Weird light effect

[carregwen]

I took this this afternoon. It was about 3 hours before sunset. I used a strong ND grad to dampen down the bright sky, and used spot metering which made everything darker. Not sure what to make of it. I converted to BW as there wasn't all that much colour in it. I like the bird in the centre and the post in the water.

Any comments?

EXIF

[ScoutR]

Hi Rob: I love the light and the drama, but I'm not sure about the bird and the post. They seem to small to be anything other than a distraction. The bird might be ok, but I think the post should go. The horizon looks like it could use a slight counterclockwise shift (easy for me to say) and I think I would try to crop either the top or the bottom to get the horizon on a third. It stands alone as B&W but some kind of a tint might work too.

Wendy

[Colin Southern]

Hi Rob,

I've had similar shots in the past under these conditions, but to be honest, I really struggled to "make them fly" ... I think this might be the same

[Shadowman]

Short of sounding like a psychologist, how does this image make you feel? Would you include it in your portfolio, in what section (assuming you separate your photos by themes), what would you do differently?

[Dave Humphries]

I know exactly what Colin means

OK Here's my thoughts, starting with someone else's

Agree with the horizon needing leveling.
Clone out the 3 other items just 'above' the stick.
Clone the stick across to the right a bit (say 10% pic width), so it is closer to a third, but 'pointing' to horizon just clear of the spit of land coming in from right.
Leave the bird in, possibly move that to left a bit (say 10% pic width).

But they don't call me 'Clone-crazy Dave' for nothing

[Colin Southern]

How's this for an alternative interpretation Rob?

[carregwen]

How's this for an alternative interpretation Rob?

Not bad, but I think the light looks too harsh. I tried the colour version, and corrected the tilt.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Rob,

I just opened your original in ACR and had a play with the sliders. With your original shot there just seemed to be too much "black with no detail" and not a lot of detail in what remained ... so I ended up with many of the sliders at one extreme or the other which (as you can see) totally changed the image in to somewhat of a photomatixed / surreal look.

I think the colour version has some merit, but I'd still like to see more shadow detail.

[Colin Southern]

OK ... Version II

[carregwen]

OK ... Version II

Yes that's much better, Colin, I like. My wife (who was with me) described the strange light as 'mellow'. Aren't wimin strange!

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi,
In my opinion

don't work.
Radu Dinu

[Clactonian]

When in difficulties of this sort, and I often am, I tend to close my eyes tightly before looking at the image again, to see what 'hits' me.
In this case I'm immediately drawn to the large black area on the left, which seems to unbalance the image.
I agree with others about the stick. If it were a branch, I think it would be OK, but sadly in this instance it is almost too perfect and can be mistaken for a glitch in the file.
But hey guys, you can only photograph what is there .......... and then we get into big arguments as to how much you add or take away from that scene!!

[Colin Southern]

Hi,
In my opinion

don't work.
Radu Dinu

Hi,

In my opinion, works well.

[carregwen]

Here's the RAW if you feel in experimental mode http://uploading.com/files/5fmd31ma/210910_0601.dng/

[Colin Southern]

Here you go Rob - Merry Christmas

Let me know if you'd like the full res files back.

[Wirefox]

Thats certainly one hell of a transformation. Any chance of a quick tutorial [runs for cover] on how to get from post 7 to post 15. I am intrigued as how you extract so much detail and colour.

Rob whilst Colin has produced an amazing transformation there is still something very atmospheric and vernacular about your initial image. I suspect the locals would recognise something of the 'feel' of the place from your shot. I very much like both versions but if I had to convey British coastal imagery I would have to go for the b/w. Colin's image has a much more generic and lighter feel to it.

For some reason the b/w version puts me in mind of C F Tunnicliffe's paintings/drawings of Anglesey in Shorelands Summer Diary

Steve

[carregwen]

Here you go Rob - Merry Christmas

Let me know if you'd like the full res files back.

Wow, Colin. Your drugs must be stronger than the ones I'm dropping. I've gotta grow my hair again, buy a VW camper, get some of that Dutch weed, dig out the Ravi Shankar sitar crap, and hit the road, baby.

Groovy (man!)

[Clactonian]

Now tell me photography isn't an art form!!

[Colin Southern]

Thats certainly one hell of a transformation. Any chance of a quick tutorial [runs for cover] on how to get from post 7 to post 15. I am intrigued as how you extract so much detail and colour.

Hi Steve,

Having the DNG file was the key - really just a case of pushing things HARD in ACR, with a little hand tweaking in Photoshop. It might be a little over-saturated for some's taste (easily fixed of course) - I really just wanted to get the light right.

Here's a 50% de-saturated version (to help Rob adjust to the post-hippie era).

[carregwen]

Here's a 50% de-saturated version (to help Rob adjust to the post-hippie era).

Colin

I have to say (don't you hate people who say that?) that each new version of edit that you do here of my shot reminds me of the constant stream of women that come into my life - each successive one is an improvement on what went before.

That might have been a compliment.