Introduction

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself to the forum. I've been a lurker here for a while, so I thought I should jump on in. I was born, raised and currently reside in the San Francisco Bay Area- Benicia to be exact. I'm very inspired by the work on this forum, so I look forward to participating and learning from you all.

With that I present and image from Rodeo Beach, in the Marin Headlands. Thanks for looking.

Chris Maun

Hello Chris, and welcome to NPN and the CANP forum here. This is an excellent first post to start things off with. There are quite a few CANP members up and around the Bay area too. I'm sure they will be much more familiar with this scene and possibly have taken advantage of photographing this area as well. Glad that you were able to find us and join in on the posting of images and commenting on others work as well.

Please feel free to add your name to the CANP Roll Call post in one of the above messages. There is no formality to that process, it's just an easy way to collect and update a running list of folks participating in the CANP forum.

Chris,

Welcome aboard!

Real nice first post. I like the way you used the rocks in the foreground and got the sun just as it was clearing the horizon. I might be seeing a bit of a color cast on my screen, but minor stuff.

I am looking forward to seeing more of your posts.

Welcome to the California Forum Chris,

I'm sure you will get plenty of great feedback here. Everything in the scene is very balanced and the sun rays bursting through rocks makes some good drama. I might darken the edge at the bottom left corner just ever so slightly. Nice work and hope to see more of it here.

Steve

Chris,

Welcome to the forum. I live in Monterey so not too far from you. I have been meaning to get over to Rodeo Beach at some point. I bet that would be a cool place for night photography as well if it is open after hours.

I really like the comp and sunstar coming through the rocks along with the shutter speed. The only thing that I might adjust a bit is the sky color. Its looks a little unnatural - like it has a red cast as the blue part isn't really blue, almost like a red filter was applied. But that might be the desired effect. And of course everyone has a different way of interpreting a scene.

Thanks for posting and participating.

Derek

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone! I'm excited to be a part of this forum, as there seems to be a lot of useful feedback, which is what I am looking for.

Paul- I will certainly add my info to the roll call. Thank you for pointing that out.

Harley- You are right about the color cast. I've fixed this and it looks much better. Thanks for the comments.

Steve- Thank you. I'm just learning about targeted adjustments in LR now, so I may play around with your suggestion. BTW- I'm the guy you met that rainy morning at the bus stop at Reds Meadow a few months back. I look forward to chatting with you more.

Thanks again everyone!

Chris Maun

Welcome Chris. Great comp and exposure. The sky seems to be a weird shade of red but I am on a laptop so I could be wrong. Looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks Derek and Richard! I had to stack 3 filters to hold back that bright sky, so I think there was some undesired color effects. I'll post the corrected version later, it looks much better. That's the great thing about these forums, other people noticed things that we sometimes miss. It probably doesn't help that I am processing on an un-calibrated laptop monitor either .

Derek, I have been wanting to do a night shot here for a while, but haven't gotten around to it.

Chris Maun

Welcome Chris.

Wonderful first post. This is nice and a very well balanced comp. Maybe you could dodge some of the foreground rocks which seems to have a hard grad lines.

Have been there couple of times before and I can't wait to get back there soon. yes, I too wanted to do some night shots which has been long pending

Thanks for your welcome Debjit! Maybe there should be a Rodeo Beach night get together? This would be the right time of year to do it.

Here is a re-process of the image above. I feel that this better represents the scene. Hopefully, you will find the colors more accurate.

Chris Maun

Hey Chris,

Great job on the update. The sky definately looks better and this makes the whole images look much more balanced IMO.

Derek

The repost is much better, the sky is multi colored now. Great job!

Oh, you'll have to explain the Amador thing to sometime. Just so you know I don't walk around wearing a shower cap often.

Thanks Guys! I'm glad you the like the update.

Steve- Amador is my middle name. I use that as my screen name on various forums, but I figured since my photography is a reflection of me, I should just use my name!

Until I see you again, you'll always be the guy in the shower cap!

Chris

Very nice scene Chris and I think the repost is an improvement.

Chris,

Welcome to CANP! Very nice work! I was at McClure's with Dan Baumbach on Monday. I love Marin and Point Reyes!

Please do add your info to the CANP Roll Call.

If you have any questions about NPN or CANP, please feel free to e-mail me.

Cheers,

-P

Thank you Rudy and Preston!

the rework looks much better...

yes, a rodeo beach night out seems a good idea. i am generally free on weekends...

Welcome! The rework is looking quite nice. Love the comp and the way my eye moves diagonally through the image. Good stuff!

Welcome to the forum Chris, and great first post! The rework looks more natural, which I like. Did you use a grad, or blend? The sky looks a bit dark for the foreground (or the foreground light for the sky). And I would prefer to have a little more detail on those stacks - but that's one of the harder things to get right. Try using a select color range mask on the blacks to bring in more detail from a another exposure (or the same raw processed differently), if you have it. Keep 'em coming!

Thanks for the welcome Floris. I used a .9 and a .6 on this shot. Unfortunately, there is no detail to be had here. Thanks for mentioning that though, now I'll be sure to bring home some exposures for the sea stacks next time.

Chris Maun

Welcome and very nice first post, and you already used the comments to improve an image, these boys will send you to school, but in a very nice way.I always try to check my ego at the door.

Paul