Good afternoon, and Happy Easter all,
This was taken a few days ago, here in Scotland. There’s been an incessant haze here for the last week, and despite some unseasonal warmth, the quality of light has been mixed to say the least. Despite arriving here while the sun was high in the sky, no direct light fell against the distant peaks, as I’d hoped. However, the haze picked up this glow, that continued until well after sunset.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Composition.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Management of colour balance and overall colour scheme. In reality, the blues and magentas were even deeper, including over the further peaks, so managing that has been difficult.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Focus stacking for the foreground as I was very close to the water, a separate sky exposure has also been hand blended in.
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IG: @drecklywanderer
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1 Like
Richard, I think your classic approach to composition for this type of scene works well. The vertical emphasizes the colorful foreground rocks, and does a nice job of leading your eye to the mountains and sky. I think the composition could be improved by reducing the amount of cloudless sky via a crop of the top, that comes down to just above the magenta clouds on the right. This would place more emphasis on the clouds and mountains. in terms of the foreground, I find the 4 bright rocks at the very bottom to be a minor distraction, since they are so much brighter than the rest of the foreground, and they are cut off by the frame edge. A crop from the bottom would be my recommendation to get rid of them. In terms of color, I would try shifting the the sky a little more cyan, and more yellow (the foreground looks good as is). I would also suggest lifting the exposure in the rocks a bit to reveal some more detail of what is there,
I downloaded your image to rework it reflecting these changes. In terms of the crop from the top and bottom as I mentioned earlier, I elected to maintain the aspect ratio, which meant i also cropped from the right. You could also argue to not maintain the ratio and just crop top and bottom.
@Ed_McGuirk, thank you for taking the time to both reply, and to show the effect of your recommendations. I really like what the change in colour balance does to the sky. It continues to represent what I experienced, but comes across cleaner, with more separation and balance.
Thank you again.
Richard,
Beautiful sunset image. I really like how you’ve portrayed the colors and you did a great job blending the exposures.
I think Ed nailed it with his edits in raising this image up a notch.
Alternatively, I see a further crop from the bottom eliminating the white-ish stone. This comes close to a near square finish, but also still maintains that near/far look/composition. What’s left in the foreground shallows are three primary rocks, one submerged and the other two partially submerged. I can post example if you wish. Just not sure if this goes too far with what your vision for the scene is/was.
Definitely a keeper and worth playing around with further.
Lon
