This image is evocative for me, but I suspect that it's not "dramatic" enough to appeal to many. Is there something I could do in terms of composition, cropping or digital manipulation that would improve the emotional appeal?
I think you must agree that Becky's crop and processing have resulted in a much more pleasing image. The sand, as currently exposed, is really just acres of dead space. A slightly higher vantage point would enhance the reflections in the water as well.
I agree with Becky V. Note that the contrast between sky and beach is too large to get detail in both; a gradient filter may help to reduce the contrast. You could also do this 'digitally': take one shot where you measure light on the sky, and another where you measure light on the sand. Now you can combine the sand from one image with the sky from the other. The image processing program Photoimpact has a feature to perform this kind of manipulation. Good luck!
I agree this photo is both evocative and dramatic, but I feel the drama -- the long, strong lines of the water in the sand -- is lost because you've got too much foreground. Since there's nothing particularly interesting the bottom third of this photo, I think it could be cropped out.
Sunset shots are always tricky to expose for - you want to capture the light in the sky, but get some detail in the ground as well. Using a longer exposure might have lessened the darkness on the beach. Also, I found there is a slight yellowish cast to the photo - this could be due to your scanner. I know mine always puts a reddish cast on my photos, no matter how I calibrate it.
I hope you don't mind, but I did a quick fix in PS. Just for curiosity's sake, I cropped out most of the sand, adjusted the curves and adjusted the colour balance. No saturation was added. If you live near this area, then I encourage you to go back to that beach and try different camera settings (and angles! Do you have a ladder? ;-p ) until you get a shot you're happy with.
Hello Reid , It's a wonderful capture realy , I like the lines of water which I think due to long exposure GREAT , just as personal opinion if you add a very sinple object like a small boad or a bird to will give the image more value to have such object your center of focus , but any way it's a very good shot as it is . Regards ......... ~~ Hassan ~~
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