[Rob Barron]

Took this a few months ago and forgot all about it until I was going through an old folder yesterday. We had a similar scene recently but can't remember who showed it.

The triangle on the headland is NOT a sail of a yacht behind, it is a stone monument used as an alignment marker for ships. They line up the marker with the lighthouse and know esaxtly where they are

This is pre-40D so was taken on my 20D with 17-40mm lens.

Cheers,
Rob

[chrisa]

Very nice shot. Been there a few times myself, but never had the weather like this or a good a shot.

[Rob Barron]

I know what you mean Chris, I have been there countless times but could count the days like this on one hand! I had to con Portland Bill that day to get a nice day. I got up in the morning and said to my wife 'Hey, let's go to the cinema as it is bound to be raining all day!' I motioned to my wife not to say anything but just to nod her head, I couldn't risk Bill being aware of our little plot!

So, Bill put in a beautiful sunny appearance only to realise too late that I had conned him and was not indoors at all :o)

Of course, ten minutes later it tipped it down but at least we got the shots

[JAG]

Nice photo. Brings back lots of memories of sailing past on the way to a dive site.

[Rob Barron]

Must confess I was rather hoping for more than two comments by putting it on the Critique Thread.

[Dabhand16]

This is a very nice picture Rob - the composition and exposure are spot on, as I would expect

I guess the first thing that sprung to mind was vibrant. This picture really does not pop - it bangs! I feel that is is a little over saturated.

I think the white border is a bit on the narrow side when using a drop shadow - I prefer a bit more breathing space. Obviously a personal thing.

[JMitchell]

Like this one, but agree with Graham that you've overdone the sat a little. On the other hand, the sky is really fantastic, and there is nothing wrong with the shot, it just looks a little orange where I suspect it is more brown in real life.

[Soupdragon]

I like this too, however...............

The contrast appears very high.
The far left sky is far brighter than the rest of the scene and is a bit distracting.
As a personal preference I would have cropped it to a wider format.
I would prefer a simple black border as opposed to a drop shadow.

[Rob Barron]

Agreed on the border, I think a bit more of the white frame would be useful here, thanks Graham.

Saturations have not been changed much, only the yellows have been pushed but maybe I pushed a touch too far on those. Mind you, this was taken as we moved towards the golden zone in the late afternoon so they were starting to take on that yellowish glow that happens when the sun gets below the clouds and anything creamy becomes much more golden so this is much closer to how it was than you might think. I still agree though that maybe it is a touch too far. The golden zone does tend to increase the contrast on its own.

The sky hasn't been touched, that is how it came out of the camera.

The only part of the picture that was lightened was the darkest shadow areas of the rocks to bring back some detail there which I think has improved it and as nobody has mentioned those areas I assume they are fine.

I didn't want to crop those rocks in the FG any more than this so i would have been difficult to get a wider letterbox feel as I wouldn't lose any of that sky above the lighthouse. What do others think on that one? Would a stronger crop of the lower area work? Be interested to see what people think on that one.

Black border? Hmmm, I did try it on black and wasn't happy with how it affected the lighting. I also wasn't happy with just white, hence the compromise of a drop shadow. I know those things are down to taste but also the light or dark frame does make a strong difference to the perception of the rest of the shot so I went for this one. Again, anyone else think black would work better? If others agree, maybe I'll pimp it and let you see it that way for comparison. If anyone else wants to, do go ahead. Quite happy for you to try an edit

Cheers all, helpful comments all round.

Rob

[Soupdragon]

Given that I am at work with no real editing software, here's what I would have done.
I have burned one side of the sky, lowered the luminance and cropped a bit off including the border.

Just to confirm, this is my personal take on it.

[ray]

Thats so nice Rob i want to take em like that

[Dabhand16]

Rob - how about a colour-keyed border? The colours in the shot are strong enough to take it.