Dancing Coyote

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 15, 2013124 views2 comments

I went to Pt. Reyes yesterday and one of the places we stopped was Heart's Desire beach in Tomales Bay State Park. I was wandering around the shore, when I noticed this face of rock and dirt and the white and dark contrast. Thought it was worth a shot or two. When I looked at it on the screen the, image reminded me of an animal. As further down the bay, there is a Dancing Coyote beach, I knew I had my animal and title. I took a few more to have enough to work with. I didn't do much as I couldn't visualize what might improve this. (I'm certainly not thinking this is a perfect image). I did add some warmth to it and cropped some from all sides (mostly from top and rt). Suggestions on making this better would be appreciated in addition to the usual critiques. Thanks in advance.

Tech Info

Canon 60D with EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 at 68mm
1/100th at f/8 and ISO 200
handheld

Comments

2 comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on September 16, 2013 at 12:04 AM

Peter, I think this has potential. I can see where you were going, so maybe my suggestions will be helpful.

First, deepen the blacks. Next, try to increase the tonal separation in the mid tones. After that's done, play around with the saturation in the yellows, reds, and blues; not too much, though. You want the colors to pop some without them going crazy. Lastly, burn the top and the top left and right corners and then burn the dark areas surrounding the central lighter shape. The whites in the aplite look good, so you don't want to touch those.

This is one of those images where Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Masks would really shine. If you don't have them, they are one of the best bargains out there.

I hope this makes sense. It's easier to do the steps than to explain them.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on September 16, 2013 at 9:48 AM

Peter, I like this abstract. The rough rock texture is excellent. As Preston has stated I see some potential here as well as your own qualifying thoughts about the image overall. I do think abstracts such as this one that keep us looking to see what it might be, what it represents, or why the person was even drawn to it in the first place are part of the meaning of "abstract". Especially in the world of photography. I also think we all have images we've taken that really impacted us to capture them, but may be a bit hard for others to get the same feeling, draw, or understanding of the scene. This can happen with any image, however maybe even more so with abstracts at times.

I really like this abstract as is composition wise, but also could see some of the processing mentioned to enhance it even further. There are zillions of abstracts out there that we pass up all the time and they're surely missed opportunities at that point. So, we never know until we really take the shot how it will turn out once we've completed the processing....

Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments