Oh, That Wave!

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Saw Kerry's post - Wave, what wave?... couldn't resist putting up this one :D

Kerry, hope you don't mind my playing off your title...

Cheers,

-Michael-

Hi Michael, I like the imagery in this, would be interested in what processes you used to achieve this. The light coming through some of the feathers add s nice touch to the effect.

Hi Michael, love the action and all that water! Title is cool. :cool: Looks like your gull figured out what was happening and this makes a nice follow-on for what happens next. :)

Michael, That is some wave- looks like the gull got out of Dodge just in time! Interesting look.:)

That is one large wave, bet the gull was hauling, nice effect and composition...TFS

Hilary, Kerry, Denise, Paul,

Thanks much for commenting. The gull was sitting on the edge of a rock with many others when the big wave came in. This one was kinda slow on the uptake and got totally drenched... lucky he didn't get knocked down :p

Hillary, most of the effect is strong backlighting of the scene... I enhanced the color contrast through Lab mode curves (primarily a steep b channel curve putting a warm cast to the lit parts and a cooler cast to the shadows, water in shadow).

And, speaking of slow on the uptake... I took the following during that same year... waves were huge all winter. I was all set up to shoot a big wave crashing on the deck on the other side (at the Monterey Bay Aquarium)... the deck that was at the same level that I was on :o ... well, I didn't get that wet... water spray to about 10' above the deck...

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Cheers,

-Michael-

That's some wave! When I first saw it I thought it was a composite! Terrific image and nice processing.

Michael, those are huge! I like the image you created.

Great action, Michael! That's quite a wave. Love the feel of this. Very well done! :)