Newquay in the gloaming

[LouiseTopp]

I often visit here because it's great for photography. Newquay is the surfing capital of the UK and on good days it feels like being in the Med. This is Weston beach, good for seal spotting unfortunetly sharks are also starting to bring their mates in; not just humans who enjoy being beside the seaside.



Probably not my best shot but it'll do chaps.

For some reason the IMG isn't working. Can someone help please?

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...7&d=1390504991

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...7&d=1390504991

[DanK]

Hi Louise,

Nice image. However, if you want comments on images, you would probably get more in the 'nature and architecture' forum. This is the better forum if you want comments on techniques used in the images ("tips and techniques"), rather than the images themselves. Some people monitor both, but I think you would get more comments there.

Dan

[Manfred M]

Louise - I don't think that this image work particularly well for me.

The first question I ask myself when I look at an image is "what is the subject"? If that is not clear, then the image tends to not be strong enough. The second question I will ask, "is the subject the first thing my eyes are drawn to?". Again if the answer is no, the image is not strong enough.

In this case, I'm not sure what the subject is and my eyes are drawn to a large almost featureless dark mass that takes up at least 40% of the image (large cliff on the bottom left).

I expect that you saw a lovely sunset and tried to capture it; but unfortunately our eyes and cameras don't work the same way. Our cameras capture images based on the camera settings and have a dynamic range (ability to capture details in bright light as well as shadow detail) that is far lower than the composite image that our eyes can make out. This image has a high dynamic range, so the shadows detail in the cliff do not come out in this sunset (back-lit) shot.

[LouiseTopp]

Hi Louise,

Nice image. However, if you want comments on images, you would probably get more in the 'nature and architecture' forum. This is the better forum if you want comments on techniques used in the images ("tips and techniques"), rather than the images themselves. Some people monitor both, but I think you would get more comments there.

Dan

Thanks for your comments, how do I find the 'nature and architecture' forum?

Hi Manfred sorry the foreground is a bit dark, how can I lighten it up please?

[Geoff F]

In this sort of case, Louise, lightening up the dark foreground is easy. Crop it out and throw it away!

Try a square crop to lose most of the dark areas. Attempting to brighten this sort of problem rarely works well. So the best option is to limit the area of 'darkness'.

There are other crop options like 5 x 4 ratio for example.

ps. If you still haven't found the Nature and Architecture section, which is actually for 'all other subjects' look under the general Forum heading

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/forums/forum8.htm

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred sorry the foreground is a bit dark, how can I lighten it up please?

Geoff nailed it on the head. The foreground does not add the image, so crop it out.

There are a number of different techniques for dealing wtih high dynamic range image, but none are done without either adding graduated neutral density filters during your shot or taking several shots (on a tripod) and blending them in post-production. I suspect that even if you do this, the cliff won't add to the image.

[DanK]

how do I find the 'nature and architecture' forum?

Click on "forums" on the top of the page. All of the forums will then be listed. It's the fourth from the top.