Purple Light

Gallery: LandscapePosted January 17, 2010515 views34 comments

Sintra and Cascais NP.
Portugal

A color burst in the stormy sky during sunset revealing a magic moment of light in the wild harbor.

This image is a 3 exposure manual blend, not for HDR purposes - the light was soft and naturally well balanced top to bottom, even no need for filters - but 3 moments of different situations:

1 photo that had the appropriate and more colorful sky, other having the water flow as desired at MG, and finally a huge wave crashing in the big rock.

All 3 shots made at f/19 4 sec. ISO100

Thanks for your C&C, highly appreciated.

Comments

34 comments

Comment posted by István Molnár on January 17, 2010 at 10:17 AM

Excellent composition.

István

Registered on January 7, 2010, 114 Posts, 704 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Dayton on January 17, 2010 at 10:27 AM

For me this is otherworldly and has a mystical mood about it. The light is
awesome. Incredible, Helio.

Registered on November 11, 2008, 281 Posts, 3958 Comments

Comment posted by John Williams on January 17, 2010 at 10:55 AM

It's beautiful Helio! Great composition, and the background color is special. I prefer the top part of the photo, and would recommend darkening the foreground so the eye is led there a bit more.

Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments

Comment posted by Dietrich Gloger on January 17, 2010 at 11:13 AM

Wow, this is very interesting Hélio! Particularly the bg - sky and seastack looks great. Sure would look great as a print!

Registered on January 26, 2007, 360 Posts, 9876 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Pullen on January 17, 2010 at 11:45 AM

Beautiful colors in the rocks and the softness in the wave action looks good. Ron

Registered on December 18, 2005, 74 Posts, 1413 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Baumbach on January 17, 2010 at 1:52 PM

Beautiful results.

- Dan.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 473 Posts, 7980 Comments

Comment posted by Reno DiTullio on January 17, 2010 at 1:53 PM

Love the fg rocks and their color, and the bg sky, great light, well done Helio,

Registered on November 14, 2003, 130 Posts, 1644 Comments

Comment posted by Benjamin Glatt on January 17, 2010 at 2:52 PM

Beautiful image. Love the arrangement of rocks in the fg.

Registered on July 15, 2007, 171 Posts, 3566 Comments

Comment posted by Nicolas Belokurov on January 17, 2010 at 2:58 PM

A really wonderful shot, I also think the FG could be a bit darker to focus on the action on the top of the frame.

Registered on July 22, 2009, 41 Posts, 533 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Ward on January 17, 2010 at 3:12 PM

Helio,
Great blend and wonderful palette. Like others have mentioned, I might like to see the foreground burned in a bit to make it a tad darker. Well done.

Registered on February 26, 2009, 304 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel Rappaport on January 17, 2010 at 3:53 PM

Love the colors and composition.

Registered on September 9, 2009, 294 Posts, 2006 Comments

Comment posted by Barry Vangrov on January 17, 2010 at 4:07 PM

Fantastic shot. I wouldn't change a thing.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 148 Posts, 749 Comments

Comment posted by Reed Bowman on January 17, 2010 at 4:11 PM

Helio...no matter what you do with this it is a fanatastic image. Otherwordly is a great description..the misty sea swirling around the seastack is tremendous. I agree with John, the upper part is so beautiful, but I find my eye drawn to the bright fg. I would darken a bit...

Registered on March 2, 2009, 166 Posts, 1058 Comments

Comment posted by Ant on January 17, 2010 at 4:33 PM

Beautiful, mysterious image... With a touch of pop era feeling (could be a cover of a LP from the late 70ies...). I like it a lot, the sharp foreground and the misty water besides, up to the incredible sky... Splendid!

Registered on April 13, 2009, 27 Posts, 474 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on January 17, 2010 at 5:04 PM

Superb color, comp, and detail. Very well done.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on January 17, 2010 at 5:29 PM

Very nice, composition works very well with those stones in the FG.

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by Chip Phillips on January 17, 2010 at 6:12 PM

Nice image Helio. The overall luminosity is very inviting, and I really like the detail in the foreground. Beautiful light.

Registered on November 26, 2007, 128 Posts, 1436 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on January 17, 2010 at 7:37 PM

Awesome, Hélio. I absolutely love everything about this. Gorgeous color, wonderful textures, awesome light.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Bret Edge on January 17, 2010 at 9:16 PM

Outstanding image and a perfect combination of exposures, Helio. I see nothing I would do different. Congrats on a gorgeous photo!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 711 Posts, 6363 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on January 17, 2010 at 9:39 PM

That light is pretty special. Great job using it. The stones work perfectly to compliment the colors. Bravo

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on January 17, 2010 at 9:41 PM

This photo is so ridiculous I can not even understand it! Amazing! And I'm a coastal guy.

Mark

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Neff on January 17, 2010 at 9:42 PM

Well done Helio. I can't say anything that hasn't already been said. Have you got a B & W version of this beauty? I think your content would look phenominal in B & W as well.

Registered on December 11, 2003, 10 Posts, 35 Comments

Comment posted by Vance Gese on January 17, 2010 at 10:19 PM

Gorgeous composition and color, Helio. Love the details and tones of the foreground rocks and how they complement the warm tones in the sky. Outstanding work.

Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments

Comment posted by Jeremy Kessler on January 17, 2010 at 11:40 PM

Can't add much to what's already been said. Beautiful work!

Registered on September 13, 2007, 36 Posts, 1283 Comments

Comment posted by Jimmy Gekas on January 18, 2010 at 1:04 AM

Awesome... not much more can be said!!!

Registered on July 26, 2007, 244 Posts, 2807 Comments

Comment posted by David Edwards on January 18, 2010 at 1:11 AM

A beautiful shot Helio. Great job with the blend. The sky is awesome and the detail in the rock stack is wonderful. Sensational lighting! I'm not too hot on those fg rocks.. they seem a bit intrusive and distracting... perhaps just too bright. Nice one!

Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on January 18, 2010 at 1:20 AM

May win awards!

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on January 18, 2010 at 3:33 AM

Excellent shot, Helio. Nothing to add to the already said.

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Pogledich on January 18, 2010 at 4:38 AM

Like a fairy tale. I like everything about it. Looks like it all came together for you here -- perfect conditions at the perfect location.

Registered on August 24, 2009, 123 Posts, 3099 Comments

Comment posted by Helio Cristovao on January 18, 2010 at 5:04 AM

Thanks for feedback thus far guys. I´ll work on that FG rocks, follow the advice of darkening a bit and repost a newer version as soon as I can. Yet about FG, I particularly like the very subtle "curve" the middle bottom smaller rocks, leading towards the bigger ones.
About the location, this is a surprising spot, an old fishermen harbor established deeply in the wild shore of Cape Roca slopes. A couple houses in ruins are found around in the cliffs, and as a personal note, I´m grateful to capture this light, it´s a hard trail down there and this mystical mood totally renders the bay, and leaves space for dreaming about ancient times of fishermen meeting the sea... Guess I´ll write an article on this

Registered on September 15, 2009, 83 Posts, 434 Comments

Comment posted by Prashant Khapane on January 18, 2010 at 5:50 AM

this is one of the best seascapes I have seen lately. What a wonderful image. I can count those pebbles.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 492 Posts, 4580 Comments

Comment posted by Helio Cristovao on January 22, 2010 at 9:49 PM

Finally, here is a repost of the image, corrected levels a bit, on shadows side, also burned down FG shadows a bit, darkening. Suits better like this?
Not sure if the image will be seen much more, but opinions are important on this. Thanks guys.