Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by Ann:
Also responding to your post mortem...On my work monitor, which is actually a little bright, 1/2 of the screen is pretty much totally black, except for a couple of blobs in the lower left.

Another issue is the sky. Where the sun is is completely blown out, and the rest of the sky has a lot of posterization. Posterization is usually caused by going too far with the curves. Or, now that I'm looking at your editing steps, posterization can be caused by using the brightness and contrast tools. Don't use brightness/contrast. Curves and levels can be used to adjust brightness and contrast, and are much less destructive to the image.

Your reedit is much better. The people become the subject in the reedit. In this one, the sun is the subject.

Hope this helps.

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by pix-al:
Thanks for all of the comments gained after the "Post Mortem" thread.

I will post my re-edit tonight when I go home in about 3 to 4 hours time... Here it is:
Here is the edit...



I think monitor calibration may be to blame here as there are actually 5 figures in the water, not 2 as yospiff commented on seeing!

The sun was meant to be the main focus of the image, the figures in the water are an added intrest in the composition as I see it. I didn't shoot it for the challenge, I was on holiday and wanted a sunset shot, this just managed to fit the "Silhouette" well with a bit of contrast/Brightness adjustment!

Message edited by author 2007-09-26 12:35:54.

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Responding to your post-mortem request more feedback on this:

I think the sunrise glow and the two small figures in the water are competing for attention here. The horizon is also right in the middle, and my view is not steered to either subject. All the details are on the left side of the image.

I'm going to go have a look at your other version that you said did not meet the challenge theme. (looks like you don't have it posted. I'd love to see it, if possible.)

Message edited by author 2007-09-26 09:16:39.

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by NikonJeb:
Vastly underrated. Very nice image. I like the understated figures in the water.

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by booboo_goon:
I gave you the 9!!! UNDER RATED in my opinion!! But that's how it goes here isn't it?

Like I said I took my time to look at it and I saw alot in this shot...

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by JH:
It was only after examining the photo in detail I noticed the figures on the bottom left. I assume they are intended to be the main subject / focal point of this shot?

They're far too dark and don't really stand out enough. Also, there are a lot of artifacts along the skyline.

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by bassbone:
This shot really has a lot of possibilities - especially a great location and a neat horizon - but here are several areas that probably resulted in the low score. First, the silhouetted area appears to all run together, as if it is one blob of black. The viewer has to really look hard to see the people in the lower left. Second, the sky, with the strong digital artifacts - the layers of color bands - likely impacted your score. I noticed that one commenter really liked this, but in general most voters want smooth skies with rich colors.

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by Melethia:
I was one of your 7s. Unfortunately, I don't think many saw the figures in the water, which to me are a nice quiet surprise in this. Shots like this are also very dependent on viewers' monitors - in some instances, this may simply have been too dark. I suspect the advanced edit may have corrected that a bit. In short, this doesn't have the "snap" appeal that DPC votes high for, but it is a shot that I very much like.

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by jackal9:
Well, there is nothing much of interest here...sorry not to be a kill joy but...the sun is cool but nothing really very interesting!!

Mimosa Beach, Cyprus
by pix-al

Comment by pix-al:
239 out of 273 - Is this picture really that bad?!?!?!

I am very dissapointed with the result.... :-(