This image was taken last September on Jekyll Island with my Nikon D750. The lens is a Tamaron 24-70 with a polarizing filter, and I shot this at f10, 0.6, ISO 4000 handheld. Jekyll Island is known for it's driftwood, and is especially sought after by photographers at sunrise/sunset. Little did I know about some little pests called "no-see-ums", but the things we do to get the shot....
As far as editing goes, I import all my images through Adobe Bridge, and not Lightroom. I used basic sliders for exposure, decreasing shadows, and dehazing, and then imported into PS where I first used Dfine 2 from the NIK collection for noise reduction (since I shot this image at such a high ISO), followed by color efex pro 4 to add saturation, sharpening, and tonal contrast, as well as a small amount of glamour glow to the image.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 7 comments posted
Mike Cohen
How lovely. I admire your editing and think it turned out wonderfully. My only thought (not even a suggestion) might be to see how it looked after removing the driftwood on the right. I think it would make this very successful image even stronger. Maybe even take out the portion of branches to the left of the main tree. Nice work. Posted: 03/07/2023 13:02:54
Judith Lesnaw
What a mysterious place. The light and colors in the sky and water contrast beautifully with the black wood. The gnarly shapes of the branches are wonderful, and reminiscent of Japanese ink paintings. I, like Mike, immediately thought of removing the wood to the right and left to intensify the minimalist appearance. Posted: 03/10/2023 09:59:01
Pamela Hoaglund
What a beautiful image. I love the silhouette of the trees against the sunset colors in the sky. You did a very nice job pulling out those beautiful colors both in the sky and the reflections in the water. Your slower shutter speed worked nicely in softening the water without it becoming too soft. I agree with Mike and Judith regarding removal of the stumps/branches. To me the one on the right is the most distracting. Well done. Welcome to the group. Posted: 03/13/2023 11:52:57
Sharon Prislipsky
This is a very nice landscape image in my opinon. i was at this exact spot 4 or so years ago and had a nice sunrise but was not lucky enough to get those clouds along the horizon which I think adds a great deal on interest to your image.The reflection in the water also adds interest. I agree with Mike about removing the driftwood on the right. Other than that, I think this image is a winner. Posted: 03/15/2023 15:27:16
LC Boros
I like the work you did in post, but I agree that removing the black blob of driftwood on the right would strengthen the impact. Alternatively you could consider flipping the image as then it wouldn't act as a hard stop to the view line.
Posted: 03/16/2023 09:29:21
Ally Green
A hauntingly beautiful sunset and good for you for withstanding those 'no-seemums'! The colours work well against the starkness of the driftwood and nice reflection in the water. My only critique like the others have suggested is removing the driftwood on the right. Posted: 03/16/2023 11:29:08
Christiane Menelas
I very much appreciate everyones warm welcome, and great feedback! I will definitely rework this image and take some of the other driftwood out. Thank you so much! Posted: 03/16/2023 16:40:35
