Sunset at Rodeo Beach

[Gerald_Gilligan]

Canon 5D MKII 17-40 f16 1sec. ISO100 19mm RAW CS4 PP

Rodeo Beach is in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area located in Marin County, California, two miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
This beach is unique among California beaches in that it is comprised largely of coarse, pebbly chert grains, both red and green in color. Its mineral composition sets it apart from every other beach in the state.

The Sea Stacks are a short walk from the parking area, and are usually accessible at low tide.

I made three visits in 5 days before I was rewarded with this scene.

Image made on April 17, 2010

All critiques are welcome

Jerry

[Dave Mills]

Hi Gerald, I feel your persistance was well rewarded. I like the overall comp even though the stack is centered. Nice lighting,good foreground base with detail and an interesting sky. I also like the flow of water through the rocks. The only thing I might do is take a small bit off the top. Nice job!

[Kobus Tollig]

Great image here and Dave said it well. Only one thing is that it looks to have a bit of a skew horizon.

[Don Railton]

Well done Gerald, I also love this image. I'm glad your persistance was rewarded. I agree with the comments above WRT cropping the top slightly and the LHS horizon seems low.

DON

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jerry,
Very nicely composed and really strong mood/feel. Flow of water is perfect. I do also think it may need a slight CW rotation......but i would go with trying to pull out more details in the sky......by darkening some of the lighter grey clouds or even playing around in selective color in the sky.....instead of a crop. Just some food for thought on a very nicely composed image!

[Harold Davis]

awesome job!! just some tonal contrast adjustments in the clouds and play with the colors as roman mentioned. love the composition. nice job on being persistent!!!

[Robert Amoruso]

Gerald,

Please post the technical information as that is very important in letting persons know how this was created. First thing I thought was just the right shutter speed for the soft silky flow of water and going to look for what the shutter speed it, it is not posted. Not trying to beat you up over it, just want people to know why it is important.

I agree with he crop and was wondering about the horizon rotation. Aligning the horizon with the top border on my browser seems to indicate that it is level so perhaps more optical illusion.

Well execute image that you multiple trips paid off well.

[Morkel Erasmus]

lovely scene, processing and light. agree with Kobus on the horizon (it might be lens distortion) and with Dave on slicing a bit from the top

[Gerald_Gilligan]

Thank you all for the comments...
It seems that the consensus is to crop a bit off of the top and I agree with that.
I went back to the master file and checked the the horizon and it was level...Morkel might be right on lens distortion or Robert on an optical illusion. Just beyond the rocks on the right is a beach and I wonder if that is causing some to think the horizon is not level.
Robert I did post the shutter speed...it was a 1 second exposure. I will be more clear in my technical data on future posts.

Jerry

[Robert Amoruso]

Thank you all for the comments...

Robert I did post the shutter speed...it was a 1 second exposure. I will be more clear in my technical data on future posts.

Jerry

Thanks Jerry. Big DUH. There it is staring me in the face. Go figure.:p:confused: