Helga,

You have a wonderful foreground but for me your sky looks not normal. So have a great change for improvement. I did the following actions.

First I did a crop I used a 15/10 format to come in a direction of 1/3 foreground and 2/3 sky. Than I brought him in Camera /raw as follows: Photoshop>filter>Camera Rawfilter. I used there both gradients: radial and linear for darkening and lighting. With the radial you become soft borders so you can choose several places. And after this the strange action. Photo shop has a very nice tool : REPLACEE AIR. The I could find for me a better sky. But if you don't like him you can easy go for another one Replace air goes as follows: Go in Photoshop to EDIT>REPLACE AIR.  Below the result up to you if you like it. Theo-senior critic.

PS. This foreground needs a lttle bit more contrast , I think, but not so heavy as your second one.

Hello, Helga

I studied your image for quite some minutes. My first impression was an awe. It looked so clear, bright and romantic. Your edited image turned out to be quite nice in my point of view and I think you made good decisions with the touches in Photoshop. And I can also understand the advice Theo Luycx looks gave. The one part of your image that gives me a thought is the bright part at the left side of the image, the horizon line. I took a screenshot as well and tried my hand at it, but without changing the sky that part does not get fixed. There is too much loss of texture because of the brightness there. Honestly I think this could have been avoided while the image was taken. Inside the camera there is the highlight alert which can be very helpful in moments like this. It helps you to adjust your settings before you take the image. A tripod is quite handy at this point. You can check the progress in liveview. A slight shift to minus degrees in dehase in Photoshop Raw and minimal adjustments to texture and clarity could give the sky some dynamics. Yet it should be done delicalitely to avoid excessive darkening and noise. I also like the softness and the saturation of the image. Another point I thought about while studying your image was the absence of a living being. The impact of the image with a trace of somebody walking or have recently walked on the beach, or a bird, or somebody in a boat would have dramatically changed the impression of the image. Although I myself sometimes like landscapes without people better, I looked for an anchor point here. I hope I could be helpful with some insights...Have good light

Çiçek Kıral Senior Critic

Theo Luycx PRO

Helga,

You have a wonderful foreground but for me your sky looks not normal. So have a great change for improvement. I did the following actions.

First I did a crop I used a 15/10 format to come in a direction of 1/3 foreground and 2/3 sky. Than I brought him in Camera /raw as follows: Photoshop>filter>Camera Rawfilter. I used there both gradients: radial and linear for darkening and lighting. With the radial you become soft borders so you can choose several places. And after this the strange action. Photo shop has a very nice tool : REPLACEE AIR. The I could find for me a better sky. But if you don't like him you can easy go for another one Replace air goes as follows: Go in Photoshop to EDIT>REPLACE AIR.  Below the result up to you if you like it. Theo-senior critic.

 

PS. This foreground needs a lttle bit more contrast , I think, but not so heavy as your second one.

Hi Theo

thank you taking the time and energy to critique and work on my image.

It is the 'not normal' that fascinates me in any image, sort of the out side the box thinking. And that is the sky that was presented to me, replacing it with another that is not my work is not acceptable to me. I wanted to showcase a sky as I saw it with a bright, blinding light as it happend here just before the sun rises, the empty space that speaks volumes to me, moments before the sun rises. I did not see a dark sky.  I do, however, accept  the norm of  photography rules and will adapt for this image. 

I do like your radial and linear grading idea and will try to implement them and hopefully be successful.

I look forward to more of your mentoring ideas in the future.

Kind regards

Helga

Helga,

I used my edit of your foreground and  for above I did following. Like Cicek also said on the left side the sky had no detail. I selected the whole sky with rectangle and gave a new filling layer dark yellow. Reduced the covering  till 10-15% and after this I used  BRIGHTNESS /CONTRAST to bring back the dark areas. I think you are right to go for the original,  but your foreground was so nice therefore I did the change. Theo-senior critic

Helga,

I used my edit of your foreground and  for above I did following. Like Cicek also said on the left side the sky had no detail. I selected the whole sky with rectangle and gave a new filling layer dark yellow. Reduced the covering  till 10-15% and after this I used  BRIGHTNESS /CONTRAST to bring back the dark areas. I think you are right to go for the original,  but your foreground was so nice therefore I did the change. Theo-senior critic

Hello, Helga

I studied your image for quite some minutes. My first impression was an awe. It looked so clear, bright and romantic. Your edited image turned out to be quite nice in my point of view and I think you made good decisions with the touches in Photoshop. And I can also understand the advice Theo Luycx looks gave. The one part of your image that gives me a thought is the bright part at the left side of the image, the horizon line. I took a screenshot as well and tried my hand at it, but without changing the sky that part does not get fixed. There is too much loss of texture because of the brightness there. Honestly I think this could have been avoided while the image was taken. Inside the camera there is the highlight alert which can be very helpful in moments like this. It helps you to adjust your settings before you take the image. A tripod is quite handy at this point. You can check the progress in liveview. A slight shift to minus degrees in dehase in Photoshop Raw and minimal adjustments to texture and clarity could give the sky some dynamics. Yet it should be done delicalitely to avoid excessive darkening and noise. I also like the softness and the saturation of the image. Another point I thought about while studying your image was the absence of a living being. The impact of the image with a trace of somebody walking or have recently walked on the beach, or a bird, or somebody in a boat would have dramatically changed the impression of the image. Although I myself sometimes like landscapes without people better, I looked for an anchor point here. I hope I could be helpful with some insights...Have good light

Çiçek Kıral Senior Critic

Hi Cicek,

thank your for your thaughts  and critique. I do confess that I am in two minds with what you say.

You say you were in awe as a first impression, clear, bright and romantic - that was intended on my part and you liked my photoshop skills, I thank you for that. To me that means you understood the image as is.

As I also explained to Theo (and I appreciate all advice given) that the bright part was intended to blow out, in my mind adding to the romanticism, if you will. I guess I just think differently and will adapt the image for curation purposes. I do know about the highlight alert, I just ignored it. I do take on board the dehaze and will work on the sky. Thank you for liking the softness and saturation of the image, again that was my intend. I purposely omitted a living being, I wanted the waves to speak for themselves.

I thank you for your valuable insight and will try to rework this image to hopefully make it more understood.

Kind regards

Helga

Theo Luycx PRO

Helga,

I used my edit of your foreground and  for above I did following. Like Cicek also said on the left side the sky had no detail. I selected the whole sky with rectangle and gave a new filling layer dark yellow. Reduced the covering  till 10-15% and after this I used  BRIGHTNESS /CONTRAST to bring back the dark areas. I think you are right to go for the original,  but your foreground was so nice therefore I did the change. Theo-senior critic

 

Hi Theo

I thank you for getting back to me and understanding my vision. I feel more comfortable with your latest version, but in the meantime have worked on my new version, trying to follow all advice. Kindly see the uploaded new version.

Theo Luycx PRO

Helga,

I used my edit of your foreground and  for above I did following. Like Cicek also said on the left side the sky had no detail. I selected the whole sky with rectangle and gave a new filling layer dark yellow. Reduced the covering  till 10-15% and after this I used  BRIGHTNESS /CONTRAST to bring back the dark areas. I think you are right to go for the original,  but your foreground was so nice therefore I did the change. Theo-senior critic

 

Hi Cicek,

thank your for your thaughts  and critique. I do confess that I am in two minds with what you say.

You say you were in awe as a first impression, clear, bright and romantic - that was intended on my part and you liked my photoshop skills, I thank you for that. To me that means you understood the image as is.

As I also explained to Theo (and I appreciate all advice given) that the bright part was intended to blow out, in my mind adding to the romanticism, if you will. I guess I just think differently and will adapt the image for curation purposes. I do know about the highlight alert, I just ignored it. I do take on board the dehaze and will work on the sky. Thank you for liking the softness and saturation of the image, again that was my intend. I purposely omitted a living being, I wanted the waves to speak for themselves.

I thank you for your valuable insight and will try to rework this image to hopefully make it more understood.

Kind regards

Helga

Helga Williams PRO

Theo Luycx PRO

Helga,

I used my edit of your foreground and  for above I did following. Like Cicek also said on the left side the sky had no detail. I selected the whole sky with rectangle and gave a new filling layer dark yellow. Reduced the covering  till 10-15% and after this I used  BRIGHTNESS /CONTRAST to bring back the dark areas. I think you are right to go for the original,  but your foreground was so nice therefore I did the change. Theo-senior critic

 

Hi Theo

 

I thank you for getting back to me and understanding my vision. I feel more comfortable with your latest version, but in the meantime have worked on my new version, trying to follow all advice. Kindly see the uploaded new version.

 

For the sky I used the patch and healing brush tool to fill in the blanks, I do hope that it still looks natural and not overdone. I used the brush tool, picked the colour on the horizon on the right and filled in the brightness at a very low opacity to suit , I did leave a brighter spot where the sun was rising, highlighting the reflection through the ocean onto the beach onto the left. I used the radial tool in camera raw to slightly blur the waves, then added brightness to the front, splashy wave and finally selected the foreground and gave it more sharpness. The title is still Ocean Vibes, I hope it suits? 

I would like to keep it light and bright, soft and romantic like Cicek said. Honest opinion please.

 

Kind regards

Helga

 

Theo Luycx PRO

Helga,

I used my edit of your foreground and  for above I did following. Like Cicek also said on the left side the sky had no detail. I selected the whole sky with rectangle and gave a new filling layer dark yellow. Reduced the covering  till 10-15% and after this I used  BRIGHTNESS /CONTRAST to bring back the dark areas. I think you are right to go for the original,  but your foreground was so nice therefore I did the change. Theo-senior critic

 

 

Cicek Kiral PRO

Hello, Helga

I studied your image for quite some minutes. My first impression was an awe. It looked so clear, bright and romantic. Your edited image turned out to be quite nice in my point of view and I think you made good decisions with the touches in Photoshop. And I can also understand the advice Theo Luycx looks gave. The one part of your image that gives me a thought is the bright part at the left side of the image, the horizon line. I took a screenshot as well and tried my hand at it, but without changing the sky that part does not get fixed. There is too much loss of texture because of the brightness there. Honestly I think this could have been avoided while the image was taken. Inside the camera there is the highlight alert which can be very helpful in moments like this. It helps you to adjust your settings before you take the image. A tripod is quite handy at this point. You can check the progress in liveview. A slight shift to minus degrees in dehase in Photoshop Raw and minimal adjustments to texture and clarity could give the sky some dynamics. Yet it should be done delicalitely to avoid excessive darkening and noise. I also like the softness and the saturation of the image. Another point I thought about while studying your image was the absence of a living being. The impact of the image with a trace of somebody walking or have recently walked on the beach, or a bird, or somebody in a boat would have dramatically changed the impression of the image. Although I myself sometimes like landscapes without people better, I looked for an anchor point here. I hope I could be helpful with some insights...Have good light

Çiçek Kıral Senior Critic

Hi Cicek,

 

thank your for your thaughts  and critique. I do confess that I am in two minds with what you say.

You say you were in awe as a first impression, clear, bright and romantic - that was intended on my part and you liked my photoshop skills, I thank you for that. To me that means you understood the image as is.

As I also explained to Theo (and I appreciate all advice given) that the bright part was intended to blow out, in my mind adding to the romanticism, if you will. I guess I just think differently and will adapt the image for curation purposes. I do know about the highlight alert, I just ignored it. I do take on board the dehaze and will work on the sky. Thank you for liking the softness and saturation of the image, again that was my intend. I purposely omitted a living being, I wanted the waves to speak for themselves.

 

I thank you for your valuable insight and will try to rework this image to hopefully make it more understood.

 

Kind regards

Helga

Helga,

I find that you did well. You have now a good looking composition.