Looks mighty fine to me. The bright patch in the upper righthand background doesn't seem too distracting on the scan. Lovely tonalities. All the best, Daniel
This is TERRIFIC! I love the tones and the feel of it. Very sharp. Nice. How ever did that rock get there?
What I do see on my monitor, though is what appear to be scanning artifacts in the form of intersecting lines. I see it through out the rock, most prominently along the left edge at the 9:00 position. In the sand as well. But that's the scanner or software's falt (digital fails once again!) not yours.
I don't see thie scanning lines that you refer to. But I'm looking at this from a monitor in Kinko's, on an out of town trip, so it may not be the best tool. From here this image looks very sharp & crisp. Nice.
John
This picture is very seductive; so, at first glance you are absolutely mesmerized by the beautiful tonal qualities. However, a close inspection reveals, IMHO, that the two polls ruin what is otherwise a great composition. For me, they just don't belong and even throws the composition off balance. Having said that, this is a well exposed and exquistely printed image.
Interesting image, for the most part I like it, the one thing that bothers me is the burning in, in the foreground and on each side. to the right of the rock is a an area that "halos" to the near brightness of the paper. the left side the same, especially behind the piling. The tone from the foreground would look better I believe with a more tapered graduation from the dark to the same tone under the rock. To me the burning technique calls attention to it's self rather than totally compliamenting it.
Like the others have said, "how the heck did it get there"? Thanks for posting it really is a neat photograph!
thanks for all the comments. I asked what is wrong with this picture for what I thought was a humorous reason: a female relative of mine did mention "it's not quite anatomically correct is it?"
In answer to some good points made, the 2 piers are part of a stairway support attached above and left, that comes down to the beach from the road above and are about 14 inches in diameter so you can figure as to the size of this near perfectly round boulder. I can only guess that it was washed up with the tide, the rock was only there for a week or so and disappeared. The beach landscape is always changing here with sand coming and going.
Joey: scan lines - I looked super close up, brightened the screeen and do not see them.
esanford: oh man, I thought that having the rock lightly moved to the right offset the weight of the 2 piers..
Re: Halos - Yep, they are definitely there, from 0 degree and right to 180 bottom, then more burning was done on the sand in front of the rock, and also on the sand to the left of the piers. This printed version has more obvious halos than some other versions and I've been more carefull with the 11 x 11's. This negative is about perfect expos and dev, the added filter contrast while printing made much of the sand too light ( the sand here is famous for being "ashtray" fine) and therefore I felt, needed to be burned. Also, I tend to be willing to do heavy handed burning to the point of being noticeable by other photogs, but unnoticed or not understood by 'civilians', if it makes for a more emotional print with good drama.
Charles, I think I know what you mean if you mean simply "more tapered" and yes, that might look better, but not as dramatic maybe(?)
Very nice photograph, burning is for me just to make it look natural, to eliminate fall off in the corners, make it look natural. I do not like square prints, my eyes do not see in a square format. you should be using the best tool for the job, 8x10 ? The shadow of the left pier is missing I would have included the edge of the shadow and put it close to the edge of the print, tension. Also I would have created a background in the top left area of the print that was equal to the width of the right side pier. Is this print sharp in the background? If not than there is little to see for me. Composition; ignore the subject, create geometry.