Looking south along the coast near Big Sur, while in the middle of a trip with my mom and my son from Culver City to Oakland.
-Made graduated mask, roughly following coastline
-RGB Curve for masked sea/sky area
-RGB Curve for masked land area
-Green Channel curve
-Blue Channel Curve
-Selective Color: Increase Yellow/Decrease Magenta in Greens and Yellows
-Resize for DPC
-USM at 16%/64 dia/TH=0
-USM at 16%/64 dia/TH=0 (second application)
-USM at 88%/0.8dia/TH=5
-SaveAs JPEG at quality 7/10 = 130kb
Resized original:
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Hi, Paul. Comparing with your original shot, the color correction was fairly well-done and in good taste. I especially like how you brought out the blues in the sky and the water; it's very vivid. I also enjoy the composition a lot...I don't often see a tall and narrow crop on a coastline shot like this, and it emphasizes the uneven, jagged edges very well. I especially like how the distant horizon fades into clouds and mist.
One thing I noticed first, though, is the greens of the treeline down the middle of the picture. Especially in the shadows, the colors feel kind of hazy and flat, and it makes your color-correction seem very evident at that specific point. Since there were no editting restrictions, I think just a tiny bit of burning on the shadows would have brought out a little more definition, and maybe also on the grass in the foreground as well.
I think it was a good choice for you not to burn the shoreline; the way it seems to just fade into the clouds at the point where it meets the water is quite nice, and gives it sort of an airy, almost dreamy feel. Though it may just be the way the fog builds on the water (it's less evident in your original shot since there isn't as much contrast in that area), the horizon seems a little bit crooked, and I think you could have rotated the image a little bit clockwise to straighten it out.
The title is somewhat on the bland side, in my opinion, but it's direct and doesn't really detract anyway.
Nice shot overall...makes me miss the ocean. It's been a while since I've seen one :o
A nice combination of seashore and clouds in the distance.
Thanks -- I almost tried to burn in the very far shoreline as it crosses the horizon, but I couldn't get a natural look.
Here's the original -- I'm especially happy that people think the colors are good, as color-correction is one of the things I have the most trouble with.
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