Hi everyone - I've been struggling with this image. My wife isn't so hot on the shot but I want there to be something here given the action. I'm unsure about the edit and which direction to take it, and even more unsure the more I look at it.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I know another set of opinions will help.
#1) Color crop, don't recall the color cast when I was editing but looks like it has one in this jpg?
#2) B&W crop
#3) B&W tighter crop, even less midtones
Moving the surfer helped, but the image is still not very interesting. The sky is totally bland. The foreground is a shilhouette with no detail. Another big issue at least for me is only the surfer and water are in focus but the man on the beach and the trees are out of focus. The foreground focus is fixable. Blow up the image about 800X and use the clone tool to work on all of the edges. That would actually be pretty easy since there are otherwise no details. An hour or two and you should be able to make a very substantial improvement. If the individuals or the image is however important to you I suppose it might be worth the effort. Otherwise, I also agree that it would be best to move on.
I get the "between the trees" vibe ... and I get the chillin' while watchin' the action vibe.
To me, the image is about the dude on the beach watchin'. I'm good with the silhouette, but I think the surfer should have been the oof (two reasons @ natural distance expectation & diminutive subject perspective) and the beach dude in focus.
As to moving the surfer left ... I'd bring him much farther left and shoot this as a portrait orientation @ the beach dude.
That being said, I think it was a smart strategy to "go with" the dynamic range delta @ the beach shade vs. surf, rather than try to overcome it.
Diggin' the concept ... but even the Babe would have "a swing and a miss" now and then. Also, if a reshoot is an option, I might consider orienting my angle somewhat so the observer is looking along the surf line, vs. straight out. Just some thoughts, many ways to go with it, but as is ... I think the relationship of the two is inverted, and the they are too far apart making the viewer "ping-pong" from side to side.
Bob's rework illustrates the relationship changes, and for some reason, even the original looks a bit "cutout" to me.
Nothing to get excited about, but here's a draft concept of what I was thinking.
thanks for the input everyone, seriously, really helps. I'll keep your advice in mind if a similar shot presents itself in the future. my P'shop skills are nonexistent so I'll just relegate this to the "ones that got away" pile
