Ancient Seabed Erosion

[FrankMi]

This was a JPEG, next time it will be with my DSLR in RAW mode. What is the best way to shoot a scene like this?

[Tygart]

Nice photo Frank. A panorama might look good next time.

[Rob Douglas]

I like it! Maybe a 50% crop of the foreground? When you shoot this again in RAW with your DSLR maybe recompose for 50% less foreground and a bit more sky from a slightly lower angle. Just my opinion.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Frank,

I can see what Rob (Tygart) means, I think there's a bit too much foreground in shot, you could lose 2/3 of it and concentrate the composition on just the rocks and clouds.

Whether shooting from a little closer and a little wider angle would help; but possibly only with an interesting sky like this.

Need to shoot with camera level and crop the foreground in PP though, or there's a chance (without PP perspective correction), of them 'falling over'.

Cheers,

[Geoff F]

As a starting point, Frank, I think that is a perfect shot as it retains so many cropping possibilities. But as a finished image I think it is too 'regular'.

Approx the same distance from the top of the rocks to the sky edge; and the same from the bottom of the rocks to the bottom edge; plus equal at both sides.

You can crop the foreground, as previously mentioned, or the sky, alternatively crop both to create a panorama effect. And there is space to crop one or both sides if you want to retain the same aspect ratio.

They all seem to have equal possibilities for me.

And when it comes around to shooting again; if you have a similar sky just watch out of any over exposed areas even if that puts the foreground wrong then tweak with Adjustment Layers.

And I suspect this scene could benefit from a final little bit of LCE or something similar.

[MrB]

I like your photo Frank. However, not knowing that region, it is hard to get a sense of the scale of the scene. Being unsure of the size of the plants (shrubs or trees?), it is difficult to work out the distance to the outcrops and the height of the stacks.

Philip

[FrankMi]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I can crop and add more LCE easily enough, but I don't think there is a way in this image to provide a good sense of scale. As Philip points out, you really can't tell if the foliage is shrubs or trees and without another object to provide scale it looses impact. I think I'll bin this one for now and try to remember to include something in all my future images that provides a scale reference.

Oh well, another lesson learned! Thanks folks!

[Polar01]

Frank for my own interest I tried some of the suggestions on your photo, with a couple of mine own. Using Nik Viveza I added a little shadow, and structure to the clouds, then darken the two large rock formations just a touch. Even though I darken the two formations in my mind they seem to pop when compared to the orginal.

[FrankMi]

Nice, Allan. Glad you like it!

[Polar01]

I do like it, wish that I had shot it, just love something like this with some clouds in the back ground.

[Nicola]

are you going to be there once again Frank?
if so, I would take a picture of the stone in the middle, positioning the camera very close to its feet and shooting vertically with an UWA lens, with a impressive sky on the background (sunset, storm...)
cheers
Nicola

[FrankMi]

are you going to be there once again Frank?
if so, I would take a picture of the stone in the middle, positioning the camera very close to its feet and shooting vertically with an UWA lens, with a impressive sky on the background (sunset, storm...)
cheers
Nicola

Hi Nicola! These were taken in Utah, either in or close to Arches National Park. I don't know if I'll be able to get back as we no longer have an RV to travel in but, funny you should mention your reshoot suggestions. This was the next image in that series:

[Donald]

Less is more.

I think that's got a much more powerful impact.

[FrankMi]

Sounds like this one may be worth some effort. If that's the case, I cleaned up the halos, cropped, and tweaked the colour tone a bit.