, and then masked out the affect on the sun's reflection to provide visual interest and tension.

Just a few ideas.

Ed Vatza
09-28-2009, 01:20 PM
Robert,

Thanks for the tips. There are a couple of things I would say about what ended up as the image you see here.

First, I did consider a foreground. The stretch of beach I was on had a line of boulders acting as a breakwater (I guess) stretching along the beach (parallel to the water and not out into the water). I set up behind the boulder line with the thought that I would shoot out between two of them and have them frame the image. I made a few images that way but ended up not liking them for two reasons. One I ended up with the horizon line smack in the middle. (Yes I know I could crop.). And second as I focused on the clouds lit up by the rising sun, the foreground boulders turned into two large black shapeless, detail-less blobs with no definition at all. So I raised the camera angle to emphasize the sky and minimize the water.

I also had another thing happen that I worked around and after the fact wanted to kick myself for not incorporating into the image. As I was waiting for sun to rise, a person walked along the water line and left a trail of footprints in the damp sand. My initial reaction was that those footprints spoiled to "purity" of the scene. So I shot over them. Only later did it hit me that those footprints would have added some character to the foreground.

Then to add insult to injury after a few minutes of shooting, my wife said to me that I better hurry because there were some people coming. Indeed there were. An Amish (or more likely a Mennonite) family walking along the beach in prototypical dress from hats on their heads down to the long dresses on the females and black suits on the males and of course, boots. I watched them walk by without taking a single image. Why? Because I have this thing in my head that I don't want people in my images. In this case, they would have made for a much more interesting composition.

I've rambled long enough. Once thanks for the tips. I will be sure to keep them in mind next time around.