Ursa do Norte +Repost

Gallery: LandscapePosted February 10, 2010420 views26 comments

Sintra/Cascais Natural Park. Portugal

An incoming storm with low clouds formations that were crossing the beach quickly. For few moments, a breach in the sky during golden sunset light lit the cliffs and "Ursa" iconic huge rock. I tried to capture all the magic. My choice was this long exposure, with water interacting near FG rock.

I would like to hear your thoughts about it, are colors good for your eyes? Thanks for comments/critiques.

Details:
1 shot taken in 02/2009 exposed for 1sec f/19 ISO100

Comments

26 comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on February 10, 2010 at 2:29 PM

Incorporating rainbows into images must be a challenge - I've never tried it before, or rather had the chance to.
Although the rainbow is somewhat pointing out of the image, it enhances the mood of the shot quite a bit. The composition is wonderful and details are amazing. The sky is too blue for my taste, especially as the foreground and the rocks look quite natural to me. I would take out some saturation.

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

Comment posted by Helio Cristovao on February 10, 2010 at 2:30 PM

Forgot to mention, this is a 3x4 crop from original file.
BTW, processing made with CaptureNX2 + PS cs4, lot of work on this one for selective areas processing.

Thanks Andreas, for saturation tip. I thought about that nit, but it doesn´t differ that much from original, it´s a stormy sky, let´s hear some more opinions.

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

Comment posted by Matt Anderson on February 10, 2010 at 2:32 PM

All it's missing is a Unicorn!
J/K Nice image !

Registered on September 6, 2007, 346 Posts, 2696 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on February 10, 2010 at 2:39 PM

No worries, Helios. We're all blindfolded when we haven't been on location ourselves. I don't doubt that the sky was really intense at that moment.

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

Comment posted by Benjamin Glatt on February 10, 2010 at 2:45 PM

Stunning image, absolutely gorgeous. Great work. My only suggestion would be a slight crop from the bottom.

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

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on February 10, 2010 at 2:59 PM

A wonderful composed image. I love the contrast here and the colors but I agree with Andreas that the sky might be a little bit over saturated.

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ryan on February 10, 2010 at 3:20 PM

Very nice scend. I like the shutter speed to capture the water and the foreground element works nicely with the entire scene. The sky is pretty blue but I don't have a problem with it.

Registered on June 29, 2008, 85 Posts, 636 Comments

Comment posted by Rui Vieira on February 10, 2010 at 3:40 PM

Awesome shot Hélio

The rainbow gives a magical feeling to the shot. I wold take out some saturation to the blues, but it´s just my personal taste speaking. It's a amazing shot with no doubt

Registered on September 11, 2008, 39 Posts, 246 Comments

Comment posted by Eric Good on February 10, 2010 at 3:48 PM

Magical setting indeed! I might prefer the sat pulled back on the blues wee bit and maybe the highlights pulled back on the rock faces a little. Other than that, this works fro me... well done!

Registered on March 17, 2007, 116 Posts, 4764 Comments

Comment posted by Luis Argerich on February 10, 2010 at 5:00 PM

Terrific!
From the texture and detail in the sand at the foreground to the wonderful rainbow. The powerful diagonal of surf provides a path to see the image.
I would say it's brilliant.

Registered on December 22, 2009, 91 Posts, 1349 Comments

Comment posted by Joseph Rossbach on February 10, 2010 at 5:13 PM

Stunning image!!!

Registered on November 25, 2005, 484 Posts, 1377 Comments

Comment posted by Paulo A.Lopes on February 10, 2010 at 5:25 PM

Love it! Magic moment! my only nit are the blues a bit strong to me.

Registered on October 14, 2008, 122 Posts, 836 Comments

Comment posted by mark cillo on February 10, 2010 at 6:44 PM

Beautiful image! I like the movement of the tide and the colors in the sky. Nice work

Registered on July 27, 2008, 143 Posts, 1483 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on February 10, 2010 at 7:03 PM

Magnificent shot, Helio! Ordinarily i dont care for long ocean exposures, but here i think it works well. I totally agree about the sky--i would desaturate the blues as much as possible, so that the rainbow stands out, as it stands the sky is more colorful than the rainbow--and that is not a good thing

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Baumbach on February 10, 2010 at 8:37 PM

Great capture.

- Dan.

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

Comment posted by Rudy Ruberti on February 10, 2010 at 8:43 PM

Beautiful! Perhaps if you moved to your left and into the sea you could have gotten the rainbow over "Ursa".

Very nice image.

Registered on October 28, 2008, 179 Posts, 1875 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on February 10, 2010 at 9:33 PM

Excellent comp and light, Hélio. My only thought would be to burn down spire and the "mountain" as the feel a tad over-exposed.

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

Comment posted by Koveh Tavakkol on February 10, 2010 at 9:58 PM

Incredible capture!

Registered on September 1, 2009, 41 Posts, 608 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Budliger on February 10, 2010 at 10:11 PM

Wow, amazing array of elements here. I love the rainbow and the foreground water effect however i think I'd burn in the midground sea stack and hillside.

Registered on June 11, 2006, 113 Posts, 2116 Comments

Comment posted by Joshua Hardin on February 10, 2010 at 10:25 PM

I love the comp and the wave action. The strong blues don't bother me at all. I agree with Tony about reeling in some of the highlights though.

Registered on July 29, 2006, 40 Posts, 414 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Dayton on February 11, 2010 at 12:12 AM

Breathtakingly beautiful, Helio! The rainbow is a nice added touch.
The colors are great.

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

Comment posted by Jimmy Gekas on February 11, 2010 at 1:04 AM

Wonderful! Maybe tone down the hotspots in the rock?

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

Comment posted by Jay Nielsen on February 11, 2010 at 1:25 AM

I really like the diagonal of the water line and the way it just touches the rock. The rainbow is an awesome added component by mother nature. Great image!

Registered on October 6, 2008, 137 Posts, 720 Comments

Comment posted by Helio Cristovao on February 11, 2010 at 3:34 AM

Thanks for feedback folks. Guess have some work to do here. I´ll post back soon.

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

Comment posted by Verena & Georg Pop on February 11, 2010 at 4:11 AM

sweet!
I wish these rainbows would cooperate with me more often...

georg

Registered on July 5, 2006, 272 Posts, 2823 Comments

Comment posted by Helio Cristovao on February 11, 2010 at 2:04 PM

Repost, with adjustments:

manual blend of a previous shot underexposed for highlight recovery on the right cliff;
Burned down global highlights on brighter Ursa;
Lightly desaturate strong blue spot in the sky;
minor light adjustment on the water, felt a bit too bright.

Hope this processing helps.
Comments welcome guys. Thanks.

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