This shot was taken at a private beach on South Lake Tahoe, California side. I went there in hopes of finding an undisturbed beach but I was two sets of tracks late. The sun had just begun to rise above the eastern mountains which made the shot overly exposed on the left and less exposed on the right. As I worked with it I came to like this effect and did not try to change a thing. I did clone out a nasty pillar and a very bright white boat on the distant shore. Other than than I made basiclevel,auto contrast,brightness(lightened the sky), saturation and unsharp mask adjustments. Oh! I almost forgot I also rotated it CCW 2.5 degrees to level the horizon. Enjoy.
Statistics
Place: 60 out of 69 Avg (all users): 6.2329 Avg (commenters): 6.4375 Avg (participants): 5.7143 Avg (non-participants): 6.3186 Views since voting: 1101 Views during voting: 764 Votes: 395 Comments: 49 Favorites: 0
I like the interesting pattern in the water & on the sand yet I think that the burn on the lighting and mountains in the background spoil the shot somewhat. Perhaps a differnet crop? Its a great photo none the less!
ahhh, tranquility. you certainly have captured the essence of the start of a great day. i love the angle and the lines. i can only guess what your setup was, but i wonder how this shot would look at f/32 for an extended exposure?
I think, I would try a bit different angle - to move with the camera more to the left. Just a bit. I have a filling the left empty space is to big in proportion with busy right side. BTW you have great footprints on the sand on the right. I don't know what was happening on the right side of the area, but if there was nothing disturbing, the footprints could be exposed a bit more, to add some story behind the picture.
A very nice image and great composition. My only complain are the transitional shades which appear pastel magenta and then pastel cyan. This shift affected the greenery. Outside of this, the image has breath, great reflections and the water in the foreground is just grand. Bumping to 6
I love the perspective you showed in this photo. Colors, contrast and saturation are very good except for the very bright spot which is out of place. Judging by the shadows I see on the trees in the background, it appears that the sun is coming from the right side vs the left by the bright spot. Maybe I'm wrong. 5
Very good scene and good composition. Horizon seems slightly tilted to the right, but that could just be the impression given by the shore line curving round. Photo somehow just lacks real punch, though.
I Realy like the composition, the footsteps in the sand add to the image, but I'm not so keen on the "light" it is blown out and distracts from the beauty of the rest.
I know it's your title, but this is my opinion (call me crazy :)
For some reason the angle of the shore seems to move me toward the right horizon of the shot which is the darkest and least appealing focal point. It just doesn't work for me.
Strong points: a) The leading line of the sand on the shore line coming in from the bottom left with the footprints in the sand is superb. I would however like just a bit more space where it curves back to the left - it's almost a merger with the edge of the frame. b) The patterns of ripples in the forground water are great. c) Exposure is right on - even with the bright area at the left horizon. Suggestions for improvement: If this shot was taken a few minutes earlier - the light may have been spectacular.
Lovely...though I do wish the sands were brighter, I'm totally sold by the waters. The extreme brightness of the "first light" is a tad much for ME, but I understand that it's the point of the shot ahaha. Overall, I dig!!
I like how you set this shot up. The leading lines and the footprints in the sand take the viewer's eyes right to the hill in the backround. Pleasing colors and a serene feeling. Good job.
a well composed landcsape shot. it's a little dark on the sand - waiting a bit longer might have thrown more light there which would give you chance to better emphasize the footprints. the prints, to me, give more compositional interest to the shot, so I would have liked them to be more apparent.
Looks cold and calm. Nice soft lighting and array of colors in the sky. I might have cropped out more the beach, just to see what effect it had on the composition.
Beautiful and peaceful location. I really like how my eye is led along the shore banks in the lower right up and around to the mid-left where the light is, which is further emphasized by the footprints in the sand. Nicely done. 7
Nice shot, reminds me of one of my shots from Scotland(!). Horizon well placed, breaking the frame into 3rds. Left hand edge of frame is too burnt out for my taste, and I don't like foreground diagonal leading my eye out of the right hand side of the frame. The foreground textures look a little soft... some sharp sand textures could have added some 'wow' to the shot, if you're using a DSLR you probably would have needed a tripod for the dof. Horizon on the right of the shot looks a bit cluttered. The footsteps are a nice touch, but are a bit too subtle. Some dodging and burning could have cured this. The sky could have done with a polariser, which may have solved your burnt out highlights. 5
Something about the sky just isn't appealing for me. Perhaps it's the cyan bar there. Maybe if the shot were taken earlier? I like the water, but the sky and the lighting on the hill seem to take away. 6
This is a very nice shot, but in my opinion a bit too bright on the left hand side. I like the footprints in the sand, as they add a littl;e extra interest. 7
nice reflections and ripples - the sky is bright for "first light" - overall pleasing effect, but the darks are little too dark, and the lights are a little too light
Smooth shot, exposed enough to get texture in the sand, with the footsteps. The overexposure on the left, though, really overpowers the image. Although this might be intentional (when considering the title), it seems to be a bit much.
A glacially still water may or may not have improved this - I don't know. It's a lovely time of day but it's a shame that much of the beach is in shade, so I ccan't help thinking that an evening shot may have been more effective. I'd also have removed the boundary markers too.
Competent composition, but not a great deal to latch onto beyond the pretty scene.
A nice peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, hard to get right with such extreme highlights and shadows in the image. The only thing I am wondering is how it would have looked twelve hours later, at sunset. I looks like the light is coming from the right and therefore a sunset from the left would put some more light on the sand and increase structure and add some more WOW factor.
I find, because of the harsh lighting in the upper right, that you've got some visible stepping in the color in the sky. Also, there's a bit of a halo between the background hill and trees and the sky which shows a slight oversharpening. Foreground is a touch too dark, and the footsteps that should have been visible are *just* barely. Metering against the water, or closer to the ground, may have helped this out, or you were going for a "higher power" aspect with the bright light, but it unfortunately weakens the rest of hte photograph.
Keep playing around with your shutter speeds and aperatures (if you have manual control on them), and keep trying. I hope you get enough helpful comments. Good luck.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
