Beach Joy

[DJPhotos]

Beach Joy | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Canon 7D, Aperture F11, Shutter 1/800 (shutter priority used), 70mm, 800 iso

My grandkids at the beach - this was my favorite pic of the day. My problem was this... it was an overcast day and it took me lots of photos to get this decent one and I still played with sharpen/contrast in PS to get the water details.

Was my shutter speed too low that I had to sharpen/contast? I had the iso at 800 - kinda high for day time? I would really like the water details to be more noticeable without so much editing. Is it looking too edited? Also, composition, is the horizon a little too near the middle - I did want the water splash.

Again, any critique welcomed and appreciated.

[Doug Sundseth]

I wouldn't worry too much about the horizon here. It's not a major part of the image, and its placement is just fine. The colors look good. (The sky is boring, but you get what you get sometimes.)

Water looks like water in a photo because of the way the light is transmitted and reflected. On a cloudy day, you lose most of that structure because the sky acts like a giant softbox. The problem isn't so much technique as the subject. You can get some of that back by using artificial light to add sparkle and definition, but without that, you have a difficult subject.

The water looks fairly heavily worked on to me, but it doesn't necessarily look bad. (It looks a bit like a moderately aggressive HDR.)

While that isn't my favorite style, I think the subject redeems that for me*. I really like the emotion you've captured here. I don't know the kids at all and I get the energy and joy. If I knew them this would be a very special photo.

Nicely done.

* For people who like aggressive HDR, it wouldn't need redemption at all. It's just a style thing.

[DJPhotos]

Thanks for the critique Doug. Yes, the water was heavily worked! I hear what you're saying about the sky and light on the water - it was a TERRIBLY gray day. I feel better about the days pics then. I guess I need to take the grandkids back to play again - what a hardship I have been trying some HDR stuff on other pics, and kind of like some of it. I will be exploring that more.

[Doug Sundseth]

Everyone needs to make sacrifices. Try to bear up under the load

[DJPhotos]

Thanks for the encouragement, Doug. I'm prepared to suffer for my work

[Krusty79]

I love this shot - you could have submitted it for the Leisure assignment. The only thing that bugs me is that the water splashes look overprocessed to me, like they were oversharpened or something. Maybe shooting at ISO 800 contributed to that.