Manhattan Beach Pier at Sunset

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29 May 2012 - 7:38 AM

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paulbroad

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29 May 2012 - 7:38 AM

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I like this. So many people show just a sunset and that rarely works - you correctly use the sunset as a foil to your pier image. Technically spot on and excellent from a compact. Might crop the bottom just a bit. As Dave says, the logo is very insistent.

Paul

Mlitwin

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30 May 2012 - 5:47 AM

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Thank you all for the fantastic critiques, comments and the warm welcome. It's very refreshing to get real feedback as opposed to just a pat on the back!

I've uploaded a modified version based on some of your critiques.

Regarding the logo, my apologizes. This stems from finding some of my photographs being used around the internet and even in local magazines without my permission. I've been able to get some compensation for their use but that's not the way I want to gain recognition. After that I decided to add a watermark. However, as you have shown, if somebody really wants it; it's easily defeated. I'll post future images here sans watermark.

Regarding the placement of the sun in the frame, I agree, it is better off to the side. I especially think that puertouks mod works well in that it brings the brightness in the clouds over with it. Next time, I'll take a couple steps to the side and try to get it right in camera

I've taken Paulbroad's suggestion and cropped a bit off the bottom as well. I do think this makes for a stronger image.

Paulbroad, I couldn't agree more with your observation of sunset pictures. I absolutely agree that a sunset for a sunset's sake is nice but it can be so much more visually interesting with a little foreground imagery or silhouette of an interesting structure or person.

Regarding the blue water, this is probably one of the most difficult points I struggled with during PP. The problem I had was that when I "warmed" up the water, I felt like the image lost some of it's overall impact. To me it seemed like the blue/yellow color contrast gave more visual interest. However, I have to agree, it is too blue. At the same time, bringing it to a balanced white point just looses something for me. Maybe I'm being pig headed about it but I ended up going with something in between. I felt it retained the color contrast that appealed to me but didn't look objectionable either. I also put some +EC and brightness in the water but I didn't go too far because I felt that it started to compete with the brightness of the sun and sky which drew my eye away from the pier and out toward the edge of the frame.

Focus_Man, thanks very much for the suggestion. With the s95 I could have stopped down to f8 at the absolute minimum. However, in this case I was at maximum zoom and handheld (no tripod on hand). This would mean that I would have had to bump up the ISO, which gets very noisy on this little sensor. The bigger problem is that diffraction starts to creep in around f6 - f7 on this camera. I've sort of come to the conclusion that f5 and some say even f4 is a good minimum aperture for the s95.

The s95 is my "always with me" camera and I've been amazed at what can be pulled out of this little wonder. The compactness, full manual control (with physical dials) and RAW image output put it on my must have list. It has its trade offs but in photography, that's always the case!

Let me know what you think of the modified version!

Thank you,

Michael