Ghost Waves V.2

[Xia_Ke]

Went back for a reshoot and opted for a slightly different angle this time. You'll have to excuse the left hand edge, I just got some speed easels and didn't realize until afterwards that one edge was bent a tad

[rylan]

looks good Aaron! i like it alot

[Greg McCary]

This is awesome Aaron. It makes me think of an old pirate movie. Like an old ship is about to come around the rocks. Two thumbs up young man:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks guys Greg, I wish that was the case. I could use a little treasure

[GB1]

Aaron - In general, I like it a lot. It has a mystical feeling to it. The fog really really works here IMO. It could use a small rowboat or ? there in the middle water area maybe, but very good.

A few pts for improvement: Try cropping out the rocks at the bottom entirely. The image may have a more oceanic feeling like that. See what you can do to improve the quality a bit - it does seem a tad fuzzy to me, with some dust specks here and there. If you have Digital ICE in your scanner, might be able to correct these.

Nice work btw....

GB

[Xia_Ke]

Hi GB, thank you for chiming in Unfortunately the slight softness is from battling with the scanner. The paper has a glossy textured finish that just does not like to scan for crap. The dust specks are in the print too, not from the scan. Man, keeping dust out of scans is a piece of cake compared to keeping dst out of the enlarger. Need to get some spotting inks next order. So the rocks on the bottom aren't working for you? The sky was hazy that day and completely devoid of any character. I tried a crop with more sky to it but, it seems a little too minimalist for this. I was hoping the rocks on the bottom would help frame the water. I wanted the water to lead you through the frame, hopefully catching your attention in the lower right, then following it to the left, and then eventually to the center and out to sea. We had some nice skies today after work and I'm kicking my butt now for not getting motivated enough to revisit this spot

[jgredline]

Aaron, nothing to nit pick. It is an amazing image. What you do with black and white film is nothing short of amazing. When I see your posts, even though I don't always comment, I have to look at them and admire the work you do...

[Frog]

I like it with the rocks at bottom but do wish there was more detail in the large rocks. That would probably blow out the water part though.

[jorger101]

I love it the way it is. It is an amazing image.

[Xia_Ke]

Thank you very much guys

Frog, this far from a straight print, so water blowout isn't a concern. I already had to spend an extra minute burning it in. Do you think I need more detail in all of the rocks or in particular sections?

[Tyson L. Sparks]

Looks great to me also.

[GB1]

Aaron - It's not that the rocks are bad, but somehow they seem hard in an otherwise soft and dreamy image. Perhaps if they were brighter and reflecting more light or something. The sky is plain, but with the fog and such I am not sure that's bad, for it focuses the attention away from the sky to the neat stuff.

Sorry to hear about the dust. Chalk up another photography attribute that's easier with digital.

Gb

[Dave Smith]

Aaron
I love the image and what it conjures u0p in my imagination
B&W contributes so much to the shot that color would not have contributed
Great concept

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks again guys

Gb I follow you now. I have a few other shots of this including a couple where the water comes further up over the bottom rocks. Maybe those would work better? I kept them a little darker in the hopes they would become the main focus of the print.

Sorry to hear about the dust. Chalk up another photography attribute that's easier with digital.

Yeah but, with digital I wouldn't get to have fun slaving away in the bathroom for hours, huffing fixer and selenium toner on my day off ...LOL

[Frog]

Concerning the rocks...what GB! said.

[Xia_Ke]

Thank you Frog I'll have to try printing one of the other shots next time where the water comes up over the rocks more. Do you thik it would look better if the rocks on the lower right were more wave swept like on the lower right?