Posted by Bryan Spahr on February 8, 2009 at 1:08 AM
Soft morning light over Crescent Beach; Ecola State Park.
I left the house about 5 this morning for a sunrise shoot at Ecola. It was a very serene morning on the coast. Surf was certainly up but the wind was calm. Getting down to crescent beach is quite the challenge as of late. Unstable hillsides and trail breaks made for an interesting pre-dawn hike.
I'm a little on the fence about the composition of this shot. It is definitely heavy right but the lines seem to move my eye from right to left. Anyone have any thoughts?
5DMkII - 2.5sec @ 40mm 2 stop GND
Posted by Mark Hudon on February 8, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Dreamy, Nice. I think I'd crop out the white triangle on the right and a bit of the bottom.
Posted by John Williams on February 8, 2009 at 1:31 PM
I too like the upper left 2/3s, and agree with Mark's crop. There not enough in those two areas to really add to the best part of the photo. I love the pastel sky you caught, but these white/silver seas always look a tad odd to me.
Posted by John Lehmkuhl on February 8, 2009 at 2:08 PM
The flow isn't quite right, imo. I'd loose a lot of the bottom and lighten the dark areas in front of the closest rocks... too much empty space for me. I love this spot....
Interesting comp, Bryan. A little more water detail would be nice.
Posted by Bryan Spahr on February 8, 2009 at 9:37 PM
Thanks all for the great feedback. I've played around with the composition and I definitely agree that the UL 2/3rds of this image are much stronger than what I originally cropped. Some selective lightening and highlight work helped to grab a little more detail.
Posted by Brett Grossman on February 8, 2009 at 11:44 PM
I like the second crop better. If I were to make a suggestion, it might be to try and burn in the surf a little bit. My thinking is that would add a little more emphasis to the diagonal lines created by the surf, and not have it compete with the pastel skys for my attention.
BTW, nice work. I've never been to Ecola for sunrise, but looks as if it would be worth a try.
-Brett
Posted by Mark Hudon on February 9, 2009 at 12:00 AM
See, now you, the photographer, is showing me exactly where to look! You're focusing my view. You're saying "this is the meat, check it out".
My high school writing teacher used to say, "write the story with as few words as you can then reread it and cut 30% more words".
Definite improvement with the added water detail, Bryan.
Posted by Marc Adamus on February 10, 2009 at 1:48 PM
The repost is stronger IMO. Some better water lines/texture may have added to the compositional balance, but the softness does lend a peaceful, almost surreal type of mood.
Posted by Larry Puckett on February 10, 2009 at 9:09 PM
I see you're putting that new 5D to work! I like the first composition--the second one seems to lack something without the beach. I'd say if you're going to crop the beach area then do it all and make the photo a pano. After all, you have 21 MP to work with now!
Discussion
10 repliesI left the house about 5 this morning for a sunrise shoot at Ecola. It was a very serene morning on the coast. Surf was certainly up but the wind was calm. Getting down to crescent beach is quite the challenge as of late. Unstable hillsides and trail breaks made for an interesting pre-dawn hike.
I'm a little on the fence about the composition of this shot. It is definitely heavy right but the lines seem to move my eye from right to left. Anyone have any thoughts?
5DMkII - 2.5sec @ 40mm 2 stop GND
BTW, nice work. I've never been to Ecola for sunrise, but looks as if it would be worth a try.
-Brett
My high school writing teacher used to say, "write the story with as few words as you can then reread it and cut 30% more words".
Focus, Focus, Focus.
Larry