No Fear

[smoke665]

Fair is fair, I've arm chair quarterbacked others on the C&C thread. Now's the chance to get back at me!!!

@Strodav's image reminded me of a trip down the east coast of Florida in January of 2018. I pulled this out of the archives to work on it a bit with new things I've learned over the years. It was a blustery day, to &^&* cold for me to be in the water, but these guys weren't going to let that stop them from riding the waves. Nor were they going to let the approaching storm and waves scare them off. There was a mixture of haze and salt sea spray in the air. Something I learned later when processing is that salt spray leave nasty drops on your glass. The light was actually brighter than the image looks.

Camera & settings - Pentax k3II with Pentax 18-135 zoom at 135mm, f/10, 1/500, ISO 100. I didn't have my polarizer with me which might have helped some. The historgram shows a loaded data file at these settings.

Image was processed and converted in PS, then further processed in LR.

My Goal - I almost hate to admit but when I first started shooting these guys, the thought crossed my mind that I might be recording a tragedy. Between the wind, waves and storm, it was not a safe place to be on that day. despite their bravado, I think they finally realized it and headed back in. The goal of this shot was to show man against the fury of Mother Nature. The guy with up stretched arm seemed to be telling her to bring it on.

Area of concerns: Brightness/darkness, composition, areas that could be improved, others things not noted?

No Fear by William Raber, on Flickr

 

[enezdez]

@smoke665 In my opinion the image was captured at the wrong time of day and/or perhaps overly processed or a combination thereof, regardless a halo exists at the horizon.

If the halo is the result of the haze in which you state and I have no reason to disbelieve you, you are a very talented, proficient, and accomplished photographer at least in my eyes.

The haze just doesn't photograph well, I would just crop the whole sky off and come down to the edge of the horizon/water.

After all the subjects are the surfers that's where the real story telling is at in this image...

"Man trying to either beat or coexist amid the riled waters of the ocean"...

Just my 2cents amigo...

Enezdez

 

[terri]

I like this image, and I don't think you should have any concerns about composition. I think it's glorious that the three swimmers are lined up horizontally so well. The sky is a nice third split.

I do agree with your concerns over the brightness and contrast. It's not exactly flat, but there is an overwhelming middle gray in the bottom third of the shot that could be lifted. Don't fear blowing out those bits of spectral light in the lower right corner from popping up the contrast a bit. I'd like to see the clouds have more definition instead of being barely visible, though I realize there was a storm moving in and they were likely getting a little darker. The upper left is too dark overall for my taste, leaving an odd horizontal halo between sea and sky. That could easily be lifted, I'm sure.

It's a good image, and I imagine you did feel kind of strange shooting these guys instead of yelling at them to get out of the danger. Sounds like it ended well, though!

 

[smoke665]

n my opinion the image was captured at the wrong time of day and/or perhaps overly processed or a combination thereof, regardless a halo exists at the horizon.

There was a tremendous amount of spray coming of the tops of the waves. The image was converted in PS, but the editing was in LR. not a lot of processing, no masking or other processes that should have caused a halo. I went back and looked at the image again through your eyes, and I see what I think you were talking about. Here's a couple of super crops. The waves that day were topping 10ft or more with whitecaps. When I blew up the image and cropped it, the white area you're seeing on the horizon are whitecaps on the waves. The fuzzy lighter area on the right is a combination of a spit of land, fog and white caps coming ashore. Decisions, decisions, do I burn or clone out the waves on the horizon, and lose the context or leave them.

Left side

right side

I'm reminded of a country song by Jamey Johnson, won song of the year in 2009 "In Color". Tells the story of a grandson looking at old faded B&W pictures from when his Grandpa was young. The chorus goes like this " If it looks like we were scared to death, Like a couple of kids just trying to save each other-You should've seen it in color". It was one of those awesome days I still remember.

 

[smoke665]

I like this image, and I don't think you should have any concerns about composition. I think it's glorious that the three swimmers are lined up horizontally so well. The sky is a nice third split.

I do agree with your concerns over the brightness and contrast. It's not exactly flat, but there is an overwhelming middle gray in the bottom third of the shot that could be lifted. Don't fear blowing out those bits of spectral light in the lower right corner from popping up the contrast a bit. I'd like to see the clouds have more definition instead of being barely visible, though I realize there was a storm moving in and they were likely getting a little darker. The upper left is too dark overall for my taste, leaving an odd horizontal halo between sea and sky. That could easily be lifted, I'm sure.

It's a good image, and I imagine you did feel kind of strange shooting these guys instead of yelling at them to get out of the danger. Sounds like it ended well, though!

Thanks Terrie, you might know this beach, this was shot at Ormond Beach just north of Daytona Beach. No sand just pebbles, this is where I also shot the one of Sadie Mae a few hrs later, posted on here a few years ago. One of only a few beaches around that allowed dogs.

As noted above the Atlantic was churning the water big time, the "middle gray" you refer to was actually dirty nasty looking foam. Nothing white about it. The sky was as is no swap, just as dirty gray as the foam on the water without much cloud definition. Based on the location of the sun behind/right, I suspect a polarizer would have helped create more definition in the clouds and the foam on the water.

As noted above there wasn't that much processing that might have created a halo, If you look at the crops I posted above the white you're seeing are actually white caps on some of the biggest surf I'd seen.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, gave me some things to think about.

 

[snowbear]

I like that you have the waders facing into the frame, but I'd be tempted to crop the sky at the clouds.

 

[SquarePeg]

It’s a high interest shot - really moves my eyes around the frame. Agree with Terri about the comp, that component is really good. But overall too contrasty for my taste. I think the b&w makes that even more pronounced.

 

[smoke665]

I like that you have the waders facing into the frame, but I'd be tempted to crop the sky at the clouds.

Thank you for the comments. As Terri noted above the horizon was lined up on the top third line. I did try cropping in more on the surfers, but when I did I felt like I lost to much context in the scene. I have some others of kite surfers where I filled the frame with them.

But overall too contrasty for my taste. I think the b&w makes that even more pronounced

Thanks for commenting. I struggled with that question myself. My intent was to create a high drama, gritty, tension filled shot. As you say, B&W, tends to emphasis that more, might have look at some options for taming the contrast without losing the drama.

 

[zombiesniper]

This is one of those Images I know I would like something changed but it's always a battle back and forth when editing of more detail (but then you loose some of the spray and feel), more or less contrast, more helps the surfers become silhouettes but hurts the overall image. Less contrast makes the image feel soft.

I'll have to think more on this one.

 

[cgw]

With respect, it's not processing issues so much as shot choice that's problematic. Rocks aside, I don't sense much danger. They're not surfing Nazare.

 

[wobe]

Very interesting picture but IMO maybe not so suitable for B&W?
Why I say that is the foreground does not look like water, could be a smooth rocky plateau or even icy/snowy tundra, too much contrast but that is my personal opinion - due I think to the quite uniform whiteness and general contrast.

 

[smoke665]

don't sense much danger. They're not surfing Nazare.

Thanks for comments. Waves that day were breaking in the 12' range. The "No Fear" was a somewhat tongue in cheek title because of the middle surfer with his arm up, as if he was ready to take them on. Shortly after the shot they came back in. Apparently not as fearless as they thought.

Why I say that is the foreground does not look like water, could be a smooth rocky plateau or even icy/snowy tundra, too much contras

Thsnks for commenting. Bad lighting, overcast, color wasn't an option. The foreground you refer to Is churning water/foam, lots of it. This one of those shots that looks better large, at this size details kind of run together.

 

[smoke665]

This is one of those Images I know I would like something changed but it's always a battle back and forth when editing

I know, kinda the way I was. With any image there are "planned shots" and "opportunistic shots". This was the latter, we were walking a rocky beach on the Atlantic side of FL, only thing I had was my carry around camera. Sometimes you just get what you get.