Hello everyone,
Just looking for some constructive criticism regarding composition, lighting, as well as possibly what you think I could do to enhance this shot or how you would have edited this image.
This was taken here in Vancouver at whytecliff park, my friend Ryan and I went out there to try and capture an amazing sunset (usually the skies will turn a vibrant orange/red, but the clouds really took away some of the amazing light that we would normally experience. But this is the aftermath, still happy with the trip and trek out there. Will be returning out there to capture some amazing light.
Edit: Straightened the image, brought up the shadows, and painted some of the areas to highlight the light.
You've done a good job here, Jaspreet, for my tastes. Your editing is so subtle that I had to carefully A/B the images to work out which is which.
Since you do ask for CC, I might have lifted the darkest shadows in the rocks a bit more, but it would be easy to kill the image overdoing that. I don't know how much room you had to move your vantage point, but I might have liked a bit of unobstructed water to the right of that little shoal that just reaches the right edge of the image.
However, these are very minor issues, and I'm not sure doing what I've said would actually improve the image, nor am I sure that your "amazing light" will lead to a more satisfying image than this!
Hey Chris, thank-you for your feedback, it's greatly appreciated.
I actually did move my vantage point to the right (As you have suggested). I unfortunately didn't edit that image as Moving it right actually resulted in me losing that sheen in the water that leads the eye to the sky. I was also taking this photo as the tide was rising so that small shoal was covered, but I will try and edit that composition and see how it comes out).
In terms of shadow.s I'll continue to play with them a little but but my eye seems to really prefer the subtle shadows. (I know that personally I always try and include strong shadows in my images as they always force the viewer to peer in a little bit). But I will definitely play around with them and see if I can strike that balance you've suggested. Thank-you once again for your feedback.
Edit: I raised the shadows up by about 5 points and found that to be the perfect balance between details/shadows, and brought some highlights in the sky down. Thank-you for the pointers Chris.