I recently discovered this one in my D810 archives and decided it was worth posting. It was made towards the end of the shoot when the presence of the sun was felt more strongly. At the beginning of the shoot in the early morning the light is flatter due to the marine layer and low angle of the sun.
You will notice a lot of sand grains scattered about. Some might argue that they are distracting. I, personally, find them objects of secondary interest much as the lines all about. But I’m not confident in my outlook and would be very interested in hearing (what hearing? This is writing.) your opinion on the matter. This is one shot taken with the Nikon.
Igor,
My opinion is to leave them in the scene; as you already mentioned they are a nice secondary interest. In fact they compliment the irregular round shapes already etched into the rock, just on a smaller scale. The soft light is perfect for showcasing the details and textures in this intimate landscape. Glad you decided to post this one.
Great light and shapes in this one. The darker cracks help define the scene and contrast nicely with the more rounded carvings in the rock. It looks a little over-sharpened to me. The grit is really gritty. Maybe it was. I did a little scroll cropping and like it without the bottom bit, but you may want it as framing device. To me it stands well without it and underscores your main subject a bit better. The little rocks and pebbles don’t bother me, they are like top notes in bourbon.
I like the term “scroll cropping”…new one for me. I love the texture and geometries in the main subject. Dark lines do frame it nicely as well. Scroll cropping, I think it is an even stronger comp without the bottom. The diagonal crevasse is better placed in the image for balance IMO. You really have a vision for these small scenes.
Anil Rao, who used to belong to NPN, would post tafoni images a lot and I always loved them. This one is no different, and is actually very reminiscent of some of his work. I don’t even know what tafoni is, but it’s beautiful. I love the texture and the muted coloration. The jagged lines of the cracks contrast nicely with the smoothness of the shapes and your composition is excellent. Beautiful image, Igor.
Perhaps that’s because this was taken close to where Anil shot his images. I don’t know exactly where he shot his images but there are some good Tafoni subjects between Pescadero and Bean Hollow beaches, a distance of no more than 2 miles. I also didn’t know what these were called until I read his website. His Tafoni are much more colorful than mine. I’m not sure if it’s due to processing or shooting late in the day when the sun is out.
My thoughts are the same as Bill’s. Even before seeing his comment I was thinking this reminds me so much of Anil Rao’s work…which I liked a lot. I like this just as you have presented it.
I think this is gorgeous as presented, with awesome light to bring out the 3D subject. Have a look at the coast around Timber Cove to Salt Point – exactly where escapes me now. Better than Point Lobos.
I like the composition as originally presented, the framing of the space around it helps define the tafoni for me. It need s the supporting cast. My suggestion would be to add a strong vignette around the image before the white frame is added. To me some strong edge darkening would increase the apparent contrast in the tafoni, without having to add any contrast there.
Thank you for your comments. I sort of lost interest in this one after initially processing it. That seems to often happen to me as the excitement of first seeing it on the screen starts to wane. Vignetting, I think would destroy this image. I think it, and all my tafoni images, need color. They make lukewarm prints the way they are now. But who knows? Two months from now I’ll start to like it again.
I agree with @Tony_Kuyper that the grains of sand give this scale. I also think that without the grains this could be an image that is looked at for a few seconds and then on to the next. With the grains of sand, it has my eye darting to and from in search of something new and I could look at this for a few minutes. I too have seen Tafoni (had no idea that’s what it was until you posted) in and around the central California coast particularly the Big Sur coastline and Point Lobos and 17 mile drive. I think the framing is nearly perfect as is. The matching diagonals in the LLC and the URC match almost identically and you have the connecting horizontal crack connecting the two with near perfect spacing. I wouldn’t touch the composition.
I’m late here but have to say how much I love this! I don’t think it needs more color at all – the subtle tones are perfect for the gentle sculpting of the rock and the soft light. I love that the sand grains hint at the scale but leave me in wonderment.
