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Thanks to Ray for the invite out to boganville, i mean Bungan Head (the only bogans were me rodney and ray, well ok, ray and rodney )

The general consensus from my houselhold is that the octopus shot is the best and the rest are chaff in the wind , i think i really need to find a new angle or something different for the sunrises, the cliche silky water and even the shorter shutter speeds shots just do not have the same impact anymore. Maybe i need a constraint like a macro lens or something to break into another creative view on these scenes..

I am keen for comments and critique on pushing seascapes to the next level, whilst i wish i could say getting a reverse grad would help, i am loathed to buy more gear just to spur interest.







bloody octopus...

biggerry wrote:The general consensus from my houselhold is that the octopus shot is the best and the rest are chaff in the wind

My wife said almost the same thing with my flowing water shots - something like - "I'm getting a bit bored with these, all the same"

#1 I am no painter but the incongruency of a single sun ray makes it a little unbalanced. Did you by chance add any sunrays...

#2 Pretty neat compo and elements. There are telltale signs of HDR at work here. I guess I am keen to see the rocks at full sharpness. I can see what you meant by a 3 minute break. I can see the rays in the distance. On second review, I reckon you you shave off a little from top and bottom and focus things a bit more.

#4 Nice eye contact with the model here. The bluish reflection in the bottom may be helpful or not. I am not sure.

Hope I can make it to the next one. Although things are becoming quite early...

#1 is my preference, gerry. How about a crop to the right hand edge of the sun and remove the darkest of the sky?

#2 has some pretty bright highlights, but #1 is another trademark "Gerry" image.

Yes I think it is time you headed out with something very different to see what you can do.

aim54x wrote:Yes I think it is time you headed out with something very different to see what you can do.

How about a pin hole camera.....

Also we need to discuss as to what constitutes a really amazing seascape. Then go and make that picture. IMHO if you don't know what sort of image you will make, how would you make it? Sorry .

surenj wrote:#1 I am no painter but the incongruency of a single sun ray makes it a little unbalanced. Did you by chance add any sunrays...

#2 Pretty neat compo and elements. There are telltale signs of HDR at work here. I guess I am keen to see the rocks at full sharpness. I can see what you meant by a 3 minute break. I can see the rays in the distance. On second review, I reckon you you shave off a little from top and bottom and focus things a bit more.

#4 Nice eye contact with the model here. The bluish reflection in the bottom may be helpful or not. I am not sure.

Hope I can make it to the next one. Although things are becoming quite early...

ha, no sunrays were harmed in this session, truly i did not

yes a crop on #2 would be good, HDR image? yes and no single frame with GND and CPL I chose the diffused look over the sharpened detail view for this one and i like the bright nature of the exposure, it, for me, gives it more realism than say a image with the sun correctly exposed and also everything else correctly exposed, which seem to not appeal to me much.

The blueish reflection on the last was a pain, i could not compose it completely out...now as for those eyes, i was glad i got them

aim54x wrote:#2 has some pretty bright highlights, but #1 is another trademark "Gerry" image.
Yes I think it is time you headed out with something very different to see what you can do.

yes i agree with the highlights, however it was intentional
and yes I will have to do something different for a sunrise...

norwest wrote:#1 is my preference, gerry. How about a crop to the right hand edge of the sun and remove the darkest of the sky?

yeah, this one has some potential for some cropping and i think your idea would really lock the viewer into teh sun and the rocks, accentuating teh overall scene

surenj wrote:Also we need to discuss as to what constitutes a really amazing seascape. Then go and make that picture. IMHO if you don't know what sort of image you will make, how would you make it? Sorry .

exactly, however I typically do not fore-think my compositions, rather just assess it on the day, given that it is often a new location and unknown conditions i find this opens up some creative thinking, however I think there is plenty of latitude for looking for a certain style of shot.

I am not sure what constitutes a amazing seascape anymore. I look at the ones from the other morning and go 'meh'

biggerry wrote:I am not sure what constitutes a amazing seascape anymore. I look at the ones from the other morning and go 'meh'

That's because we've shot there now and the pictures are "old" now

I do like that first - and saying it's a trademark Gerry image is no bad thing - you do great work (not just the composition and timing (the timing on those waves was pretty good here) but I reckon you do pretty ace post processing as well).

I too am a subscriber to turning up on the day and seeing what we're given and creating on the spot. I don't necessarily want to see what other great photographers have done at a location or with a certain type of scene (and may be tempted to "copy") - some of my crap might work, some not, some I really like which others don't like/rate (like my purple and green) and some vice versa (others really like but I'm ambivalent).

Remorhaz wrote:I too am a subscriber to turning up on the day and seeing what we're given and creating on the spot.

biggerry wrote:however I typically do not fore-think my compositions, rather just assess it on the day, given that it is often a new location and unknown conditions i find this opens up some creative thinking

Same here but I think this approach is not working anymore for me. I am locked into a certain style so need to force myself out of it. If this approach is currently working (for you and me), then we don't need to change anything. Just turning up and winging it doesn't help me often there is only a few minutes in a sunrise to capture a good image etc so not enough time to think more critically/creatively...

I like all of them, except the octupus one.
I cannot put my finger on it, but I don't
think it measures up to the rest.

Remorhaz wrote:That's because we've shot there now and the pictures are "old" now

lol.. soo true, they are so yesterday

Remorhaz wrote: I don't necessarily want to see what other great photographers have done at a location or with a certain type of scene

I agree, i think once you have the basics down pat it becomes very important to try and implement your own view where ever possible.

surenj wrote:Same here but I think this approach is not working anymore for me. I am locked into a certain style so need to force myself out of it. If this approach is currently working (for you and me), then we don't need to change anything. Just turning up and winging it doesn't help me often there is only a few minutes in a sunrise to capture a good image etc so not enough time to think more critically/creatively...

I know what you mean about being locked into a style, sometimes a change of scenery is good, ie how about a sunrise without a seascape, or incorporate something different like you did at Little Bay with teh macro lens/extension tubes...

zafra52 wrote:I like all of them, except the octupus one.
I cannot put my finger on it, but I don't
think it measures up to the rest.

lol...poor octopus. Thanks Zafra.