Taken as the last bit of the "blue hour" escaped the air here in Destin Fla...the scene was nearly pitch black, lit only by the moon. Exposure and focus were both done manually.
PP...
NI
Exposure adjustments (levels, curves, lucis exposure)
Minor crop
Dodge and burn the rocks and water
minor desat
save for web
Statistics
Place: 30 out of 177 Avg (all users): 6.0622 Avg (commenters): 6.3333 Avg (participants): 5.4474 Avg (non-participants): 6.4615 Views since voting: 1542 Views during voting: 336 Votes: 193 Comments: 21 Favorites: 1 (view)
First of all, congrats on your best finish to date, as well as a 6+ score. It takes many of us much longer than three challenges to make that mark.
Camera Work/Technical: First off, I am happy to see the straight horizon line. It is perfect! Accidental horizon tilts are a pet peeve of mine, so I always appreciate a straight one. I also like your depth of field choice for this one. All the rocks are crisply focused, as is the (wonderfully horizontal) horizon and the buoy. I also like your WB choice, giving this a great, moody feel.
Lighting: The light that the moon provided is also very nice. This was a great time of day to provide the great mood that you produced here. I might have used a graduated natural density filter to enhance that sky a little, but I couldn't be sure without being there. Very nice lighting.
Composition/Content: This is one of the main strengths of the image. The rock wall serves very well to pull the viewer deep into the image and feel the mood. Even though it was probably 230 degrees that day, this one produces a cold and lonely feeling.
My Opinion: I think that this one met the challenge in a very creative way. I also believe that it should have scored a bit better, as it is much better, in my opinion, than some of those that finished ahead of it. Voters here like vivid colors, so maybe a red or orange sky would have vaulted it up a bit. Personally, I prefer it just the way you captured it.
Cool fantasy like shot. The color tones are nice. I realize that this is a long exposure and you caught alot of movement of the water but it may have blurred to a point where it is almsot too smooth for this challenge. I like this shot and gave it a 7 anyways.
I love water blurr, it's really beautiful. The placement of the water and rocks is great. The navigation marker is in an interesting spot, it looks fine, though
Very peaceful, serene image. Not getting much connection to "Motion Blur" however. I mean, yes, technically motion blur exists here, but it's not quite evident with the length of exposure you used. Too smooth and foggy in the final result. JMO. Good luck in the challenge.
Up to a certain point, a photo of moving water is enhanced by long shutter speed. After that point, it gets - IMO - more and more ethereal and becomes something else. This photo is in the zone of something else. Sorry for my poor description, but hope you get what I mean. I think there could be something added to this image to make it quite special.
It's one of the few water pics here where blur of waves actually creates notions of stillness, not movement. Nice picture, but doesn't hit the tune of the challenge, imho
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
