Evening beach

[Bill Randall]

Sunset near La Jolla.
Lens 17-40mm at 17mm. ISO 800, f/18 for 1.6 secs

[John Chardine]

You have made an interesting effect here Bill. Love the wide field of view with lots in the foreground to keep your interest, and the colour is very pleasing.

A couple of things catch my eye- at a shutter speed of 1.6s there seems to be evidence of some camera movement in the image- almost a double exposure effect. Were you trying for something like this? Also there is a peculiar dark area on the extreme right of the sky. I'd be interested to know how you processed the image.

[Bill Randall]

John the camera was on a tripod and I used a remote release switch. There is lots of moving water starting at the first diagnol. It wasn't very deep and inch or so from the receding wavelet. Maybe that is what you sense. Note that the dry area doesnt seemed blured. I noticed the effect also; the only way I can explain it is the water movement. As to the dark spot, beats me. I didn't do anything outside my normal workflow in ACR. and size adjustment in CS4 and store for the web. Any ideas?

[John Chardine]

It must be the in and out water movement Bill. If you felt like it the dark patch on the right could be removed with a little dodging.

[Bill Randall]

I tried to post a response earlier, but I guess I pushed the wrong button. I can eliminate the dark area as you suggest without much problem. I checked the raw file and it is there. Don't have any idea what caused it. Thanks for looking and commenting.
Bill

[Julie Kenward]

Lovely beach scene, Bill. Did you do anything as far as pp to change the saturation of the colors? I love the way they ended up and was just wondering if you enhanced it much from the original scene.

You might try pulling the bright yellow in the center of the horizon back a bit. I find it works well to pull the yellow saturation down in the RAW file and then increase the luminance of the same color - pulls out the harshness of the color but leaves the 'pop'.

Nice framing on this - you chose great proportions for sand/horizon/sky - it feels very balanced and my eye goes right to that intense blue in the FG.

[Bill Randall]

Hi Jules, In my normal work flow I boost saturation in ACR just a bit. Perhaps it is too global and as you suggest I should use more discimination and adjust things individually. I will try you suggestion with yellow. Yellow and green are always troublesome to me. Thanks for the comments.