nice image. it looks very abstract but i like the color i think that it has a feel to it.
kyle

fantastically abstract foreground - it took me ages to work out that it was just sand. Amazing clouds in the distance - did you get any shots where they are more prominent?

This is confusing - in a good way. I immediately thought it was picture taken from a fast moving car! Nice photo, as always.
Ted

really really good picture!!

Very nice dramatic and abstract picture. This is more for my curiosity ... do you think you would mind putting up the color version of this picture even though you said that you could not get the "color balance" right. Anyway I just wanted to see what problem you were dealing with.

Dramatic you say? I'll do you one better, how bout frightening? The fact that there are no people in the image and the scale is really difficult to tell leaves me with a total sense of danger. Shadows can do many things for an image. You've utilized them here to really accentuate the unknown. I love that. I would be interested to see what this image looked like if you embraced this sense of foreboding and really brought down the brightness in the image. Specifically the upper rand hand corner. Damn fine beach photo!

Very nice photo, indeed. I do not think the sepia/color looks quite right. Especally not for the sky. But the foreground loks very intresting. I would love to see a color version of this.

Thanks all.

As for the colour version: there isn't one, at least not one I can produce immediately (and I don't have time to do another one today). The problem, in this case, is that the image was converted to black and white with the channel mixer prior to me making two Curves adjustments to this image – one to the sky, and one to the foreground. What this now means is that the colours are totally off.

The original problem, which was a bit simpler, was what seemed to me to be a colour clash between the cyan of the sky and the almost rust-tinged sand. It may have been the case that people would have liked it that way, and if I get time towards the end of this week I may do another version, but for me it just didn't work.

Travis: because this scene is so familiar for me – it's our local beach, the shadows from the pier, a familiar horizon – I can't 'see' this as frightening. It's overly dramatised – in the sense that it's non-representational – but I don't find it foreboding.

I'd be interested to see what you make of tomorrow's shot.

It is in the style of work by a famous photographer (or maybe not so famous ;-), however I can't recall who. Anyone esle know who I mean?

This is great!

At first glance it almost appears as though you are moving. The direction and pattern of the shadows give that impression. Beautiful photo!

yeah, I was fooled too, I thought it was taken from a moving car

Honestly, I don't like the foreground. The shadows ans lack of color make it hard to *identify* what i'm looking at. however, the background--the mountains and clouds--are very dramatic

What is casting the shadows - a combination of trees and clouds? They serve the image well stacking up layers underneath the impending storm. The problem, or benefit, is that the eye is uncertain where to focus - on the foreground or background - because of the extraordinary depth of field the shadows create.

Who cares if you can't tell what you're looking at? This is a good photo.

David: the shadows are being cast by Blackpool's North Pier.

Wow. Very nice.

Nice photo
(again)

I found the picture a bit frightening too .. didn't realize it was a beach .. Very nice, catching picture!!

Like others I initially thought this was an image created by movement eg from a car; but as has been mentioned, the actuality is of no relevance - the image works because of solid composition / correct exposure etc. Great shot.

I don't know about the color version, but this works very well in my book. I love the sepia-ish tones.

Beautiful? I don't know.. It seems like it's all over the place.. It's too real to be abstract, but too abstract to be 'real'.. does that make sense? I guess that I'm all over the place too :) ..
Anyway, Dave, what are those spots everywhere in the picture? Like on the left side in the clouds (about 1/3 in from the left side of the photo), some on the right side by the horizon.. Some at the top of that shadowy area that looks like an O .. Some at the bottom right side of it..
Hot pixels? Can't really tell at first, if you just quickly glance over the photo, but once you notice them, you can't stop looking at them :) .. It makes the shot feel "dirty" ..

miklos: the spots on the horizon are people (I think), the ones above the 'O' are stones/pebbles on the beach, and the ones in the clouds may be birds. I guess I could have spot-edited them out, but I don't find them particularly bothersome.

cool

The good thing of beeing late for an entry is that you already answered all my cuestions (Lol). I realized imediatly that it was a beach but I didn't know what the shadows where from.

Another example why you are # 1

This shot really sort of visualizes how I feel today -- wonderful shot.

wow. i'd love to see the color version, but with the subject matter here, its pretty stunning as is.

I found it difficult to connect to this image because I couldn't relate with the foreground. However, I looked the link of what cast the shadows, and that helped me appreciate the shadows. Oh, my limited mind :-).

Too much Photoshop. Too little photography. Sorry.

I love the lines - great colorization choice too!

Nice shot.