Some Shots of North Carolina Lower Outer Banks (May, 2017)

David_S85

1 - Seashore Fence
One of the first sights at our resort was this scene at the ocean side of the boardwalk. The wind was howling at better than 30 knots right into my 70-200 at the time this shot was taken. I haven't really looked at the objective lens yet to see how many pits I have in it from this one. I already know that twig at the bottom left has to go.

2 - Strolling Along
A couple walks the beach near Oceanana Pier. Those are not their footprints, but they lead right up to the two -- was just dumb luck that they did.

3 - Cape Lookout
A ferry ride to that island brings either a serene beach on both sides of the island or great views of this famous lighthouse. It was noon, so not the best light. I spent an hour or two trying to find a comp that wasn't overdone by thousands of others.

4 - Oceanana Pier at Dawn
The Sun rose behind Emerald Island. In the winter, it would rise out to the north under the pier. Pretty sunrise nonetheless.

5 - Oceanana Pier Underneath
Obligatory shot, given the low light at sunrise.

6 - Big Bang
Fort Macon on Emerald Island. Demonstration mortar (really a black basketball) being fired for the excited crowds.

7 - United Methodist Church in Trenton, NC - Infrared
Found this neat little church while driving down to our destination and it just begged for some infrared action. Not straightened or edited to my satisfaction just yet.

Richard

Great set, David. For me, #5 is the standout, though #6 has to win the award for timing. I think #2 could use a bit less negative space--maybe crop from the top. I'm also quite fond of #1 but the shrubbery in the upper right looks a little too crunchy on my monitor.

David_S85

Crunchy? Let me look that one up in my Photographer's Encyclopedia...

The mortar. I put the 5D3 in JPEG mode and prepared to fire off a rapid set of 27 or so to get something like this. I ended up shooting exactly two pics. Lucky I guess, since I wouldn't have been able to plan where it all came out in the comp. I also could have had a RAW of this to edit the deep blacks out. Oh well. I was pretty pleased of the way it ended up.

5 has a lot of annoying green in the wood. I've already taken 90% of the green out.

I'll think about the neg. space on 2. Thanks for the c&c.

Richard

@David_S85 said:
Crunchy? Let me look that one up in my Photographer's Encyclopedia...

Crunchy: oversharpened.

RE #5: the color looks good to me, but it might be worth trying in B&W as well.

Hawthy

The first for me. Nice leading lines. The fence lines draw you in and lead you back to the dune lines. I am not sure that Outer Banks tourism will want to use it but it works for me.

Stumblebum

This is a remarkable set David! Mastery at work!
Love the first one, and the Pier wave crashing shot as well as the IR shot!
Bravo!!

BlackRock

Nice work, especially the first two ! Thanks for sharing.

Pstew

I really like #4 and #5! Nice work

roaddog52

@Stumblebum said:
This is a remarkable set David! Mastery at work!
Love the first one, and the Pier wave crashing shot as well as the IR shot!
Bravo!!

I agree. Great set. I think Richard has a point with his "to crunchy" comment also.

David_S85

Thanks, guys! When I get time, I will edit the first shot to a less crunchy version and also erase that annoying stick thing in the lower left, and then embed it here. Might take a while.

Hikin' Mike

I really like the first one.

David_S85

Richard said:
I think #2 could use a bit less negative space--maybe crop from the top.

Richard, here is a re-edit of number two above. Cropped more aggressively at the top and a couple of other minor tweeks. Includes more footsteps at the bottom. Any better?
I left both images active at my SM site (these are hot linked) so they can be compared A > B > A with the cursor keys.

Richard

Hate to say it, but now it looks like there's too much bottom. If it were mine, I'd chop off everything from the bottom to where the footprints first jog to the left.

Stumblebum

Number 2 is super to me as is, but it is definitely superior to re-work in my opinion. I think re-work is darkened or contrast is increased and it takes away the dreaminess and brings out the imperfections of the beach.

I would also consider reworking it as b&w, but keep everything about #2 as I can't find many flaws with it.

Cheers!

David_S85

Hmmmm... And I was kinda liking the additional footsteps in the re-do. But I also liked more of the sky, as in the first version, which I thought added some ambient mood and negative space. I just thought it might have been too much negative space. I probably used too much clarity (12%) in the second version where I should not have done that at all. Maybe a compromise between the both of them?

Somewhat not important: The footsteps are not theirs, as they are walking towards the camera. Nit pickers would point that out, and I'm glad none of you have. In the end, the steps add to the composition, either way I think.

Stumblebum

Footsteps are making the shot, no doubt. However, I feel the warmth, the glow, the softness of first one is one of the endearing factors as well, and it has enough footsteps to make the point. All of that is not present for me in second shot. Also, due to different crop, the shot has become more about the couple as they are the main emphasis now, along with footsteps. I don't know if they have enough endearing qualities to carry the shot. In the original crop they are just incidental. Overall ambiance, the warmth, the glow, the softness, makes you want to linger around in the moment......

kdog

Great stuff, David. I guess I missed this first time around because I was out of country. 1,2,4, 5 &6 are the winners for me. The original #2 was fine, IMHO. The timing in #6 is fantastic. Cheers!

David_S85

Thanks guys. That's a lot of very helpful critique that I can work with, meaning I'm pretty much going back to my original version.