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OldMacs4Me

macrumors 68020
Original poster
May 4, 2018
2,360
30,494
Wild Rose And Wind Belt
I love sunset photography and was rather surprised not to see it in any of the 2020 or later contests. Take it literally, figuratively, or however else you want. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
As always, standard rules apply:
  • The photographs must be your own work
  • You may only submit one photo per contest.
  • No commenting or liking photos until after the judging has taken place.
  • This contest runs for about a week, starting now.
  • At the end of the competition, the judge (last week's winner) will choose a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place photo, providing as much feedback as possible.
  • The 1st place winner will start a new thread here with the topic/theme of their choice, and act as the judge for that contest. (Winner has 48 hours to create new theme, after that it defers to 2nd place).
  • Be sure to update the Contest Master List as soon as you post a new theme.
  • Contest ends 6PM MST November 13, 2024.
 
Web_February_15_2024_001.jpg
 
These photo contests used to be post a picture per the contest theme , no narrative, the judge decides, then narrative for context is sometimes shared by participants.
Seems to have changed
 
@mollyc
It’s so seldom I see anything in your work to criticize. However in this case I would have cropped in to a nice vertical, especially as the topic is sunsets. That said I do like the image.

@C0ncreteBl0nde
I like this shot, but noticed a fair bit of noise when viewed at full resolution. Given the shutter speed was 1/8000, the ISO 800 could have been dropped to 100 or 200, leaving you with a much cleaner image. You have used the rule of thirds to good advantage and I really like the lighting on the clouds.

@coolguy4747
A nice subtle approach to the topic. Again some noise, but with the lens wide open and the shutter already down to 1/55, it would have been difficult to drop the ISO. Unless you had a tripod or fence post available.

@someoldguy
Super crisp and clean. Love the fan effect and the hint of detail you managed to preserve in the foreground.

@mtbdudex
The bike and the trail direct the eye to where it’s already going. I love that vertical lens flare and the detail in the grasses and the tree. I do find the sun itself a bit too glaring.

@Dockland
This one blew me away, especially at full resolution.

@Snowlover
Looking away from the sun and the lighting on the rocks is fabulous. Overall I love this shot and I am a firm believer that sunset shots are meant to be enhanced. However you need to work on your selection skills as the break between sky and foreground is bit too obvious. This usually comes down to the amount of feathering, and expanding or contracting the selection when you invert it. It’s a skill that’s worth working on and this is an excellent image to use for honing that skill.

@oblomow
Lovely reflections. Tough choice between going for the symmetry, or maybe going for a bit less sky and more foreground. Hard to go wrong with either approach.

@Q-Dog
The boat in the foreground really makes this shot.

@Apple_Glen_UK
Great shot especially from an iPhone. Crisp details. One absolutely must view at full resolution.

@thirsty_monk.
I love the silhouette effect on that wonderful foreground. I do feel that the sun overpowers things just a bit.

@piatigorsky
I suspect there was a lot of post image editing here to get such a great sky and preserve the foreground. Love it.

@_timo_redux_
A wow on the spoke effect lens flare.

Overall fabulous entries from everyone and a total joy to judge. It was well worth spending a bit of time looking at every one of these images at full resolution.

Just three podium places and here they are:
1st: @Dockland
2nd: @someoldguy
3rd: @piatigorsky

That said there are several more images that deserve a place on the podium. Thanks to everyone for making this a great contest.
 
@piatigorsky
I suspect there was a lot of post image editing here to get such a great sky and preserve the foreground. Love it.
Thanks for the podium finish. Actually there was no post editing at all, other than shrinking the file size so that I could upload it here—other than that, this was the actual jpeg file output by my Panasonic GH5, and without using any of the built-in image effects either. I hadn't shot digital for so long, I totally forgot to check if I set the camera to save raw instead of jpeg. I may have had a physical polarizing filter on my lens, but if I did this would have been unintentional—I might have simply forgot I had it on.
 
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Thanks for the 2nd! My entry is a reprocess of an image that I considered a cull , but didn't delete .Taken at Mono Lake .At that time (2013) there were fires in Yosemite , smoke from which were contributing to the sunset . Lightened up the foreground some and it was done.
 
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@Snowlover
Looking away from the sun and the lighting on the rocks is fabulous. Overall I love this shot and I am a firm believer that sunset shots are meant to be enhanced. However you need to work on your selection skills as the break between sky and foreground is bit too obvious. This usually comes down to the amount of feathering, and expanding or contracting the selection when you invert it. It’s a skill that’s worth working on and this is an excellent image to use for honing that skill.
Thanks for the kind words.
I got lazy and did an enhancement tweak of the photo on my tablet, using a dark/light correction filter . I didn't even notice the "halo/aura" it produced until I read your comment and zoomed in. My bad.
 
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