Love is grand...

[Don Railton]

I hope the human element in this does not upset the landscape purists too much... I was set up for a sunset (only) shot when these two (strangers to me I might add) walked into frame and sat down. Took me back a bit and I though they complimented the scene nicely so I was quite grateful in the end...

1D4 & Zeiss distagon 18mm with CP all sitting on a Gitzo 5 series tripod.
1 sec exposure @ F11, ISO 100.
Manual mode, eval metering, full frame.
Processed in CS6 using ACR for most of the processing. Bit of NR on the sky using Neat image, Sharpened the remainder with NIK.

let me know what you think, be brutal if you like, I dont mind..

DON

[Grady Weed]

Don, I don't think the humanoids detract too much from the scene here. I usually do not have ANY people in mine, but that doesn't mean you can't. As a sunset they actually contribute in this one. they seem to be looking at the sunset which helps the viewer to go right to the main attraction. I like the muted colors, the scene is balanced to me. The only thing I see is the wave seems to be too visible in relation to the other bottom currents or waves that are hitting the rocks, the far right one just below the couple are mainly the concern to me, a small one at that. But other than that, it is a nice image.

[David Stephens]

The people add nicely to this image, IMO. The horizon looked slightly curved to me, at first, but upon measuring, it's flat. I would have tried to stop the waves, but the one-second exposure gives an effective compromise of smoothed wave vs. reality.

[Don Railton]

Hi Grady,

Thank you for the comments. I think I see what you mean with the wave, and agree the rhs side white water looks darker than the LHS white water. I have not done any localised blending so my only thought is that the wave on the left has been 'breaking' or in the white water stage longer (during exposure) than the RHS and so looks lighter..? its an easy fix anyway.

Hi Dave, I think there is a slight curve in the horizon which I will address. FYI, I have many other with different exposure times, some longer and some shorter. I fact I had just bought a 10 stop ND to tryout so I was experimenting with exposure time. I thought the wave position and the exposure time of this was the pick of the bunch with enough time to suggest movement without the distortion of reality that the extremely long exposures give. All to personal taste really and I'm here to evaluate what others think of my taste..

Thanks again for the comments guys..

DON

[dankearl]

This is nice, Don, the people should Definitely stay.
Light is nice, colors attractive. I am surprised you have as much water definition as you do with
a 10 stop grad.
Looks good to me.

[Don Railton]

Thanks Dan.

I had a 10 stop with me to experiment with but only used a CP in this image...

DON

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful scene. I felt the curvature in the horizon as a first impression, but scrolling up it isn't as much as it looked like -- some optical illusion from the light contributes, I think.

The rocks don't seen as sharp as I'd expect. Could be my eyes.

[Don Railton]

Thanks Diane.. could be mine as well..

DON

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Don, I like this scene a lot. I often wait for folks to get out of the way, but quite often having people in the scene helps so much by creating a sense of scale, which you have done wonderfully by including the two lovebirds. I agree with Diane on the rocks not looking quite as sharp as they could, so maybe a touch more sharpening on them. The look of the water works for me, but I think I would prefer a slight bit more blur to it...but that's mostly personal taste. Very nice work!

[Morkel Erasmus]

The people add a tremendous sense of scale and a feeling of wanting to be there sitting on the rocks as well.
I think it could do with some more midtone contrast as presented, and I agree the curve of the horizon could be tweaked as well.
The blotch where the sun is could be rendered with a smoother transition to the areas around it through blending another exposure if you have it, Don?

[Jay Gould]

Without repeating everyones' comments, the moment I looked at it my anal brain said the right side of the horizon is slightly higher than the left side. Simply put a straight line on the water from the rocks to the right edge of the frame. Leveling will also remove the lean in the couple.

nice image.