This was shot overhead from a pier, with my sister-in-law (not a model), laying on the beach. We waited until a wave came in for a shot and could only do one, since the amount of sand that ended up in her hair was too much for her. Shot on a 5d Mark IV and a 24-70mm f/2.8
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Color Grading
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I like it nice shot
Thanks! For those of you rating it lower, and aren't doing to give your photo a better chance of winning, feel free to critique! Would love some feedback!
Okay, while I do think she was laying on some sand somewhere, the water in this shot is obviously from a different photo. The deep, dark blue tones indicate deeper water (very deep) and the scale of the whitewater doesn’t match the girl; it’s like the water was shot from a helicopter and the girl was shot from the pier.
I don’t mind digital manipulation, but it seems from the description like you’re trying to pass this off as a single, in-camera shot, which it clearly is not.
Or maybe I’m way off and don’t have any idea what I’m talking about. ;)
No, you're not wrong! The water is from location, however is composited back. About 20' from the shoreline (when walking up the pier), there is coral causing the nice streaks in the water. So the shot was done as described, the water is from the same location, however the water on the shoreline itself was quite boring. Hence the edit! The deep tones are from the colour grade and playing more with curves to achieve the look. I'd say the water depth would have been around 10-15'. Thanks for the feedback!
I do agree with the fact that by your description, I though you were stating it is a single shot, not a composite. “This was shot…”, many details, no mention of compositing…
Ah ok, I see where you got that from! No, this is a composit. The water, model and sand are all from the same location, but all composited together. All shots were taken with the same settings and focal length, shooting down off the pier!
“My sister-in-law (not a model), laying on the beach. We waited until a wave came in for a shot and could only do one.”
You gave all the story of how you shot that, with the beach she was laying on and the incoming wave you waited for… But the wave is composited in, and the beach is composited in.
It is hardly a matter of over-interpreting what you said.
I really like the composition and color grading… not including the right part of the water. In particular, as underlined by Deleted User, this is to dark and to blue to be realistic. It also have a “painty” feeling that does not match the rest of the scene.
More importantly, your layer merging needs a lot of work. You used a soft brush, maybe to help the merging, but it does not work: her hand, left arm and left leg are disappearing. You need a detailed contouring with a brush about as hard as the border of the subject is sharp. (Plus, I do not see how the wave could have gone through the arm.)
Now, I would like to address your description, same as Deleted User but with more elements. I see no part of water reaching your subject that has not been obviously edited in (cf previous remarks).
I was thinking: “Ok, maybe the wave did not look great, hence the work.”
But I still had the question of the impressive feat: how did you go above her?! (I forgot the “pier” part.)
Well, she was not even lying on this sand. Top-left, we see that the light on the sand is coming from the left. The light on her comes from the right.
So, the description is a lie (except the material used for the picture you started from, and maybe the pier, who knows).
Hiding the fact that a picture is a composite is not the part you should keep from Peter Lik's work.
Dude, reading the comments, you got people thinking about you image, I say mission accomplished. The average person isn’t going to care if this is composit or whatever. It’s a cool shot. Good job.
Yeah, I see they wrote 2 more novels about it, so I'm going to assume they're glowing reviews and they gave it 5 stars! I didn't actually read them, since it seems these 2 are really oversensitive and I don't feel like coddling anyone's feelings today! :) You on the otherhand Logan, have been helpful, friendly and critical at the same time and I appreciate you taking the time!