The Touch of Light

A very nice b&w Sairam. I like the range of tones you've done in processing. Perhaps the sand is a little too dark as I can't make out any detail there, but I do like the contrast with the water. The horizontal lines of the clouds seem to be blocking the flow of the comp somehow for me, or perhaps they are just a little too dominant.

Moody and mysterious and the light here is very striking. I really like this, Sairam. I could also see this working with a bit more shadow detail on the beach. Great drama here.

Ed

Beautiful. I'm on my work computer (laptop - uncalibrated), but I can see the beach quite well on it. I love the range of tones captured here. This is excellent IMO.

Wonderful use of light and contrast! My only suggestion might be a slight amount of luminance noise reduction on the sky if so desired.

This is great! You have a good subject to explore in black and white and I like the results. Looks very good to me.

As always, good to see some very open experimentation such as this image, Sairam. I do not work in B&W but do appreciate nice images such as this one here. I would think the noise in the sky is an item to work in for an improved scene. However, some nice work here regardless.

Sairam,

And in the honor of Adams, you've done this beautiful justice. In fact I could envision your processing here just as if it might have been something that came out of his darkroom. Excellent work here.

Along the lines of Mark's comments, but hard to tell at this size, is that the clouds seem a little noisy - or is that grainy? And if there is any detail at all that shows up in print, I'd say this looks great. Really like the contrast and tonal range.

You didn't mention, but is this Drakes beach/bay out at Point Reyes? Sure looks like it.

Lon

The sky is great - pure Ansel. The shadows need opened up some to show more detail and you've come very close to blowing out the highlights where the sun strikes the water. Check the detail in the RAW file and burn it in so it's not quite as harsh.

Sairam, I'm very much enjoying this image! The longer I look at it the more it draws me in. I like the mood and I think you did a great job on the comp.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Wow, thanks for all the comments guys!

David, it's kind of weird because on my laptop at home ( a macbook), I can see detail in the sand pretty well. The same image when viewed on my work computer, a PC shows a darker image. I need to find a way to account for this brightness difference!

Thanks Ed, I guess a few people have mentioned lack of detail in the sand. Guess I need to look into it.

Thanks Bill, I guess there is some discrepancy across displays. Any idea of how to account for it?

Thanks Mark. I intentionally added a bit of grain to the image for aesthetics, but I guess the compression produced some artifacts and it looks a bit noisy. I'll fix that in a repost.

Thanks very much Phil, I'm glad you like it!

Thanks Paul, like I said above, the added grain and the compression I had to do to post it here has rather made it less like grain and more like noise. Will fix it

Lon, those are some very kind words! Thank you. Yes, this is Drake's beach at Point Reyes. It was a cloudy evening with occasional moments where the sun shone through and spotlit these rocks. As for the noise, I guess added grain + compression = nasty noise

Thanks Barry, glad you like it. I checked the histogram after processing, and there was no clipping on the highlights. I intentionally dodged the highlights there to draw the eye. Also if you see the larger version ( I will post one soon), you'll be able to see detail there, although rather faintly, since the original RAW didn't have too much to start with

Thanks very much Nick!

Hi Sairam

The beach looks dark on my monitor, too. I can see some detail, but I think the image wouldn't suffer if it were a little lighter.

There generally is no way to account for differences among other peoples' monitors. They are all different.

A problem does arise when you make a print. Prints tend to be darker than what we see on our monitor. This can be especially detrimental to black and white. I don't print my own; I have them professionally printed - my printer's monitor is calibrated to his printer and paper, so it is WYSIWYG. I plan to have some large black and white prints made soon and I will review them on his monitor, and have him make suitable adjustments before printing. Because prints tend to be darker, I think it's probably a good practice to err on the side of making shadows a little lighter.

By the way, I have Adams book too. I greatly admire his work.

Thanks for the info Buck, yes erring on the lighter side of shadows seems to be the way to go. I've had a number of images here where members have commented that the shadows were too dark.

I love the book!

I am really liking the bold contrast. The beach shadows are not too dark for my tastes or lacking detail. Very well done!

Thanks Harley! I'm glad you like it!