A 10 minute exposure creating an impressionistic rendition, before and during sunrise at Bandon, Oregon.
No color enhancement.
1DS Mark II with a 3 stop SingRay Reverse Grad and a 9 stop ND, f/14, Canon 24-105 at 55mm. Slight single RAW blend only to correct tones in rock at grad line.
Nice shot of this beautiful coastal scene. The red in the sky is marvelous. It is really difficult to preserve the detail in these dark rocks but you did a great job here -- the clarity is amazing. One nitpick: the edges of the rock are very sharp from the bottom up to about the top fourth of the rock -- at that point the edges do no look sharp. I imagine this could have been part of the blending procedure or maybe it is my imagination. In any event, great work here.
hummm. Not sure if this works for me, Mark. One thing to check is I see dark spots clearly along the Right and Left edge of the frame. I think the biggest issue for me is the very bright white almost overblown skyline - it hurts to look at that in contrast to the seastack. The otherworldly tri-tone color doesn't work very strongly for me either. I also see halos along the sides of the seastack where the waveline is at.... sorry but I wanted to be honest with my take on this. Hope it helps.
Man I love this! I do agree with what John said, and I think you should address those items. But from simply a pleasureable visual experience, this rocks! What a joy to just sit back and take the shot in, for me it is a piece of glory.
The visual impact here is stunning!
I do see the dark spots, like dust on the sensor, and the slight haloing on the lower part of the stack, and also a bit of noise in the pink sky above the bright band...all should be easy to fix.
Other than those little details, this is a striking and compelling image, Mark!
I'm using a calibrated dual Samsung SyncMaster 213T's on a G5. I use the Monaco Optix calibration system. I'm using "Monitor Native" in their software for the monitor's temp...
By halo I don't mean something with the edges - they look too soft now. In the space outside of the rock I see a lightening effect that usually comes from using a mid-size feather amount before doing tonal adjustments to something dark next to something bright. You can see the transition a bit in the sky outside of the rock. If you look at the sand right next to the RIght side of the sea stack, you can see an area that is lighter than the sand. It's very minor and probably 95% of the viewing world won't see it. However if you print this at 60", then I would expect more people would see it, so I'm pointing it out....
I'd put the sharpness back in to the seastack and just lightly burn the mid-tones with a big soft brush.
I'm with John - there is a slight aura around the rock as though the transition produced by PhotoMatix or the Shadow/Highlight tool was faintly visible. It's faint enough that I doubt anyone but us nit-pickers would even notice it . I wouldn't have mentioned it except for the exchange between you and John. That aside, the image has fine presence.
It is a strong composition and the colour, balance, etc. work very well.
Once pointed out, though, one sees the flaws outlined above, but I don't feel that these prevent the viewer from being caught by the strength of the picture (I hope that's correct English...).
You have shared such technically perfect images lately that people are getting picky!
I like the color, and my two main concerns are the apparent noise in the sky (maybe due to jpg compression) and the lack of sharpness on the left of the rock edge (in the middle).
floris wrote:
I'd be interested in seeing a series all together of this rock, since you have so many fascinating skies to go with it. Another fabulous addition!
Great idea. I might do that. I have more from where these came from...
. I wouldn't have mentioned it except for the exchange between you and John. That aside, the image has fine presence.