To all of you guys this sea-stack is probably very well known. It's a famous Hvítserkur, which can be found near the north shore of Iceland.
The idea for this shot came to me as I was looking for a composition and saw some tourists walking by and standing beneath it (thanks to the very low tide). They looked so small compared to this enormous rock. Now, I don't include people much in my photos, but in an instance I recognized that this shot can be enhanced a great deal by giving it a proper sense of scale. I set up my tripod, planted the camera and dialed the settings, and then took my focus-stacking exposures. Then I set a self timer, pressed the shutter button and run to greet with the giant (it wasn't that easy and elegant in waders! :D).
A very low tide gave me an opportunity to actually go right next to it and touch it, which at the moment felt incredibly humbling and exhilarating. To me Hvítserkur looks like a fossilized, drinking dinosaur, so for few seconds I felt just like Dr. Grant entering the Jurassic Park for the first time. It was as much exciting as humbling experience to feel that kind of connection with it. Feel free to hum a Jurassic Park theme, as I did when I post-processed this image. ;)
Given the color neutrality of the scene (weather made the light pretty dull) I decided to include a radioactive-green algae in the foreground.
Please, let me know what you think. I'm really happy with how the photo came out, but I'm always eager to hear other people's thoughts. :)
i don't know... i love it, good color choices with the seaweed and the dark sand. i like the long exposure. i like how all the angles have a meeting point to the right of the rock. i wonder how it would look cropped to a nonstandard format like 7x14 make it super narrow and tall it would make it more of an art piece but i think it could be awesome i think its the dead space in the upper left that is distracting me but this is all together awesome shot
Initially I had little different crop - little taller than now, but not as much. I decided to cut off the excess space at the top and the bottom, to make main subject more prominent in the frame.
I know what you mean by the dead space on the left - it bugs me too, although I didn't want to crop any of the seaweed out. I know that composition could be improved on that one - that's certain. In my defence I can say that the tide was already going high so I worked faster than I would like to. ;D
dude still an awesome shot and i'm jealous you have that kind of stuff to shoot not a lot to shoot in my area besides farms and streams
Do not grief, my friend. There's hope! :D I live in Poland, which is not the most photogenic region in the world in my opinion. ;) But I left my heart in Iceland so I come back there every now and then. ;)
i can't wait to go i told my wife last month i wanted to go and she said ok...i thought i was gonna have to beg lol ill get there soon
Did you tell her that you want to go alone with your camera, yet? :D If not - that would explain her reaction :D
Happy for you - Iceland is an awesome place - literally. It makes you pause in awe and jaw drop everyday. :)
awesome can't wait