Though I would share this image. This is actually an old image from a few years ago that I was never really satisfied with. However, I recently purchased the "Photographing the World" series during the Fstoppers sale. And after applying some of Elia's editing techniques (mostly getting better with Color effects pro) I believe I have brought this image back to life and I'm much more happy with it now. The only thing I would change is I wish the clouds were either going towards or away from the camera.
It is a spectacular image. Love to see how it was before your recent edits.
Thanks. I don't have a "before" image b/c I could never get it to look how I wanted.
Hi Kyle! Good to see you posting. I'm always interested in your posts because you show your creative thinking with the image, something that always intrigues me because this creativity thing is such a mystery! Also, you show how you keep developing your ideas over time.
I really like this image, but one thing spoils it, while another niggles for me. The big issue for me is the unrealistically blue-looking clouds. I understand that people differ in the amount of saturation they like, and US tastes tend to be for higher sat than I like. But there's more to this than overall saturation levels here; for me, the strong blue makes the subtle play of shades in the rocks look insipid by comparison. robbing the image of much of its potential depth of appeal.
The litlle niggle (and I'll freely admit to having a bee in my bonnet on this) is the horizon. Sea horizons that are not dead level and straight leap to my eye distractingly. There's an optical illusion for me in this image which makes the horizon appear to be tilted clockwise. In fact it IS - but it seems to be by just 0.1 degrees! If it were my image, I'd be a little torn about rotating it ACW so it LOOKS level. There's a trace of residual barrel distortion too.
I've addressed both in this edit (the horizon's rotated 0.3 degrees ACW from yours, but LOOKS level to me!), and reduced vibrancy in the sky, which allows my eye to linger on the rocks and enjoy the play of colours and forms, and contrast with the soft sea.
Thanks for your comments Chris! First I want to say that I LOVE your edit of this image! I do tend to like bold vibrant colors. So it's a fair criticism.
I feel like I struggle with horizons in all of my images. I will stare at something FOREVER and it will look level. Then I'll take a break and come back and look at it again and it looks crooked. Nowadays I have a camera that has an internal level and I just use that. I took this with a Nikon d3200 which did not have a level. The funny thing here is both yours and mine look level to me haha.
The sky was actually pretty blue that day. But it could probably be toned back a bit. Here is another picture for reference. This is the same rock jetty taken the same day just a few minutes apart. This image is actually one of my personal favorites. It was featured as POTD on here as well!
I recall this series of yours, Kyle, and have enjoyed it.
I have a level in my Nikon DSLR and use it, but inevitably have to tweak the image, as the camera level is not that precise. I use ACDSee which has levelling within 0.1 degrees available which can be checked against a grid overlay. (I'm sure PS and LR have the same or better.) I magnify the image and use the left/right keys to pan it, watching the horizon relative to that line. This also helps to detect and remedy residual distortion. I do that early in processing, so it's right from then on.
The tricky bit is when the horizon IS level but doesn't appear so, as in this case - today my edit looks rotated CW.
There is only 0.3 degrees between ouir images, Kyle! It's not surprising they both look level. Many people don't seem to be fussed by a slight tilt, but they bother me.
Glad you like my edit. It's largely a question of balance, as there are beautiful hues & other visual treats in the rocks, but my eye kept getting drawn back to the sky, which overwhelms them. I haven't touched anything below the horizon, and only pulled back the blue above it.