sunset beach

[Mr Sandman]

please feel free to critique.i have altered layers in photoshop to bring out the warmth of the shot. i tried to slightly blur the waves with 1/200 shutterspeed and under exposed 1 stop.
i included foreground to extend the depth in the picture. i suppose i was trying to get an image somewhere between a photo and a painting. what do you think ??

sorry didn't include
Exif data

Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/9.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -1 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[Hill Country Hack]

I like how you composed and perspective of the shot. Very good use of the rock, sun reflection and sun in the vertical with the clouds and wave in the horizontal.

As for the technical aspects I can only speak of personal preference. I would slow the shutter down in increments while attempting to get the wave a bit more blurred. I would have sat and waited for the sun to go completely over the horizon (obviously taking captures the entire time) to see how the changing light affected the sky, clouds and reflections.

I do like what you did and it does look a bit "painty" to me.

Nice shot.

[milosh]

Composition: I like the fact that you used a foreground subject, but I think its position could be a little bit better, if you were to step back a bit from the rock and perhaps lower your camera a bit. Right now, looking at it makes me feel like I'm gonna stumble over it. I also think the composition could be improved if you placed the Sun a bit more to the right (placed your camera to the right of the rock and pointing more to the left), the composition would be more dynamic.

Exposure: To create a dreamy/painterly feel you need to use a slower shutter speed (1/200 is pretty fast). Why not stop your lens down, you could have easily used f16 and 1/60 (or something close to it).

Shooting/Processing: there is a lot of digital noise present in clouds, the wave and especially in the rock. I guess the noise emerged when you increased brightness of the underexposed parts.. To avoid this, you could have taken two differently exposed photos and merged them in Photoshop using masks, or you could have used a graduated neutral density filter or filters, they are perfect for these type of situations (you would need to use a tripod for both techniques). If I were you I would remove some of that blue/pinkish colour cast from the water. I know the water is reflecting light from the sky above which is still blue, but it's too much right now, it looks unreal. You can do that by adding a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, altering the blue channel, adding a black mask to that layer and painting over the blue areas with a soft white brush.

[Mr Sandman]

i take on board your comments about the over exaggerated colours and grain in the fore ground i will try what you suggested in photoshop and may re post in processed photo forum but i am no expert in photoshop and some of the things you said i am not sure how to do. will give it a go anyway and see what i can do.
Thanks again

[kirbinster]

I would crop away the right side to about an inch inside the rock at the bottom -- If you do that I love it. Here is a tumbnail of my idea, hope you don't mind.

[Mr Sandman]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

I would crop away the right side to about an inch inside the rock at the bottom -- If you do that I love it. Here is a tumbnail of my idea, hope you don't mind.

thanks Kirbinster,
small crop makes a big difference.
cheers