On the Cliffs (and the fence)

It was a pretty dreary and wet weekend around here without much going on as far as photo ops. I wasn't too concerned since I had been down and out with a cold all week, and was actually kind of glad the weather was crappy. I always feel guilty if I just stick around the house. Anyways, I woke up from a NyQuil induced semi-coma sunday afternoon to see the clouds were breaking a little. I quickly checked the offshore buoy reports, and my go to weather websites. Everything looked promising for a chance at an actual sunset, so I ran out to the cliffs over Simpson's Reef near Cape Arago. For as freakin windy as it was, the ocean swells were pretty unimpressive. Still there was a good possibility for some stormy sunset action. Here's what I came away with. I'm a little on the fence with this photo. Mainly because of the boring ocean. There were virtually no swells, just a bunch of white caps that aren't very camera friendly. I'd be interested to hear your opinions on the composition and processing as well. I've been trying out some new things in the photoshop dept. Any comments or critiques would be greatly appreciated. And sorry for the rambling little story. I'm bored...

Yea, this is really nice - the FG really makes it for me. Beautiful spot... I'd like to see this part of the coast someday soon myself.

I like the smooth interesting texture of the FG. Nice shot Aaron.

The foreground is great! Nice color contrast with the rest, and soothing to see. I agree that the ocean looks a little "flat" and boring. Made me wonder what a slow shutter speed would've given you for the water and sky... Looks like a wonderful area to go back to for lots of comps.

The foreground is great! Nice color contrast with the rest, and soothing to see. I agree that the ocean looks a little "flat" and boring. Made me wonder what a slow shutter speed would've given you for the water and sky... Looks like a wonderful area to go back to for lots of comps.

One of my favorite spots along the coast.. nice work!

This is nice Aaron. The light really brings out the warmth of the sandstone, and the composition leads nicely through the frame. My only nit would be that it seems to lack a little sharpness in the midground area but im thinking thats attributed to seaspray etc.

I like the soft touch of this photo. Sharpening would kill this mood.

Nice job coaxing some of that light to come out for you. These last few days have been pretty dreary, its a nice change to see.

The foreground is amazing. Very nice image if you ask me.

Thanks for all the comments. Like I said, the sea is whats keeping me from really liking this shot. I did try longer exposures, but the effect was even worse. It turned the breakers into a very low contrast slab of mush. This shot was 1.3 seconds at f/18. Any longer looked bad, and it was tough to get anything much faster and still have enough DOF for the FG to the distant trees.

As for the PP, I have to admit this is a little bit of a stolen idea from Marc Adamus. At first when he started using the soft, dreamy post-work, I was a bit undecided on the idea. It has really grown on me though. I have no clue as to how he achieves his effect, but I have come up with my own brew that I like quite a bit. I think it is a more subtle effect than he uses, but has a big impact on the scene, if compared to the original shot. Viewing these kinds of pics at such a small size doesn't do the effect much justice, but believe me it is quite sharp - and soft all at the same time. Looks great in print. thanks again to all for the input. I appreciate it.

I hope to work this area when I am down there in June..