Gillespies Beach, South Island, New Zealand

[Jay Gould]

It is 4pm; where is the sunset? Not to worry - there were wonderful pieces of driftwood all over the beach. I did get a sunset that I will post in a few days.

The beach was covered with bits and pieces. Using the Band-Aid Tool and the Lasso Tool with Content-Aware is fantastic. You cannot image how much junk I removed!!

The upper half is intentionally dark and foreboding; I wanted the driftwood to stand out.

Camera: 5D2
Capture date/time: 3/05/11; 4pm
Light condition: Ugly; just kidding - it was a very interesting sky!
Lens: 24-105
Focal length: 35
Distance:
Extender: none
Tube: none
Flash/Comp: no
ISO: 100
Exp Prog: Av
Speed: 5 sec
Aperture: f/10
Exp Comp:
Metering: Evaluative
WB: Auto
AF Drive: One shot
Tripod: yes
Filter: None
Crop: minimal
Images Changes: stuff I didn't like removed!

Processed in LR3, CS5, Pixel Genius Sharpening, Tony Kuyper Actions, NIK stuff too.

All C&Cs gratefully appreciated!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jay, The image emits a mood that is very appealing. The angry sky,foreground wood and mist adds much to the overall. A small suggestion would be to add a small amount to the bottom to give more separation between the wood and the bottom of the frame...nicely done!

[Jay Gould]

Hi Dave, thanks for taking the time. Interesting that the only crop I did was from the bottom so that the space on the side and the bottom were equal. I have an equal amount that was cropped away. I will add it back so that the difference can be compared.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jay, good to see that you are still enjoying yourself in New Zealand! I love the details you captured in the sky and the spray of the waves is very attractive. The beach provides a good leading line and great structure. I'm not sure why, but the piece of driftwood seems quite soft, almost like it was out of your DOF range (focal point seems to be just behind it). The pebbles around it, however, seem nice and sharp. Might be an easy fix with a little sharpness and clarity added to the wood. I do feel that the piece of wood is a little cramped in the corner.

[Robert Amoruso]

Jay,

Nice composition. I agree with Dave more room at the bottom would enhance the image. I too am finding the stump unsharp. Rocks appear sharper due to there detail being in the hard edges and not surface detail like the stump.

Stump and rock required more DOF. I tried sharpening it - and it is better - but smaller aperture was needed.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the mood in this one Jay, and some nice processing involved too.
I agree with Robert, using an aperture of 16 or 22 would have enhanced the depth here - not sure if you wanted to have almost 'selective focus' on the stump?

[Rachel Hollander]

Jay - I like the mood too. Good suggestions above for improving this.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Jay, late to the party and good suggestions already given. Love the mood, tones and the mist. Look forward to the sunset!

[John Chardine]

Jay- I like the simplicity and mood the image invokes. I am surprised no one mentioned what looks like a crooked horizon so it got me thinking maybe I am too anal about that. Beaches slope towards the water so often they can look crooked when they are fine. In this case the horizon also looks like it needs a bit of CCW rotation. Does a level horizon always have to be level in a landscape image?

[Jay Gould]

Jay- I like the simplicity and mood the image invokes. I am surprised no one mentioned what looks like a crooked horizon so it got me thinking maybe I am too anal about that. Beaches slope towards the water so often they can look crooked when they are fine. In this case the horizon also looks like it needs a bit of CCW rotation. Does a level horizon always have to be level in a landscape image?

Hi John, and everyone else. Sorry I haven't posted my RP based upon the suggestions; I am fighting a terrible lung disease and at times I don't even play on the computer. Please keep the comments coming; I will be here as much as possible - another form of therapy.

Regarding horizons, yes they do need to be level at all times unless the slope is such that there is no visible level; then you rely on the tried and true bubble.

Thank you for pointing out what I should have seen. I had to dig through the mist to find the level.

In doing the RP I played with both extending the bottom and with the wood. I didn't like the bottom extended; I did sharpen/enhance the wood.

As always, all C&Cs greatly appreciated; saved at 69IQ.


As an aside, this image is also posted on NatureScapes at IQ79 - they permit a 250kb size. This was a good comparison because both images were identically processed when resized at 800H. The only difference is that the BPN was saved at 200kb and the NS was saved at 245kb. Do you see a difference: http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/v...p?f=4&t=205795