[Sonsey]

Hello all,

Took a drive up the N.Irish coast with a few friends yesterday, just before reaching Portrush we stopped and I took the oppertunity to get a few shots even though it had just started raining. Basicly I'm still just getting into landscape photography after geting my Sigma 10-20mm about a month ago so would really appreciate some C&C on this shot.

Handheld, circular polarizer used, 20mm, 1/50sec, ISO 100, f/5.6 (should've had it at around f/8 but forgot to change it ). Cropped, colour boosted, sparpened and resized in photoshop. Feel free to have a play with it if you want.



TFL

[Gary Bagshawe]

Very nice shot, Maybe just darken the sky a very tiny amount. I love it up at Portrush, go about 3 times a year usually for the bike racing, the scenery up there is breath taking even when it's pi####g it down with rain.

[stepheno]

Lovely shot - I think Gary's right. The top third just doesn't quite match up to the bottom twp thirds.

[daveyuk]

Agrees with the others on the sky, otherwise it's a good shot.

Tip
If you can when you're on the beach squat down and hold your camera just off the sand just for that low down angle sometimes works.

[Sonsey]

Thanks for all the comments so far, you all do have a good point about the sky so I'll see about going back and adding a slight gradient or something, or perhaps someone know's of a better method to sort it out?

Originally Posted by daveyuk

Tip
If you can when you're on the beach squat down and hold your camera just off the sand just for that low down angle sometimes works.

Thanks for the tip Dave, I'll keep it in mind to try the next time I'm down on the sand... unfortunately in this case I was standing 2ft from the edge of a 60ft cliff drop

[Markulous]

OK, sky been mentioned! Find the land a little dark and the sea a little bland (well, maybe too much, I guess). Think the comp could be improved with a little more coastal cliff on RHS



Dodge and Burn sky (tried a colour gradient but it didn't seem to work well). Dodged up the land a bit and tried to inject some interest into sea. All a bit quick and dirty, so apologies for the highlights and general sloppiness!

[photojazz]

Super!

[Sonsey]

Thanks for taking the time to have a play with the shot Mark, despite it being shot on a very dull day (as my original shot shows) you've certainly added a bit of life to it, especially the land areas.

With regards to your comment on composition, unfortunately the shot was taken through a space in a hedge that ran the length of the cliff, this was the best view I could get before it started creeping into the shot.

Photojazz - Thanks very much

[Rob Barron]

Just wondered whether a touch of cropping would improve it by allowing a loss of the strongest part of the sky. I have slightly adjusted contrast as well but I'll leave it to you to decide whether it is an improvement. Might not be, see what you think :o)

[danpen]

I love this shot and really don't think much needs doing, I agree the sky's a bit light and the cliff is a little dark but I think only quite subtle changes were required.



To get this slightly different image I used a very simple curves layer set to Multiply blend mode with a gradient mask to darken the sky and lightened the foreground with a levels layer.

This left the sky a little grainy so I duplicated the background layer and ran noiseware on it, that messed up the foreground so I applied a gradient mask so only the sky was affected. I then sharpened the foreground a bit with smart sharpen.

I did a tiny bit of dodging to bring out some highlights on the rocks and sea.

[skipper954]

Well, of all the options here, I like Dampen's minor adjustments the best. Highlights and lightens the land well, and gives good depth and contrast to the image.

I think the multiple horizontal lines, the rocks, the horizon, and the clouds add interest, but I am mildly uneasy about the curve of the rocks, which lead the eye out of the frame to the left. But when all said, this is a very nice image.

[Sonsey]

Originally Posted by skipper954

Well, of all the options here, I like Dampen's minor adjustments the best.

I think I'm going to have to agree with you, allthough I'm liking Markulous's option aswell. Danpen's tweeks have lifted the shot just enough without detracting too much from the original capture

My thanks to everyone who took the time to work on the shot and comment, landscape photography is still very new to me so I really appreciate all the help