Tantallon castle sunset

Been a long time since i've had the chance to go on a photo hunt so really enjoyed this place.
 
It looks like a lot of work in post went into this and the foreground is too busy for me. However, it's a very dramatic image and I don't mean maybe!
 
Actually not that much effort, I used lightroom to give it a sharpen and lifted a few bits and bobs and recovered the sky but all in all post was only an hour. Here's the original straight out the camera if you're interested, couldn't get rid of the halo round the rocks ,it was pretty hazy over there .Thanks a lot for having a look, much appreciated :)
View attachment 44774
 
I think the haze makes it! It's a very dynamic image with a gothic horror vibe and lots of anger in that sea. Probably unrepeatable ;)
 
Lol the sea nearly got me a few times, had my eye on the camera and a huge wave comes along and gives you the fright of your life :D , I should maybe have just lifted the exposure in the bottom half a touch and left it, god bless non destructive editing!
 
I actually much prefer the SOOC shot.
The processed image has a really nasty halo around the left hand side cliffs.
Also both the sky and the sea just look more....real.
The original really is lovely.
 
I think I'd go for an in between of the SOOC and the processed shot, but I've been down Seacliff a couple of times now and came home with no a lot, so fair play on that one! I do like a dramatic photo, and with the correct processing, it could be a great shot.
 
tantallon castle b&w s.jpg

Thanks Martin, yeah i was thinking the same thing, I bracketed the shot so i have an exposure for the sky I just need to blend them in PS. In the mean time i was toying with B&W and i kinda think it suits it, any thoughts anyone?

Cheers for looking :).
 
Really like the B&W conversion - gives a very dramatic feel with a lot of 'texture' to the image.

As for the original - think if you toned down the processing of the sky (or got rid of the clear halo on the left cliffs) you would have a better image.

Stephen
 
Hi Andy,
That has real atmosphere. Its the SOOC shot for me too, just with a tiny bit of judicial PP. For me I'd leave the foreground just as it is, because I think the dramatic PP as Nick says makes it a little to busy and hence surreal. Then I'd work just a little on the sky, using some layers in PS maybe to get that selective adjustment in the sky without creating the haloing, and not as recovered as in No1. I think with Subtle PP it will be a killer image.
Whatever its was well captured image!
 
Think SOOC would work for me sky looking really natural,in fact the rocks take on a more natural appearance.
GEORGE.
 
I think I prefer the SOOC colour one, despite really loving black and white in general. The light on the sea is much better in colour, and the castle itself is easier to distinguish from the clouds. From that angle, the castle tends to look a bit like a row of houses, in silhouette! I like the shutter speeds you've used for the main pic (not the long exposure one), as there is a strong feeling of roiling sea (and I particularly like the way the spray top right is above the horizon). I also like the way my eye is attracted first to the rock front centre, then up to the left, and then bang, there's the castle!

Is it a 4:3 crop? Wondering if shrinking it sideways a fraction (say 5:4) might help.

I know (roughly) the spot you've taken it from, had a couple of goes myself from there but not yet very successfully. It's a difficult castle to get a really strong shot of, despite being so dramatic! There's a spot low down on the other side of the castle that I want to get back to when the light and tides are favourable.
 
Thanks for looking and commenting everyone, very much appreciated. Chris my friend and I would love to go back and explore more of the area, maybe next time we could join forces and go on the hunt, we met a fellow photographer that same night who was out to get the same sunset and he helped us with so local info.

Andy.
 
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