# California Sun



## ahcigar1 (Feb 9, 2012)

I would love to get some impute of your opinions on my photo.  Especially since this isn't my normal realm of photography.


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## Trever1t (Feb 9, 2012)

would be really nice to see it larger but it looks beautiful


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## tbrunke (Feb 9, 2012)

A++ Great pic 
I love the sun coming thru the pier, its a great photo, inspiring. I really like it!


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## EIngerson (Feb 9, 2012)

I'm loving it. I think you nailed it with that one. Thanks for sharing.


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## ahcigar1 (Feb 9, 2012)

Thank you everyone.  Is still one of my favorites.


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## ahcigar1 (Feb 10, 2012)

Would love to get some C&C


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## fokker (Feb 10, 2012)

Hard to give much critique since the photo is very small. From what I can see it looks great, nice exposure good comp,the sun shining through is the icing on the cake. Can't say if it is perfectly sharp/in focus, if there is noise or banding, etc.


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## ahcigar1 (Feb 10, 2012)

How do I make this larger?  I pulled it directly off of facebook.  And this is the size that it gives me.


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## sm4him (Feb 10, 2012)

I agree, it's a really nice photo, and hard to give C&C due to the size of it.

The two things that I'll comment on:
--That really bright light right in the middle is pretty distracting, and I'd try to burn it or something to make it a bit less glaring.
--I wonder if it would improve the composition a bit to crop it so that the bottom of the pier comes in at the front  right edge of the photo, instead of having that little bit of distance where it's just water.


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## The_Traveler (Feb 10, 2012)

ahcigar1 said:


> How do I make this larger?  I pulled it directly off of facebook.  And this is the size that it gives me.



Don't use FB for your host.
There are lots of free/pay services that allow hosting at all sizes.


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## Joey_Ricard (Feb 10, 2012)

You want C&C?

You can get many types of C&C - here I am giving you C&C from a fine art image standpoint.
I have no problem with HDR, layers, etc etc or whatever processing style you are using. If you are going to do it, make it look natural.
*You need natural shadow and highlights to convey emotion*. - If you are relying on removing shadow to bring out detail and saturating heavily, you will lose emotion.

Lack of shadow on the part of the pier that is shore side of the sun
Water is too light


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## MReid (Feb 10, 2012)

Cool looking shot, nice color.
....is it tilted just a hair to the right..hard to tell.


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## ahcigar1 (Feb 10, 2012)

Joey 
I thank you for your critique. And yes you are correct I did use HDR for this image. My reasoning for doing this is because I wanted to get the detail all throughout my image including with the pier. I wanted to try to capture on photograph what I was seeing with my own eyes. The sky the pier and the water. I did this by taking 3 seperate images repeatedly all 2 stops difference, and converted them in photoshops HDR merger. And this was the end result. No cropping was done or exageration on the sun star. This is what I saw with my eyes when I took the photo. The reason the pier isn't black is because the light that was reflecting off the water was bouncing back up onto the pier and lighting it up just a bit. Is that where you are saying it is lacking shadow? I processed this in HDR because I didn't want the pier to be a sillohette in black as it would have been without the different exposures because that is not how I was seeing it at that moment with my own eyes. I was with a large group of photographers that day and they all (including me) kept commenting on how perfect of a scenario we were in that day because of the colors that we were getting and seeing. Except my photo holds one big thing different than everyone else's that day. I found the sun star. Which is one of the highlights of the photo and one of the main parts that everyone loves about it. And the pier does hold both shadow and light. Possibly a larger photo when I get home will help to see this part of it. But I do very much appreciate your critique. Only way can learn to get better is by getting different viewpoints.


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## ahcigar1 (Feb 10, 2012)

MReid said:


> Cool looking shot, nice color.
> ....is it tilted just a hair to the right..hard to tell.



I was wondering the same thing but it is so slight I couldn't really tell if it was or my eyes playing tricks on me.  But now that someone else besides me has questioned it maybe it is.  I will try fixing it when I get home.


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## The_Traveler (Feb 10, 2012)

You guys can see all that in the little image?

Imagine how much we could actually see in a big-boy image?


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## Joey_Ricard (Feb 10, 2012)

ahcigar1 said:


> Joey I thank you for your critique. And yes you are correct I did use HDR for this image. My reasoning for doing this is because I wanted to get the detail all throughout my image including with the pier. I wanted to try to capture on photograph what I was seeing with my own eyes. The sky the pier and the water. I did this by taking 3 seperate images repeatedly all 2 stops difference, and converted them in photoshops HDR merger. And this was the end result. No cropping was done or exageration on the sun star. This is what I saw with my eyes when I took the photo. The reason the pier isn't black is because the light that was reflecting off the water was bouncing back up onto the pier and lighting it up just a bit. Is that where you are saying it is lacking shadow? I processed this in HDR because I didn't want the pier to be a sillohette in black as it would have been without the different exposures because that is not how I was seeing it at that moment with my own eyes. I was with a large group of photographers that day and they all (including me) kept commenting on how perfect of a scenario we were in that day because of the colors that we were getting and seeing. Except my photo holds one big thing different than everyone else's that day. I found the sun star. Which is one of the highlights of the photo and one of the main parts that everyone loves about it. And the pier does hold both shadow and light. Possibly a larger photo when I get home will help to see this part of it. But I do very much appreciate your critique. Only way can learn to get better is by getting different viewpoints.



Thanks for taking the time to absorb my C&C, 
You did all the right things with the images, however depending on which HDR software you use, the outcome will have varied degrees of control.
This image has plenty to work with. My thoughts, revolve around the final image and not how you arrived at it. HDR is a fantastic tool and when used with the original intent of the designers can really bring an image to life. With that said, I don't use HDR, simply because my skills in PS give me more control for what I do.
All I am saying with the HDR deal is, you have to maintain a pleasant balance with shadows and highlights. Those skilled in HDR can produce an image that one would never know is HDR. Those images, even I can't tell if they used HDR or did it like the old fashioned way, but they look awesome.

Back to your image. See the pier past the sun? Its in nice deep shadow. See the pier between the sun and the first bump out? reduced shadow., then back to shadow from there to the shore.


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## ahcigar1 (Feb 10, 2012)

Joey,

I see the portion that you are talking about.  But if you look in relation to the sun the shadow and light is in all the correct areas.  The light starts where the sun is coming through hence why shadown at the end of the pier and also where the sun is coming through there is a blocker of where the pier goes out a bit blocking the sun passing that point.  And it ends again towards the front of the image if you see there is another portion where there a a part of the pier that jutts out and so beyond that point it would be in shadow again.  So because of those two points the light would not be able to pass those two areas and so the difference of light and shadow crossing the pier is physically correct.


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## ahcigar1 (Feb 10, 2012)

I am liking your critiques though, they are very constructive.  making me think which I like.


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## BZSPhotography (Feb 16, 2012)

This photo is Amazing!! fantastic! keep it up :thumbup:


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## SCraig (Feb 16, 2012)

Good shot but the "Sun Star" doesn't help in my opinion.  My eye is drawn to it like a great big stop light.


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## bogeyguy (Feb 16, 2012)

See how it looks with the beach at the bottom cropped out.


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## Frequency (Feb 16, 2012)

When i saw the image i was much impressed and at the same time i noted a point; i was going through the critiques expecting some one else pointed out that... until i read the last message by bogeyguy.... see this is a wonderful image; but the beautiful reflection at the bottom part instead of accentuating the quality just helps to distract!!! In fact that acts as an image within the image. Why, if i were you i would have made that a separate image  ... so i request you to attempt a trim as bogeyguy has suggested. All the Best


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## EIngerson (Feb 20, 2012)

I nominated this photo for the Feb Photo of the month.  I love it.


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