Early Morning Series

[marcotrov]

After some very early morning rain I thought I'd go down the beach with just my D70, 18-70, SB 600 and tripod and see what I could come up with. Only took about 7 shots then I had to go and here's the pick of them.
tried to work some of the wave action gentle breakers over calm seas.
Comments appreciated.
Most are slight variations with slight compositional changes. The last was cloud formation that caught my imagination (a little to vivid I suppose) but I saw a woman with long flowing hair and long body and legs with face and arms oustretched flashing through the sky right to left. Ok no laughing now






cheers
marco

[Slider]

Brilliant shots Marco. The stand outs for me are 2 and the last. Superb

[skippy]

That second one really catches my eye. Great capture of the tiny break in the centre. The other wave shots are good too, but I prefer the second. The "woman's portrait" didn't work for me as well as the others though in the larger pic. Not sure why.

Should we ask what you were doing when you saw this flying woman?

[moggy]

Nice shots Marco, the colours are great and yes I can see your lady in the last shot.

Bob.

.

[marcotrov]

Thanks slider and skippy yeah I like the second one too. I fed the sandflies waiting for the right set to come in and not miss the lovely light 'window' of opportunity.
Moggy, glad you can see her she is beautiful.
Thanks for the comments guys
Haven't got up that early to shoot images for a long time. That light is always sweet to behold and makes you wonder why you don't get up more often, but hell when that alarm goes off and its dark you really start to assess your sanity
cheers
marco

[Oneputt]

Marco beautiful work, hard to seperate but I think no2 is the best for me. Lovely composition and a simple scene. Very well done

[BBJ]

Marco, well done i too like #2 but think the others are also great, i cant coment on too much on these as not my cuppa tea, well i mean i dont get the chance to do this sort of stuff, but yeh looking good.

[Killakoala]

i really liek the second of your series. The contrast between the coloured sky and the white water breaking is appealing to me. It is also quite surreal.

Is this beach north of Cairns? The island looks familiar.

[Zeeke]

Marco, i like your work, the 2nd one is probably my choice of them.. the colours and lighting is beautiful!

Tim

[stubbsy]

Marco

Your WB seems off in some of these with the wave crests a bit on the blue side. Now I've got that off my chest...

#2 is the best by far for me - interesting subject, well composed and exposed.

I'd also suggest you try cropping above the breakers for another pic - keeping just smooth water for a quite different shot where the eyes focus on the horizon.

Well worth the early rise and the sand flies.

[marcotrov]

Thanks Oneputt, BBJ, Steve and Tim for the lovely comments. Might get up early tomorrow morning as well. Storms past but I might just try a few panos

Stubbsy said:

Your WB seems off in some of these with the wave crests a bit on the blue side. Now I've got that off my chest...

#2 is the best by far for me - interesting subject, well composed and exposed.

I'd also suggest you try cropping above the breakers for another pic - keeping just smooth water for a quite different shot where the eyes focus on the horizon.

Thanks Peter for your help with the thumbnail upload process. I take your point on the WB in Nikon Capture I experimented with a couple by cooling the colour temperature to try and avoid too much of that bright orange sunrise.
Is this what you meant Peter. I can see what you were getting at. Not sure if it works all that well. I think I like the foreground interest afforded by the little wave. It might be the way I cropped it though
I placed a before and after thumbnail.



Thanks for all the comments.
cheers
marco

[stubbsy]

Is this what you meant Peter. I can see what you were getting at. Not sure if it works all that well. I think I like the foreground interest afforded by the little wave. It might be the way I cropped it though Smile
I placed a before and after thumbnail.

Yes. I agree - a little too tight at the top. Otherwise it would have worked. I don't think there is anything wrong with the original, rather that this is an extra version.

The WB - here is an example (before and after) with the colour cast reduced and a graduated ND effect added to darken the top & lighten the bottom so you don't get much more orange. Of course it's your image and you should always do what YOU like

[marcotrov]

Yep I agree the overall effect looks better. You definitely created a different feel to the picture. Nice touch Peter.
cheers
marco

[Alex]

Great shots, Marco. The last one in the series is my favourite.

Alex

[Dug]

Nice stuff!

have you tried the same time kind of shots with a long exposure?

[marcotrov]

Steve said:

Is this beach north of Cairns? The island looks familiar.

They were taken at Palm Cove Beach north of Cairns.

Thanks for the comments Alex and Dug
Dug I had thought about slow shutter speed shots to blur water mvement but my aim was to freeze some wave action at its peak for foreground interest. Also the water was pretty flat with just the ocassional wave or 2 coming through, in fact that was feeding time for the sandflies waiting patiently for a swell that might lead to a break where i wanted it. But I'll certainly give it a try again at some point when there is a little more water movement
cheers
marco

[Alpha_7]

Lovely images Marco.... I've only just had my second chance at morning photography (while on holidays) and loved it.. the light gives you so much to work with, especially near any water!

Just love you images, and also learn a thing or two from Stubbsy, showing you about the WB etc on the wave crests (I think I could enhance a few of my shots with the same technique).

[LittleB]

Nice series, I like the first one and the last one. The last one is awesome!

[marcotrov]

Thank you for the kind comment Craig (you are right Craig about the early mornning, don't do what I did and waste too many of your holidays not getting up early and chasing the light you will regret it as I have. ) and Genista
cheers
marco