It's not always sunny in Hawaii

[kaneohebud]

[Marie Hass]

Bud, this is very nice. However, you have lost a lot of the detail in the foreground rocks. Can you recover that?

Beautiful scene.

Marie

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[Otavio]

you have lost a lot of the detail in the foreground rocks

I agree with Marie, Bud. Maybe you can push the exposure a bit higher and have some more details (and, if mine, I would do it only for the part below the ocean line, letting the sky the way it is). Anyway, it is a very nice and strong image. Cheers...

[NorthernFocus]

Awesome sea and sky. Agree with prior comments regarding detail in the foreground.

[kaneohebud]

Thanks all for the C&C. I've lightened up the rocks a bit. I didn't think they were too interesting, mostly algae-covered black lava. My focus was on the light in the sky and water.

[terrib]

I actually like the first one best, agreeing with you about the focus of the shot. But what do I know? Both of these are far better than anything I got in Hawaii last week. I think they are beautiful.

[mknittle]

I'm with Terri. I like the first one best.

[ShaneS]

Bud;

I too like the first one best and seem to recall you working on your PP skills. I'm no expert but think that you simply used the dodge tool to lighten the lower part of the image and you have extended the effect to far into the ocean and sky IMHO. You could possibly use levels to lighten the shadows on the rocks utilizing a mask and then the rest of the image (which is great BTW) will not be impacted. Just my two cents as I think some (different) tweaks to the rocks will really enhance this image. I tried to download and try but my CS5 wouldn't open the file...

[kaneohebud]

I used NIK Color Efex Pro 4 on the second one trying to lighten up the rocks. I did use Aperture Levels as well. I'm sorry, I just don't like the second one. The lighter rocks detract from the water and the sky.

[Marie Hass]

Hi guys,

I was thinking about something more subtle. Like this.



Regardless, your original image is beautiful. Thank you for allowing me to explore.

[AB26]

It may not always be sunny but it is always beautiful?

[Harpo]

Yep, Marie's example is what I was thinking as well. Lighten up the foreground rocks just a smidgen- it matches the rest of the image rather than looking more like a silhouette. I felt the rocks on the very bottom were too black making it feel too heavy... it distracted my eyes to it. I agree that the second image was a bit too much that it affected the waves. I really like how you captured the waves and sky.

[rpcrowe]

I like the image with the rocks dark as in the original version. The dark rocks and dark clouds seem to balance each other out...

[tbob]

Good thing it's not always sunny; otherwise this sort of thing would not be available. Good image and even better photographic vision to have seen the potential .

I think your initial version is quite good. Marie's does improve it however. Both versions are quite fine and it's a bit of a toss up for me, The nice thing, for people like me, about C in C is the opportunity to get creative concepts from creative people to add to my list of considerations when taking and processing images. So it's nicer to see varying versions

[kaneohebud]

Thanks for the positive and constructive comments. You're right, Hawaii may not always be sunny but it is a beautiful place to live. We feel fortunate every day and never lose sight of how lucky we are to be here.

[patrick9x9]

I actually like the first one best as well. Beautiful image.