Peacehaven at high tide

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Although I've owned my first SLR (Canon 400D) for over a year, a lack of time and skill mean I still consider myself very much a beginner at this photography lark!

Anyway, I went for a wander along the seafront in Peacehaven, East Sussex this morning and got the following shots which I'm quite pleased with. Any feedback or comments very welcome and I'd be particularly interested in what post-production/photoshop work I could or should do with these (what you see here is straight from the camera)? I have Photoshop Elements, although my skills are limited in that too.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

A couple of wider shots for context.

[Simpo Two]

I spotted one:

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Thanks. Is that just cropped and converted to b&w?

[rhinochopig]

They look good. If you get weather/sea like that again try a tripod, slow shutter speed and filter combo. It makes some fantastic ghostly, almost smoke like, images.

[JulianHJ]

A good start, number 6 is my favourite. As above, a tripod and some experimentation will open up a world of possibilities.

[Simpo Two]

TheGreatSoprendo said:

Thanks. Is that just cropped and converted to b&w?

Not quite...

'Levels' to show amount of underexposure and get the white level right
'Crop' square for more impact
'Channel Mixer' to juggle how the R, G and B channels are converted to greyscale
'Clone' tool to get rid of the vapour trail
'Unsharp Mask' to crisp it up
'Colour balance' to add a hint of sepia

Of course it may not be to your taste but it seemed a classical treatment

ETA In fact you could crop more, losing top right to make the wave fill more of the screen.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Simpo Two said:

Not quite...

'Levels' to show amount of underexposure and get the white level right
'Crop' square for more impact
'Channel Mixer' to juggle how the R, G and B channels are converted to greyscale
'Clone' tool to get rid of the vapour trail
'Unsharp Mask' to crisp it up
'Colour balance' to add a hint of sepia

Of course it may not be to your taste but it seemed a classical treatment

ETA In fact you could crop more, losing top right to make the wave fill more of the screen.

Cripes! Thanks, looks like I've got some learning to do!

rhinochopig said:

They look good. If you get weather/sea like that again try a tripod, slow shutter speed and filter combo. It makes some fantastic ghostly, almost smoke like, images.

You mean an ND filter?

[Simpo Two]

TheGreatSoprendo said:

Cripes! Thanks, looks like I've got some learning to do!

Not really, you just poke it around until you get a result you like

In this case I thought the composition was more powerful than the colour, so went for that.

The second one down is also powerful but beyond my abilities to retrieve. Blasting it with flash to get the water brighter might have helped.

[dibbly dobbler]

Really good set - well done, enjoyed looking through them

Just a general observation that you've shot a lot of them into the sun which makes it very tricky for the camera to get the exposure right.

[GetCarter]

TheGreatSoprendo said:

A couple of wider shots for context.

You'll also need to learn how to use the 'clone' tool, as you (like the rest of us with DSLRs) have dust on your sensor. (Oh, and the rotate tool, so you can straighten the horizon!)

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Thanks all for your input, it really helps. GetCarter - yes, that dirty sensor is bugging me and it's on my to do list to get it cleaned!

Here are a few of my initial 'shopping efforts:

[GetCarter]

All improved. Good work!

[Simpo Two]

He's getting there

On this one, well done on the sky but black foreground screams 'Make me level!' (if you just rotate you lose too much wave so try Distort and then Lens Correction. That's easy enough but I wanted to get the spray white and couldn't get the look I wanted.