Copper

[dankearl]

Pacific Ocean sunset.
Judy inspired me.
1/40
iso100
85mm
F16

DSC_1055nx.jpg

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Dan - an intense and moody sunset but a little dark for my tastes. The blown area in the center keeps drawing my attention as do the dark vertical lines/shadows on the left. Not sure what is making the shadows but I find them distracting. Did you take any composed more to the right, avoiding the actual sun and the dark clouds but concentrating more on the brillant sky?

TFS,
Rachel

[Judy Howle]

I like the waves and the tones but Rachel has a good point about the blown areas in the sky and the dark vertical shadows that don't seem to match the clouds. You could paint over the blown areas at low opacity with a darker color to tone them down some. I do that all the time on my sunset photos.

[Robert Amoruso]

Hi Dan - an intense and moody sunset but a little dark for my tastes. The blown area in the center keeps drawing my attention as do the dark vertical lines/shadows on the left. Not sure what is making the shadows but I find them distracting. Did you take any composed more to the right, avoiding the actual sun and the dark clouds but concentrating more on the brillant sky?

TFS,
Rachel

Rachel, The shadows are the lack of the sunlight on the water due to the clouds.

[Robert Amoruso]

Dan,

I would agree here that panning right and getting the sun out of the center would have improved the composition.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Dan, good advice above. I played with the image regarding crops and found the cropping from the left,top and bottom gives the image an interesting look. Another thought...

[dankearl]

I agree with the critiques, thanks, sometimes photos work and a lot of time they don't.
It is dark, but if I lighten it, it loses the mood and the color.
So thanks, I really appreciate the honest opinions here.