Mooloolabah in the Morning

[dje]

This shot was taken early this morning, about half an hour before sunrise. The sunrise itself was un-inspiring so I tried to make the most of this earlier shot. I used a 2 stop hard grad ND filter, 10sec exposure time, f/11 aperture and ISO100. I also used Nik Viveza and Color Efex Pro for processing.

Comments welcome

Dave

[Barbara Ponder]

I like the cloud formations and the treatment you have given them.

[dje]

Thanks for your comments Barbara.

Dave

[KHarmon]

I like it a lot. The motion in the clouds and water along with the colors makes a very nice image.

[IzzieK]

Nice scenery, Dave...I like the foreground, the texture of the rocks and the direction the light shines on the left hand side of the shot...the only thing I can say is that if the clouds should have been more pronounced, this will be perfect. Maybe...just maybe you can crop some of them clouds a bit so the concentration will be on the scene itself? But what do I really know?

[pnodrog]

The warm lighting on the middle left hand rock formation really makes it rock...

I was there about 8 years ago and you made the good memories come flooding back.

[gregj1763]

Really nice Dave, wonderful colours, textures and atmosphere. As Izzie suggested? I tried a 16:9 crop see what you think. Either way works for me

[Bobobird]

What can I say but WOW!

If one day I take on landscapes, this is the kind of image I would like to take.

[Stagecoach]

I looked at this earlier Dave, loved the foreground, water and sky but the horizon bugged me as it appears too sharp to me.

Setting off in the wagon tonight after shooting sunsets at the beach I was putting my 'night driving glasses' on and it suddenly dawned on me that I never actually see horizons sharp because of my eyesite so I may be conditioned to expect them softer

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[JohnRostron]

This is a very nice picture. My only quibble is that I prefer water shots showing the water as it is rather than blurred out with ND filters. But that is just the way I like things!

John

[Mike Buckley]

There is so much to like about this -- many details and the overall appearance. Well done!

[Loose Canon]

Great shot Dave!

As a little different viewpoint, I think this shot would have made a great composite.

One longer exposure frame for the water, and one shorter exposure frame with the clouds sharp. With this cloud formation it might almost seem more out of focus rather than showing movement.

Anyway, just a Theory!

[Krawuntzel]

An impressive picture. I like the almost x-like composition. "warm" diagonal from bottom left to right top; "cold" diagonal from left top to right bottom; rocks in the foreground leading the eye to the "x-ing" of the diagonal. light pulling the eye from there to the shore.
Personally I would prefer more texture in the clouds top left; and "removed" the bright, red and blue light points of the "far shore" - minor thoughts regarding the shot.
Erwin

[selig1656]

Well done in the shooting and PP, the clouds just draw my attention as to movement and the right side of the sky is soothing.there is something about the water that maybe I would have liked to see different, not too sure, but the long exposure dulls the sharpness. Like I said , just a feeling, but a beautiful morning it is.

[TonyW]

Very nice. What struck me most about the image is the sharpness from front to back. Not the Mooloolabah that I remember but then I have not seen it before dawn.

[Texas Dave]

Nice photo, makes me want to be there.

[pnodrog]

Have those of you that want the water taken with a short exposure time ever been up half an hour before sunrise?

The Grad ND filter is being used to help balance exposure between the sky and rocks.

[dje]

Thanks everybody for your comments, much appreciated.

Izzie and Greg, I did consider a 16:9 but didn't feel it made much difference. I had to crop top and bottom for this because cropping the top only left the horizon in the middle and that looked a bit strange.

LPaul Mooloolabah is one of the nicest beaches in Qld in my humble opinion. As the tourism slogan says, beautiful one day, perfect the next.

I take the point about cloud definition. There wasn't much I could do about that though as it was very windy at the time and I dare say the clouds were moving quite rapidly.

I also understand that different people have different ideas about blurry water but once again I had little choice here. The light was quite low and I did want to use a GND to balance sky and foreground as LPaul says. Having said that though, in this case, I was happy to go with blurry water and in fact a bit later in the morning I fitted a 4 stop ND !

Thanks again all for your kind remarks.

Dave

[Donald]

I also understand that different people have different ideas about blurry water ...

I'm not a blurry water fan, but what struck me about this 10sec exposure was the amount of detail that there is in the water. In addition to which, I think it's a beautiful composition. All the 'bits' balance harmoniously. And there's nothing in there that doesn't need to be. What to leave out is as important as what to include.