Midsummer harbor sunset

schmoo

For Global Image Day (07/07/07) I had scouted out some new locations to shoot. I found it in a hidden alcove of a beach behind an abandoned house, in a small town outside of Baltimore that I'd never visited before. Out of all the shots I took that evening, it was hard for me to pick one to submit. But here are my extras.

As I was climbing up to the wall to get out of the way of the tide, I came across this stray cat napping on the sun-kissed concrete. She didn't even hear me over the sound of the waves. After I took this shot she slowly woke up, saw me, and fixed me with a furious glare before running away. I've never felt heat like that from any creature or person before!



We got some decent god beams as the sun headed downwards, but all of my Muench stars failed:



Looking down from my perch, a toxic urban beach. There were surprisingly few shells, seaweed and other signs of life:



Looking in one direction, towards two abandoned piers and the Key Bridge at sunset. I wished I were about 5 feet taller so the last pier wouldn't run into the horizon:



And finally, after the sun was completely gone, looking straight out at the lights on the far shore:



Thanks, Global Image Day, for pushing me to find new sights and new light.

pathfinder

Great shot of a sleeping cat. Harry will be thrilled....

I wish I could see the sea water, rather than the black concrete below, but the warm sunlight does make the shot work for me. The pink chalk line tweaks my curiosity too. I can see why the cat was annoyed:D:D

The second image looks overexposed on my monitor at work - not sure about that though until I get home this evening. God beams are always cool - but not always easy to capture the dynamic range. Two exposures or even 3 for HDR would do it though.........

The third shot, the B&W, I think is the best of the lot. Not the prettiest, but the best in terms of interest and composition, and in B&W to boot. The strong diagonal with the rocks and cement blocks work Not a pretty seashore, but an urban blight, that is real, gritty, yet eye catching.

As for being taller, try holding your camera with your arms fully extended - with the camera upside down, so you can trip the shutter after pointing your camera in the right direction. Framing won't be the best, but more than one image has been captured by a photojounalist in a crowd this way. Might not work for a timed long exposure though.

The last shot seems too dark in the forground for may taste. My eye wants to see more detail in the old piers, rather than in silhouette. Others may disagree with me here, this is just my sole opionion. The horizon is crooked in the last two shots, more the fourth, than the fifth. A nit at best.

I like #1 and #3 the best, Stephanie.

#2 has real promise if the exposure can be matched better to the gamut of my monitor.

schmoo

Thank you for the amazing feedback, Jim! I always appreciate your critical eye and technical suggestions so much.

I really did have trouble with the exposures in all of the shots that evening. God beam exposures aside, I had difficulty deciding what to do with the weirdly orange sky below the sun, as it seemed to be operating on it's own little microcosm of light down there.

The pier shots also were difficult because I was balancing on a 1-ft wide wall that didn't make composing or reviewing my shots very easy. But I know that having difficult conditions really just makes the experience more fun.

Explanations aside, I'll keep all of these things in mind the next time I go out shooting. I'm a bit scared to try HDR as none of them have worked well for me so far. I keep thinking that there's a trick to taking the shot before resorting to such complicated technology...

pathfinder

Reviewing these images here at home on a calibrated monitor, just demonstrates to me how much variation there can be between a good monitor and a cheaper LCD at work.

I think I was not fair about your God Beam shot - it looks much better here at home.

I still would like to see more detail in the last image's forground, but I conceed that it is dramatic the way it is.

The funny thing is that your B&W is not as dramatic on my monitor at home, and loses some of its appeal to my eye - now it looks more gray than black, but it is carefully converted and does seem to have a full range of B&W.

I need to be careful with image evaluations on monitors that are not calibrated properly:nono

USAIR

#1 really great photo bet he/she woke up after the photo shoot

Last two I like also very nice...my eye not as good as Jim's I never noticed the dark area
my eye was drawn to the wood pier and then to the city lights but Jim is correct.

Fred

hawkeye978

Like #2 and #4 the best. Particularly like the blue in #4

m_granite

3 is a prety nice b&w.

schmoo

Thanks, peeps!

Yes Fred the cat did sit up two shots later and glared at me, but it was a relatively slow process considering how fast cats can move. It must have been a really nice nap, indeed.

Jim, I respect that you are the resident b/w conversion expert, so I will make sure to be extra-attentive to anything you might say in the future about my greyscale images. I sometimes have trouble doing them because I lose the balance between getting enough "pop" and making them too contrasty.

Of course, looking at my processed ones on my terrible work monitor makes me just want to throw in the towel.

I appreciate the fact that the last one is a bit dark. I was anxious to leave because the bugs were eating me alive, and I packed up before I realized it was underexposed. I think real landscape photographers probably believe that bug bites heal... the pain of loss over missing a good shot doesn't!

Fred W

schmooo wrote:

For Global Image Day (07/07/07) I had scouted out some new locations to shoot. I found it in a hidden alcove of a beach behind an abandoned house, in a small town outside of Baltimore that I'd never visited before. Out of all the shots I took that evening, it was hard for me to pick one to submit. But here are my extras.
Looking in one direction, towards two abandoned piers and the Key Bridge at sunset. I wished I were about 5 feet taller so the last pier wouldn't run into the horizon:



And finally, after the sun was completely gone, looking straight out at the lights on the far shore:




Hey Steph,

Nice abandoned dock pictures. They make the perfect mood for this type of light.

schmoo

Thanks Fred! I don't normally do water shots but I wanted to try something different. The whole time I kept thinking about all of your sunset/evening shots of the waterfront that you showed us. To me it's your hallmark!

emmalou

The cat shot is fabulous! I like the last shot very much as well.......