Double filtered long exposure

I recently went from having no filters to having plenty of them, and today was my first time really getting to play with them. I wanted something to experiment with, and in my late afternoon beach wanderings found this interesting drawing in the sand. I wanted long exposure without blowing the sky, so I stacked an ND8 on top of a graduated ND4, and shot this. The filters and long exposure helped to create most of the color in the upper sky. I find this photo interesting and do not yet know what to think about it. My main critique is that I probably should have used my graduated ND8 instead of the ND4, so that I could have made the beach brighter and kept the sky darker since it still got slightly blown out. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Attachment 91005

It a neat shot and the sky came out really nice. I agree the beach seems a little dark but if your camera has good dynamic range you might be able to selectively brighten it a bit without it getting noisy or looking too artificial. The challenge there will be that little tree which would have part in the darker area and part in the lighter area. If that doesn't look natural then masking in PS combined with a graduated filter (in post) might do the trick.

Still a very nice shot. I like it!

Amazing !! I agree that the beach does look a bit dark but I'm not sure you could say anything else about this piece. Overall, wonderful composition.

I think the sky is georgeous. And there are shapes in the sand which add interest. Great shot--worth the work.

Thanks for the comments. I didn't mention that I adjusted the curves and some brightness and contrast from the original. However, I don't use photoshop and don't like to edit beyond that.

Too bad about the blown out areas in the sky. I think the beach could be darker, a touch darker. And as usual, I prefer more sky ;-)

Dave -

I'm not so sure; to me, a shot like this can look a bit off if the foreground is as bright as the background. It also depends what's in the foreground; if something is there that the viewer should see than it makes complete sense. Otherwise, I think perhaps the foreground should be darker(??) What say you, everyone?

As far as the sky, I think it's 1/2 to 1 f-stop too bright. If you shot RAW you should be easily able to adjust this and see what it looks like darker. If so, can you post?

I shot RAW, but have for some time now been stuck between programs and currently have no RAW editor... For the most part I'm fine with using shots as they are, converting to TIF and doing minor edits, but I have been wanting the ability to edit RAW back again. I need to motivate myself now to find a program that will work for me.

My worry about darkening the foreground would be losing all the detail in the sand, etc. I may come back to this photo when I get a better program and post again. I have other newer photos to post first.

Very nice photo. I like the glow of the horizon reflected in the water!

I like it.

Very pleasant colours.

My critiques - I find the frame alittle bit too tight.

My suggestion - Would it work better if we emphasize more on the foreground and sea. I do understand the reason to give more space to the sky as it is supposed to be the interest with those pleasant colour. But personally, I would have preferred to have two thirds given to the foreground + sea.
I do like the human drawn lines and stick on the sand.

the image feels flat, perhaps a bit of details in the clouds could make it pop

I agree it looks a bit flat. Some contrast would help. If you have Lightroom you can pretty much get it with one filter. I use a three stop for 90% of what I do. Just protect the highlights and bring up the foreground and shadows in post.
You don't mention what camera you are using? The latest full frame cameras to hit the market almost doesn't need any help with filters as the dynamic range has improved a great deal.