Trying my hand at Sunsets

[DGK*CRONE]

Huntington Beach, Ca

[arne saknussen]

I love the composition! The sillohoutte and shadows of the 2 figures is nice. The far right oil rigging is nicely placed. The rigging closest to the sun, maybe, and I do mean maybe, should be cloned out.
The sun, however, seems a little weird somehow. I'm not sure if its because the cloud level disperses the light unevenly. But still a very nice shot.

[Greg McCary]

Sunsets can be tough. You need an ND grad to get more detail in the foreground, then don't blow out the highlights and bring up the darks in post. Crop this one on the left and then either some off of the top or bottom to uncenter it. I am thinking crop it just above the sun.

[DGK*CRONE]

thanks arne_saknussen The sun can seem weird because of the clouds in between it.

GregMcCary- I just looked up the ND Grad filter. those are nifty. a little pricey but wow, I can see how those can help so much. Thanks for that.

I liked the photo but I didn't like the crop. That is why I post here. I wanted a more experienced point of view on it. Thanks for the suggestion. I tried a tighter crop and I am not sure if this is what you mean but I was taking your comment into consideration when I was cropping.

[Anbesol]

~ $17 for the cokin filter adapter, ~ $35 for the ND Grad, at least down at my local shop. Worth every penny, very cool. Plus, full on ND's and double and triple stacking them with the cokin adapter set. The only down side is that you are supporting a french company , but very cool otherwise. I agree with greg though, I would like to see more foreground detail, and this is the perfect type of shot for an ND grad.

I disagree a bit with greg, in that I would crop more off the bottom, leave the top alone. I'd prefer a crop that almost hits up to the shadows of the surfers, I also like the more space on the left of the first crop. Horizons also work well as wide type pan shots, I would only crop it vertically, not horizontally. Thats my take anyway.

[Greg McCary]

I think it is much better. If you buy the NDgrads in a kit of three you will get them much cheaper. But to be honest the only one I ever us is the two stop grad.

[armando_m]

I like the cropped version

nice colors !

on this type of shots I, do not mind the silhouettes ,
if you want detail on someting in the foreground, a flash can be used

[GB1]

I like the surfers as they add another element to your photo, even if they're slightly too dark. But I'm not sure I like the oil rig, simply because it adds one too many elements. The shot may be over-saturated and you might consider cropping out some of the sky, as it's not so important up there. I like how you got the horizon so level, and the lack of distortion.