Critique THAT Pier at Portencross. Epic sunset

[SFTPhotography]

Sunset

_DSC5775 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

Good afterglow

_DSC5794 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

 

[minnnt]

#2 is my favorite Steve. IMO the highlight in #1 kind of takes the edge off of it a little although it does seem to be the better of the two scenes.

 

[Neil Burnell]

2nd is great Steve, lovely colours.

 

[SFTPhotography]

I've always been a sucker for the symettical pier/jetty myself and the 2nd is a major bucket list tick, although when out and about I try a few different takes and chew on them. I will be back so will maybe shoot sunset from the pier and the afterglow from the 1st vantage

 

[PaulButler]

Being a bit picky here, but the second one would work better imo with more of the tide in, that way it would isolate the pier more and you wouldn't have the rocks on the left. Like I said - picky! Gorgeous light though in both

 

[SFTPhotography]

Being a bit picky here, but the second one would work better imo with more of the tide in, that way it would isolate the pier more and you wouldn't have the rocks on the left. Like I said - picky! Gorgeous light though in both

Not at all, I would have loved high tide or some movement in the waves for the 1st. But magic light is a rare thing here in Scotland

 

[Kevin O'Brian]

Another vote for #2 Steve lovely colours and composition.

 

[G.K.Jnr.]

Two very nice images Steve, #2 would also be my fav.

George.

 

[alfbranch]

No2 is great and the composition in No1 is good and could been better with the colours from No2

 

[Stu Meech]

It's the 2nd for me, great sky and strong lead from the pier.

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

No2 for me Steve

 

[viv1969]

Another vote for the second image for me Steve. That sky is sublime.
For me, the foreground in the first is a tad light given that the sun is almost gone.
Still lovely though.

 

[SFTPhotography]

Another vote for the second image for me Steve. That sky is sublime.
For me, the foreground in the first is a tad light given that the sun is almost gone.
Still lovely though.

You don't get a sky like that often, maybe around 4 times a year.

Funny how we are all different. On another forum someone said the thought the foreground lacked detail and would have wanted some "undectectable" hdr - I nearly laughed as its quite recovered but not tone mapped. I'd say is the shadows were pulled back to the extent that any more would start to see noise etc. 2.5 hard stops were used plus a further 3 stop soft and a little stopper just to smooth it out a bit. The balance between detail and contrast can be a trickly one to strike and everyones takes on it differ. It probably is a tad over pulled but its more or less how I saw it.

 

[Bolt]

2 for me as well but both really nice shots.