The Shores of Santa Barbara

[GB1]

Took at least 100 shots during this shoot, this is the best I have (?)

gb

[LeeIs]

Excellent. Love the slight slow shutter and the smoothness that produced. The sky is also stunning.

For critique, I really can't think of a way to make this nicer other than using a slower shutter speed and making the water even more silkier.

[Greg McCary]

Very beautiful GB I am viewing on my IPad which can be on the dark side. It looks like you might could dodge the rocks just a little. Looks like it might be tilted as well.. Superb shoot. The exposure is really nice.

[armando_m]

This one works !!!

Great contrast of the warm sky with the cool water

[n8]

No major critique here. I've been obsessed with shots like this lately and can't wait to get somewhere to do my own. If anything, you may be able to lighten up the rocks a bit and crop a bit off the right. I like how the rocks are descending in height.

[hminx]

Greg I think there is still a bit of colour and texture to be had from those rocks, and personal taste has me wishing for a slight vibrance boost. Composition is fine

[draymorton]

I love this one, Greg.

As for critiques, I agree with n8 about possibly lightening and/or bringing out the detail in the rocks (just a tiny bit) on the righthand side.

I thought the horizon looked crooked, too, but if it is, it is barely perceptible even with a grid/ruler check. It may be ever-so-slightly tilted to the right.

The exposure could have been longer for more silk factor, but that's a judgment call and a matter of personal taste. It wouldn't necessarily be better that way, just different. As it is, I love the water in the foreground. Looks like brush strokes!

And finally, the sky looks a little washed-out/faded to me for some reason. You could add vibrance/saturation, but I'm thinking that adding an ND Grad effect on the sky would be a better idea, as it would darken the sky and deepen the color. I tried it myself and think it is an improvement.

Other than that, you have a really great shot. I especially like the subtle detail (where there is detail) and in the rocks and that first major wave up from the bottom. There is motion in every direction - just beautiful.

[hminx]

This is my somewhat pixelated version of what I had in mind, working from the original I'm sure would yield you much better results. Curious how you manage to post a 1000+ pixel image on this site Greg

[GB1]

Thanks fellows.. This one stood out from the others I took that day.

I read your advice and made another edit, lighting the rocks a tad, increasing vibrance, and worked on getting the horizon to look right. Turns out it wasn't really tilted, but did have a little lens pincushion distortion that needed fixing. I'll throw in that CS5's built-in Lens Correction filter's Auto Correction did not correct it correctly btw ... it went too far the other way, creating some noticeable barrel distortion, so I had to use it's manual control.

Anyway, the adjustment is below.

Pete, there's two ways you can get around the 800 px limit. One's to post it on another site and then use the Insert Image function located here (I link to my website), but perhaps a better way is to post it in the PR gallery and do the same. That way the image will always be visible in PR, even if your website goes down one day.

N8, hard to miss on the Cali coastline, but there's great beaches with rocks in Oregon and Washington state too. Just dedicate sufficient time and remember to bring your jacket and, if up north, something to protect your equipment from sudden rainstorms.

Also, I had a boatload of images from this shoot and will check to see if I have any others will slower shutter speeds. But I've found that a lot of shots I take at the beach are too plain to be considered keepers - I was lucky to find this interesting rock formation to spice up the foreground a bit.

G