Dark & Stormy

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Edges aren’t sharp (f/6.3) - deal breaker for print? …not that this is the type of image that would look good on a wall or anything…:upside_down_face:

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Does the image flow from foreground to distant storm adequately, or are the two not adequately “connected” within the image?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Blend of two images for foreground H20…0.8sec; f/6.3; ISO 100; 24mm

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@jim_mcgovern_photography

You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.

I love the photo Jim. It flows nicely. Water looks great. Might be a little right heavy, but still looks great to my eye. Dramatic and moody at the same time.
All that said, this is not what I and the dictionary consider a “beach” scene. Of course, I’ve been wrong before and will be again. Maybe others can weigh in.
:vulcan_salute::vulcan_salute::vulcan_salute::vulcan_salute:

Yea…sorry @Michael_Lowe about the latitude I took. Guess there’s no sand here but I got a bit liberal thinking of rocky coasts as well. I’ll be more scrutinizing next time!

This looks quite good to my eye. The blue theme works well in this one. At web size, the sharpness works.

Jim, I think this works well, with the stormy mood that the distant rain adds to nicely. While many that think that a beach means clean sand, I see the rocky coasts of New England and the Pacific coast of the USA as being beaches also.

Jim,
You captured a wonderful mood with the brooding sky and the waves swirling around those jagged rocks. The blue tones also work very nicely with the moody theme as does the rain squalls along the horizon. At web size the edges look fine to me.

Thanks @Michael_Lowe, @Mark_Seaver, @Ed_Lowe, & @Harley_Goldman.

I have one more question if you have the patience…I’ve been struggling lately (in my opinion) with blindness to oversaturation of images. Please let me know if you feel this is too saturated. I get that this is personal taste, but I’m trying to fit in with what the general community would consider balanced color intensity. Thanks again!

It’s all subjective. Depends on what mood or look you’re going for. Personally, I like it with about 30 points knocked off the blue and cyan channels. If we were all the same, life would be boring.
:vulcan_salute:

Jim, I’d suggest toning down the blues here and see what you think. There are times when oversaturation seems clear to me because the colors (red, yellow and green) have an extra glow. I don’t recall seeing something similar with blues, but they can get intense.

I would agree it looks quite blue, but that is an artistic choice. I would scale it down, but that is me. There is no right answer for that one.

The rocks look like the fluke of a whale!! Love the mood you captured.

Thanks everyone…here’s the updated/desaturated image. I’m much happier with this one…took a Saturation mask and went (-)50 on saturation…wonder if I could go more…

A beautiful scene with a nice evening mood, Jim! I’m from coastal Alaska so this looks like a perfectly normal “beach” scene to me (what is this thing called sand anyway?) I prefer the slightly de-saturated version, mostly because it brings out more of the subtle colors and details in the storm clouds and sky in the background.

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This is really quite nice, Jim. I think even with the saturation reduction the blues are still pretty strong. It does carry the mood of the image quite well. I do black and white almost exclusively because proper saturation is very elusive to me. I love the drama here.

@Gary_Philips…thanks so much for commenting. I tend to agree with you and feel this remains excessively saturated. I’m not done with this image.