Ruby Beach Morning

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 18, 20141,962 views14 comments

A beautiful, albeit cloudless, morning with hardly a whiff of wind greeted me at Ruby Beach on the Olympic Peninsula last July. The morning sun lit up the Sitka Spruce across this pond just back from the surf. Had the whole place to myself for a couple of hours on this morning, which was quite nice. While I would have liked fewer pieces of driftwood in the foreground, the zig-zag pattern of the logs did seem to work fairly well. Used a slightly longer than normal lens so as to emphasize the far trees and their reflection. Would appreciate very much your thoughts and comments of this image.
4x5, 210mm, 2 stop soft GND, warm polarizer, Provia 100F, f45, 2sec. Microtek M1 flatbed scan, Tony Kuyper's masks.

Large size image somewhat better.

Thank you very much for the comments on the last image, and thank you in advance for your suggestions and comments on this one.

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Michael Cothran on March 18, 2014 at 7:34 PM

I like the overall composition and processing. The band of sunlight really adds some nice impact.
However, the background trees and ground greenery are less sharp than your foreground. Tilting (either front and/or back) from the front logs to the tips of the trees should have brought everything into good focus. Not to mention using f45.

Registered on December 5, 2012, 31 Posts, 730 Comments

Comment posted by Genny K. on March 18, 2014 at 8:10 PM

I like the angles and light in this. I actually really like the logs in the FG; they add lots of depth and angles that accentuate the trees and sunlight.
I am on my tablet, not the big monitor, but the sharpness all looks fine to me. That misty fog adds to it, too.

Registered on June 5, 2006, 132 Posts, 2001 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Kearl on March 18, 2014 at 9:18 PM

I think the mist hurt you a bit, the BG is hazy and the sky color is a bit off for me.
The FG is very nice, sharp, excellent reflection, I would like to see a cropped version of just the FG, cropped at the tree line.

Registered on September 2, 2013, 209 Posts, 1514 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on March 18, 2014 at 10:02 PM

Wow Vance, I think this is an amazing photograph . The side lighting is sweet and the foreground driftwood adds to the arrangement of many triangles that compliment the composition . On my monitor everything appears to right on the money. Had to have been a really pleasant morning to work your magic.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by Vance Gese on March 19, 2014 at 12:19 AM

Michael, Genny, Dan, Gary, thank you very much for your comments. Will admit that the colors of the posted image look a bit off from my master file, and the whole image seems to be a little darker than I would have liked. Don't know if the conversion to sRGB was a problem or what.
Michael, thank you for your suggestions. I did use a good degree of tilt of the front standard to place the plane of focus from about midway up the distant trees to the logs in the foreground. I use a Sinar C that I purchased over 30 years ago that now has a P-2 front standard so getting the plane of focus just right works pretty good. I think perhaps the difference in apparent sharpness may be due to my processing as I increased the contrast of the foreground logs a fair amount; that or it may be an issue with my scanner, which doesn't always hold the 4x5 flat. Fortunately, the 4x5 transparency is tack sharp throughout. Again thanks for your comments. Really appreciate all the feedback.

Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments

Comment posted by Stuart Williams on March 19, 2014 at 6:56 AM

nice one vance. i love the foreground and you controlled what i reckon should have been a challenging exposure very well.

Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on March 19, 2014 at 11:04 AM

Beautiful, Vance. Lovely warm light and I love the bit of mist. The foreground works for me. This turned out really good.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on March 19, 2014 at 11:10 AM

The lighting here is wonderful, Vance, and your view works very well. The details in the foreground logs are also great. I'm having mixed feelings about the touch of mist at the right edge, with part of me liking the gentle sense of mystery and part thinking that a bit of burning in and contrast enhancement would remove a distraction....The longer I look, the more I like keeping that subtle touch of mystery.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Roane on March 19, 2014 at 2:40 PM

Pretty sweet image, Vance. I like it. I agree with you about the drift wood - the zig zag pattern makes it work and brings order to the scene. Nice light and reflection!

Registered on December 12, 2008, 213 Posts, 2226 Comments

Comment posted by David Chauvin on March 20, 2014 at 6:53 AM

The comp works well and the line of warm light in the tree line looks so inviting standing in those cool shadows. For some reason the URH corner seems a bit dark for the conditions but that might be the way it was because of the fog.

Registered on August 5, 2004, 1007 Posts, 5595 Comments

Comment posted by Matthew Goldsmith on March 20, 2014 at 11:51 AM

One of my favorite locations. Makes me want to go back. The golden light on the trees is gorgeous.

Registered on June 29, 2010, 37 Posts, 286 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on March 21, 2014 at 12:07 AM

A busy, but effective and engaging comp. The band of warm light on the tree trunks is really amazing! Nice!!

Chris

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by Navin Sarma on March 21, 2014 at 4:22 AM

Nice, balanced composition Vance. Every inch has a nice amount of interest. I think the subtle light complements the many elements to this photograph well, perhaps a more colorful sunrise would overwhelm.

Registered on July 17, 2011, 233 Posts, 1373 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Reid on March 21, 2014 at 1:18 PM

Beautiful light and colors in this Vance and a really nice fore ground also. The mist adds a wonderful back round. Beautiful.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments