Pamela Hoaglund
September 2020 - Dreamy Pacific Sunset
Original
About the Image(s)
While on a day trip I ended up at the coast at sunset. There were no clouds to enhance the sunset so I decided to use a 10 stop ND filter to get a long shutter speed to make the water turn dreamy. Shot with my Sony a7R2, Tamron 28-76mm f/2.8 lens. ISO 320, shutter speed 15 seconds, aperture f/16. Post processing in ON1 2020 setting the black and white points, a little neg haze, a little saturation and vibrance and finally dynamic contrast and a vignette. My goal was to capture a dreamy peaceful sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
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5 comments posted
I think you accomplished your goal. I love the sky colors. The foreground lacks interest to me but it's negative weight does balance the sky well. My brain wants to search for more detail in on the land as, although quite dark, it looks like there is detail there. If so, it might be an improvement to open up the shadows and then deal with whatever noise is accentuated in the process. Posted: 09/08/2020 09:16:06
Certainly looks a dreamy sunset and so tranquil too. I like the range of colours you have included with this image and how the light is reflecting off the water. I may have cropped off the bottom a bit as to me the foreground expanse of water doesn't hold much interest. Looked like a perfect evening! Posted: 09/09/2020 14:18:38
Pamela, you got the dreamy look you wanted. The colors are pretty. I would like to see more contrast in the sky and water, and for you to bring out the shadows in the land. The colors are grand, and I think this shot has great possibilities. Posted: 09/10/2020 07:52:13
I think the ND filter was a great choice. I always appreciate the soft look of long exposure for water scenes. Your previsualization of a dreamy landscape resonates with me. Since you indicated you are using OnOne, I opened your image in that program and played around with it. I used local adjustment to lighten the land area and bring out detail, but found I could not open up the shadows more than just a little - still I thought the added detail there was a plus. I also applied a glow using the Dreamland filter at about 25-30 percent and it futher enhanced that soft dreamiy appearance. I liked it. Try it and see what you think. One suggestion I did not try but you might want to think about is seeing if you can bring out any more detail in the sky. Posted: 09/13/2020 10:31:42
Great job of capturing that dreamy water effect. When I first viewed the image the black land mass against the pale yellow and orange sky caught my imagination. Was this an ancient lava field, post apocalypse? Then I realized that I was imagining the image in monochrome. I converted the original image (to remove the vignette) to B&W and adjusted highlights, shadows, texture, dehaze, clarity, and noise. I really like the monochrome version as it enhances the mystery I felt. Posted: 09/19/2020 09:42:37