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Sandymount Strand (this evening) C+C

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Sandymount Strand (this evening) C+C

  • thewing
    Member

    I’m pretty much a beginner, but looking to learn, so please be as critical as possible. Thanks…

    MartinOC
    Participant

    There are a lot of seascape photos posted on this website, so the standard is quite high. Many people are spoting views, and coming back when weather forecast seems promising and tide tables look good. Being on the east coast means you don’t get the sunset over the sea.
    Even though your shot isn’t bad there is still a lot you can do.

    I like the colours, the photo itself has an old photo kind of feel.
    The balance is quite good too. What lets it down is the foreground, I think, it is not very attractive. Maybe a 50/50 sea-sky split would work better, but if the tide was in or the sand more white and uniform may would work as is. But best if there is some point of interest in the foreground ( a burnt-out car :) )
    A tripod too, to sharpen it up might be good.

    Get your tide tables and an alarm clock for the sunrise, and you could perfect this scene.

    I hope that helps, it is a good shot.

    Martin

    thewing
    Member

    Thanks Martin, comments much appreciated.

    The early rise is next on the agenda…..

    Mr.H
    Participant

    Welcome to Pi thewing.

    This is quite a nice shot but can be improved upon. I like the composition with the pools and ripples in the sand, and it the poolbeg towers give it a strong sense of place (at least to dubs) and a much needed focal point. The subltle pinks shooting away from the sunset are pleasant.

    As Martin mentions, the light could be a little better. If the scene were lit by a low sun (behind you in this case) it would have brought out those ripples a lot more and added the foreground interest. This may have meant taking the shot 20 mins earlier being careful not to get your shadow in the frame (assuming the sun was around at that stage with our changeable weather).

    The other issue here is that the scene is a bit noisy. You have probably shot on at something like ISO400 or maybe above. This could have been a concious decision given the light, or something your camera did on auto. Shooting at a lower ISO will reduce the noise, but increase length of the exposure. You would need a tripod to do this effectively.

    Hope this helps.

    Gary

    BM
    Participant

    Well done for posting.

    I think Martin is right about the 50-50 crop – I tried this by scrolling in IE and it looked good. You lose the reflection of the ventrail, but I think it’s worth that.

    Go to the Adobe web-site and look at some of the tutorials on curves and levels and see what you can do with the sky (if you have Photoshop) – perhaps with masking and dodge/burn. I think that teh contrast in teh sky can be “upped” a bit.

    Try a tripod and a lower perspective – bring an old plastic bag or bit of foam to kneel on!

    … and let’s see the result of any adjustments you make to this one as well as the dawn shot.

    Good Luck.

    JMac-2006
    Participant

    I like the composition on this and the position of the main elements – the chimneys and the foreground pools imho are spot on – what lets the picture down is the quality of the light – a more dramatic sky at dawn might have reflected better in the pools or as MrH says a lower sun as it would have added shadows and brought out detail of the sand ripples

    Try again at an earlier time when the tide is out again and I reckon you could be on to a winner

    Couple things you might note for next time as said above are tripod as you will get into long shutter speeds – tripod will help keep everything sharp – and also as said already, drop the ISO on the camera as low as possible usually ISO 100 as this will reduce the noise – you might have to take camera off automatic or auto scene to access the ISO depending on the model. Also check that your horizons are level – reckon this one needs very slight rotation

    As said i think real potential :)

    thewing
    Member

    Thanks all for your comments, very much appreciated.

    I will set the alarm over the weekend and check the tide tables and go for this again

    Hope to repost the results soon

    Thanks

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