Am I on track here?

[RobNZ]

Am I on track with my post processing as you can see by the progression photos?

Final result

Which was cropped from this

Which was processed from raw, from this

How well did I do on final composition?

Does the shot deserve the work post at all?


Thanks in advance

 

[Natalie]

I like the second photo the best - it has the best composition/perspective, IMO. The heavily cropped one just looks kind of blurry, and it leaves the viewer wondering why there's some sort of rainbow in the background (it's not obvious that there's one in the sky). The unprocessed version is a bit lacking on the right side of the frame and the horizon is crooked, but both of those issues are remedied in the cropped version. Interesting shot!

 

[creisinger]

IMO the rainbow and the "sand castle" don't work together in this shot. It's either or.

The rainbow is out of focus and just appears as a glare and not really as a rainbow so it loses it's beauty right there.

The "sand castle" appears to be just flopped down quickly without concept. The shells and sticks on top of it don't make it more appealing.

If you'd created the sand towers in a line, circle, square, triangle or any other recognizable shape you could have worked more with DOF and created more drama to it. This way it just looks flat to me. Nothing special.

Then furthermore what was the concept behind the shot? There are man made objects in the frame mixed with a natural event. What did you try to express with this?

 

[RobNZ]

The "sand castle" appears to be just flopped down quickly without concept. The shells and sticks on top of it don't make it more appealing.

Random strangers kids do these things I guess, the "scene" was as I found it.

I was trying to capture a moment in time with the rainbow in the background and working with what I had for the few seconds I had at my disposal, and then turning an otherwise ordinary shot into something a little less ordinary.

I guess the concept at the time was to get a shot of the rainbow that incorporated the foreground to the ocean and to the rainbow of an otherwise featureless location. Post had me re-think that idea as the shallow DOF as pointed out doesnt work for the overall image.

Thanks for your comments

 

[creisinger]

I see. Personally I don't walk up to a scene shoot and get it spot on by shooting "out of the hip".

I need time to get all variables straightened out (tripod, aperture to get all objects sorted in regards to DOF, angle etc.). I understand that sometimes you don't have the time to do so.

It would have made a huge difference if the kids were in the frame building the sand castle. Then we're talking about something else. Maybe next time

 

[Einstein]

I dont have an issue with the build integreity of your sand castles but i think creis has a good point. I would have prefered to see the sky/rainbow in focus especially as you point out that was what you wanted to capture for the vewier and then the forground slightly blurred but still distiguishible as a beach with some sandcastles in it. In this situation i think you would have a cool sky with an interesting foreground that adds to the overall scene and also people wouldn't be so focused on your sand castle architecture!

That aside 2 is also my favorite and i get a good feeling from it. And i think you did a good job PP.

 

[KmH]

Does the shot deserve the work post at all?

Sure!

I'd venture the image should have been made in a vertical orientation (and from a lower perspective, to bring the main image elements closer together) while there on the beach. It's better to do the composition in the camera when ever possible, rather than cropping and throwing away pixels in post processing.

You've picked up on t DOF issue and I"ll mention it looks like the "rainbow" is a Sun dog and the Sun is actually out of frame camera right.

At any rate I also did an edit from the original horizontal capture: