Ephemeral

[purplehaze]

A large group had gathered on the beach to watch the moonrise on the night of the blue moon. Before we fled the mosquitoes, I amused myself by shooting long exposures of the kids playing by the water. There are more where this comes from, but before I get carried away any further with PP, I'd appreciate some feedback, good or bad.

This was a 1 second exposure.

[IMG]_DSC5767 - Version 2 by Janis Hughes, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Donald]

Gorgeous 'other-worldly' feel to it.

I wonder about cropping on the right and left? I'm not sure it needs all that space at both edges. A crop would throw more attention on to the young people.

[IzzieK]

Very nice, Janis...you are certainly an artistic sort of person! I love this shot but will never think of doing something like this...I agree with Donald about this "other worldly" comment...beautiful...just beautiful...

[Shadowman]

Nice, gives it a sense of movement.

[FootLoose]

Nice work, Janis. I'm a fan of blur, and I really like this image because you have both a focused area and blurred subjects. Added to that is some moody light. I'd be very happy if I had captured this photo.

[dje]

Very nice Janis, I like your processing as it is. Your creativity is showing through

Dave

[Stagecoach]

Wonderful Janis.

[Kris V]

Beautiful!

[chauncey]

I'm liking that a lot but, not sure about including the people nor the crispy clouds...
the water makes the image.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, all. I do in fact have a version that is cropped as you suggest, Donald, but the colour treatment is quite different. I think perhaps the crop is best, but I, like Chauncey, am not liking the "crispy" clouds (the dark, dense ones on the right), which are all the more offensive in the cropped version. I tried to get rid of them in Aperture, but couldn't do it cleanly with all the variation in light in the neighbouring areas. Would it be easier in Photoshop, do you think? I have been trying to learn Photoshop with the help of lynda.com, but my progress has been very stop-and-start. I also have Lightroom, but am not very proficient with it.

[purplehaze]

Pending me learning how to deal with the clouds in the image above, this is another in the same series that I processed differently. This was a 2.5 second exposure:

[IMG]_DSC5770 - Version 2 by Janis Hughes, on Flickr[/IMG]

I am not sure if the composition works; perhaps unbalanced by the heaviness of the rocks.

[rpcrowe]

I think the first one is best. A great combination of blur and sharpness!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Janis . I like your first image. If it was mine I would convert it to BnW to put the emphasis more on the blur and sharpness. The color version looks nice too but warm sunset colors distract me a bit. I would also apply some noise reduction to soften the clouds. I can upload a quick edit if you want me to show you what I mean

[Donald]

In terms of composition, I think the rocks are better placed within the frame in the second one (part of my thinking behind my earlier comments about cropping the first one). However, I think the lighting, colour and tone in the first one works much better. The second is a nice sunset. But, hey, there are lots of nice sunsets about. The first one has got that extra ingredient that makes it a 'Stop and look at me' image.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Richard! Yes, by all means, Binnur, I would love to see what you're thinking. Thank you for your thoughtful response, Donald. Of everything I shot that night, I like the ghosted people images best. It is something I will have to try again.

[bnnrcn]

Here it is

[purplehaze]

That looks pretty good, Binnur, but I think I am partial to the colour. Tell me, why did you choose noise reduction over a blurring or destructuring tool? I hadn't noticed any appreciable noise, so I assume you used it for its softening properties?

[bnnrcn]

Hi Janis I didn't use noise reduction to reduce the noise in the photo but I used it to soften the clouds.This is one of the methods I use to soften the sky and according to the strength of the NR I can get some silky look in the clouds when I need. There are other ways for a softer sky like reducing the structure and contrast . So there is no certain way for me ,whichever suits the scene I use that tool. I remember using surface blur in PS for the sky once because it suited the scene well .

That looks pretty good, Binnur, but I think I am partial to the colour. Tell me, why did you choose noise reduction over a blurring or destructuring tool? I hadn't noticed any appreciable noise, so I assume you used it for its softening properties?

[purplehaze]

Thanks for the tip, Binnur. I had never thought of using noise reduction for that purpose, but it seems to make perfect sense!