Low Tide

[ajsmith]

This is a photo of Lynn Beach, about 10 miles north of Boston. You can see the Boston city skyline in the top right. The land on the left is the island of Nahant. There is a causeway that runs from the mainland out to the island. You can see the light posts along the road.

I was driving by the beach the day before in the afternoon and the sun was hitting that green seaweed on the rocks and made the most beautiful neon color. I said to myself I have to get a photo of that. Well I was planning on going down to the beach the next day in the afternoon, but it started to cloud up. There was a storm coming, but I was able to get some photos before the storm hit. Not the great light I had hoped for.

Most of my photos are still life, flowers and other close ups. I am making an effort to get more scenic photos this year.

C and C welcome

Low Tide

[csa mt]

Ali, I really like this image! The green seaweed really makes it pop! I also like that you caught the skyline and the island; they make the rocks seem even more pronounced!

Really nice!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Ali, lovely image indeed IMO it just needs some PP to bring the details in the sky and to lessen the highlights if you can.

[IzzieK]

Very nice, Ali...I love it.

[Polar01]

Ali good shot, as you state you are trying to take more scenic images, to my way of thinking you could make this a stronger image. The foreground is interesting however it is not all that strong and does not really lead into the larger rocks along with the skyline, if you removed about half the bottom. By doing that the green now bring my eye into the image, the slight reflection of the green off that small rock on the water in front of that larges boulder the water and skyline with Boston and something I love a great sky. It will very much be a pano style when done. As you say that a storm was coming but a it more showing would have worked as it can add some drama. As for the light you had hoped for I say it was the perfect light at the time, soft giving good detail exposure nothing to hard to cast shadows perfect light. Now you state that you usually shoot, still life, flowers and other close ups so you are use to working with stronger brighter conditions to shoot, I shoot mainly landscapes and again to me the light was perfect.

Cheers: Allan

[LocalHero1953]

Sometimes landscapes are dramatic and unique, sometimes they are thoughtful and repay long study, and sometimes they are just attractive images that fit within a group or can be placed on a wall in a less prominent position. This one, and I'm not intending to be disparaging, seems to me to be one of the latter. Think of it, perhaps, as more of a piece of graphic art than showing a sense of place or a specific message: that may help you decide which aspects should be emphasised and which are unimportant.

[Shadowman]

Sometimes landscapes are dramatic and unique, sometimes they are thoughtful and repay long study, and sometimes they are just attractive images that fit within a group or can be placed on a wall in a less prominent position. This one, and I'm not intending to be disparaging, seems to me to be one of the latter. Think of it, perhaps, as more of a piece of graphic art than showing a sense of place or a specific message: that may help you decide which aspects should be emphasised and which are unimportant.

It does look like something out of a graphic novel, some alien landscape.

[NorthernFocus]

Hi, Ali. I'm also fascinated by the colors revealed at low tide. The varied comments to your post reveal how differently we all view things based on our perceptions/preferences. Being interested in the sea and shorelines, my eye immediately went to the rocks/seaweed then explored the rest of the photo. For me location is irrelevant. Others look for the sky, city skyline, etc. based on their own frame of reference. If the intent is to tell a story with the image, then the varied comments should help you determine whether you succeeded. But I'll comment as if the intent was to capture the rocks/seaweed at low tide.

In that regard, I like the composition. There is a very interesting example of the weed covered rock in foreground, plenty of the vibrant green color included in mid-frame, and the less interesting rocks in the distance. Overall the rock formation invites one to examine the FG rock then to follow the curved formation of rocks up to the left and then back to center/top of frame and ultimately to the upper right where the skyline is revealed.

So I, for one, like it. Nicely done. I suspect it would be improved with warmer, more dramatic lighting so maybe you can give that a try on the right day/time

[leslie1283]

Very nice

[ajsmith]

Carol,

Thanks for commenting and glad you like the image.

[ajsmith]

Binnur,
thanks for commenting. I think you are correct about darkening the highlights. Here is a remake of the photo with less brightness.

[ajsmith]

Izzie,
Thanks for commenting and glad you like the photo.

[ajsmith]

Allan,
Thanks for your comments. I will try some different crops on the image.

[ajsmith]

Paul,
Thank you for your comments. I was just out trying to capture the rocks and the pretty green seaweed. I even titled the photo "Low Tide" and not "Lynn Beach". I wasn't thinking about depicting a place. Maybe that's what is lacking in my photos.

I never plan to "tell a story" or "show a place". I just see something when walking or driving and think how that would make a nice photo and I can picture it in my mind and how it will look when processed. Does anyone else take photos like this? Or am I alone? My background is fine art and graphic art so I don't know if that has something to do with my visual thinking.

[ajsmith]

John,

I love it "alien landscape". I think the remake with less brightness looks even more alien.

[ajsmith]

Hi Dan,
Glad you like the photo and thanks for commenting.

My intent was to take a photo of the rocks and seaweed, Boston and Nahant just got in the way. Funny how everyone has a different view, but that's what makes things interesting. I will go back again to get another photo soon. At high tide those rocks are completely covered in water.

There is a cave out on Nahant that can be accessed during low tide. I was out there once but water was too high. I hope to get back this summer. Google Swallows Cave Nahant, MA. Very interesting legend with Indians and a witch.

[ajsmith]

Leslie,
Glad you like the photo. Thank you.

[NorthernFocus]

...I never plan to "tell a story" or "show a place". I just see something when walking or driving and think how that would make a nice photo and I can picture it in my mind and how it will look when processed. Does anyone else take photos like this?....

All the time. My wife gets frustrated with me when we travel. Rather than grand vistas or citiscapes, I come back with photos of trees, rocks, doors, windows, etc.

But even what you describe is essentially telling a story. Presumably the whole point of sharing your photos with other is to share what you saw. So that's the challenge for you. Conveying just that. And not leaving the superfluous city skyline etc. that had nothing to do with what caught your attention. The "art of exclusion". Interestingly when one does just that, it leaves room for others' imaginations to run away with it. And who knows what chord and image may strike in another person with a similar mental image from some other place, from their childhood, from a dream, etc.

Isn't it great?!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Ali I like the edit. I don't know which software you use for your edits, but if you have 'layers' function in your software 'curves' and 'levels' adjustment layers are really helpfull for improving skies and editing images in general.You can also select the area you want to edit and apply the adjustment layer with a mask, so that only selected part of the image can be edited.

You might as well clone out the buildings on the upper right hand side because they have nothing to do with the scene in general

[DanK]

Hi Ali,

I like the image. I would suggest a somewhat different approach to refining it. I definitely would not pull down the highlights for the entire image. If you look at the histogram for the original, you have a somewhat restricted tonal range to begin with, and you have a more restricted one at the end. I would suggest adding a big of contrast and vibrance and sharpening a bit. Then, if you want the sky darkened, darken it, but don't darken the rest of the image. This will give it more pop.

dan