Kaikoura Coast shot

[Benny Pan]

Took this shot at Kaikoura coast in NZ. Was a cloudy windy day for whale watching.

Used polarizing plus ND8 filter to lengthen the SS to 1/6s at F25. ISO200. I merely managed to fast twist the zooming ring during the 1/6s to get the dynamic effect but not quite sure if you can feel it. It's not that obvious though. What else can you do to further lengthen the SS?

Converted to B/W and darkened the sky, also cranked up the contrast. In terms of composition, do you think the foreground is quite boring? An option i can think of is to wait until the waves washed up the shore a bit more.

Nikon D40 18-55mm kit lens at 22mm, can't used 18mm due to the vignette cropping from the filters.

Critique hard on this you guys are my mentors. :thumbsup:

[NKP68]

I like the sweep of the shore line. It has a nice overall mood between the clouds and mist/fog. I think there is a bit too much beach on the bottom of the frame, maybe a crop to where the right edge of the water meets the beach. I would also lighten up the beach to show more detail of the rocks. It also looks too soft, have you tried sharpening a little. I really like the image and I love your beautiful country. Too bad it's soooo far away. Thanks for sharing.
Ed.

[Kokopeli]

Hi Benny,

I was just in NZ this past October, doing my honeymoon cruise between there and Oz.

I really like this shot. I disagree with Ed about the beach in the foreground. I think it adds textural contrast to the image. I do agree with him about the sharpness though. A little Unsharp Mask goes a long way. Other than that, I love the dark moodiness of this image. The weather definitely gives your shot a lot of depth. The curving shoreline is visually appealing and contributes to a strong composition. It would be nice to see a bit more contrast between the earth, ocean and sky.

Thanks for sharing this one with us!

[Benny Pan]

I struggle between too much foreground and just enough. But i am biased a little bit toward too much foreground coz i like the texture of the sky.

[timwaters77]

I love it. If it's possible, I think I would like to see it with the mountains in the background darkened a little to give more contrast.