Werrie Beach Photo

Photographer’s Note

A couple of hours south of Sydney, just past Kiama and before Gerringong there is the Mt. Pleasant Lookout. It’s a small lookout on the Princess Highway, but the view is awesome. To me there was a lot that said “Australia”, or at least coastal New South Wales, here.

The view looks out over the valley and pasture land with some (I think) Black Angus. The small town and beach is Werrie Beach. I’m going to do some generalizing now, but this was to me was so typical of much of what I’ve come to expect. Its all very clean. It has the river and Werrie Lagoon coming down but not quite touching the ocean. I’ve seen so many rivers like that here, they all have a spit of sand across them. The trees along the river are a different (lighter) green than I’m used to. These are Eucalypts, or Gum Trees. The water itself is a beautiful blue with great surf and a great sandy beach. To the south of the town there are the cliffs. Over all of it is the great blue Australian sky with those awesome clouds.

This wasn’t a difficult shot, all of the elements that I wanted were there. I had to get the proper position to miss some hydro lines, zooming in a bit helped there, and I’ve since cropped some trees out from the bottom, but for the most part this is pretty well how it looked when I first arrived at this spot and looked out on the valley.

Workflow:
I follow a generic workflow now as outlined in my Bio.
Details and differences to this are as follows:
Shot taken at 55mm, ISO 250, f/8, 1/250 sec
Saturation increased to +40 on master, +12 red, (to match web colour – proof colours with shot)
Overlay layer with 4% opacity black brush used for burning
Posted at 81% quality at 188K (300K max would be nice)

mvdisco, Floydian, pablominto, bj40, cherryripe, jusninasirun, pierrefonds, rjb874, Buin, wishlist, MLINES, alftrek, daddo has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

mvdisco (11508) 2008-05-13 20:30

Bonsoir John,
Beautiful landscape of this Beach, very nice place and Excellent POV. and details, great colors and light ..wanderful sky , très jolie photo.
Michel

SteveH (3899) 2008-05-13 21:07

Hi John, There is no doubt that you have captured the essence of the Australian coast in this shot. I find myself wondering if the composition would have been improve by cropping some of the foreground and having a less centered horizon, but I can't see any part of the image which doesn't contribute. cheers, Steve

pablominto (40634) 2008-05-13 22:51

Hello John,
Bright light, fine colours and a wonderful set of cloud formations!
A lovely beach surrounded by the beautiful village, and the green pastures lead nicely up to the place...
A classic composition with lots of fine details!
Greetings,
Pablo -

bj40 (1229) 2008-05-14 0:48

Hi John, From your image this would seen an idyllic place to live ,if you like beaches and open country and beautiful weather.Am glad you mention the Angus ,i thought they were black dots,like the cloud formations most of all. Thanks Tom.

mumek (17468) 2008-05-14 3:38

Good morning John!
What a beautiful photo from Werrie Beach! Fanastic view at the green valley, beach and town. Superb clouds on the sky, very picturesque scenery. Congratulations
best regards
ziggy

Floydian (30970) 2008-05-14 4:10

Hi John,
Very crisp and bright image with strong colours but also an excellent overal sharpness. The place looks very inviting with a beautiful sandy beach in from of the town. the clarity and brightness here are really amazing...very good work.
Regards, Henk

cherryripe (18973) 2008-05-14 4:33

Hi John
This is beautiful scenery and so green but I think it rained quite a lot over summer didn't it ?
The colours are nicely saturated and the sharpness is superb. I like the way the cumulus seem to float at a lower level.
Regards
Nikki

UnTrained (0) 2008-05-14 6:58

Hi John,
a lovely landscape and a clear capture. These fine clouds make it very nice. I like the inclusion of the beach and the warm colours. A place worth to visit.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

jusninasirun (10199) 2008-05-14 8:55

Hello John. You are very versatile with your work. Beautiful post card image of this beach in full view with the estuary and the green pasture under pleasant light making excellent perspective. You have written your note and critiques eloquently and I have always enjoyed reading them. Your PP work is top class and thanks so much for sharing them in you many useful workshops. Well done and best regards. Jusni

pierrefonds (26273) 2008-05-14 17:15

Hi John,

A spectacular landscape, the valley, the city, the beach and the ocean, the point of view leads our eyes toward the horizon. The different tints of colors are a good addition to the composition. The light has a great effecton the scenery. Have a nice daty.

Pierre

skippy007 (7047) 2008-05-14 23:05

Beautiful scene John, I read your note with interest, these are the things that we sometimes take for granted because we are surrounded by them. Excellent POV, colour & clarity & that Australian sky is just beautiful.
Well done
Thanks
Santo

crckt (7074) 2008-05-15 16:40

Hi John,
This is really stunning! the clarity, the colors are absolutely spot on.
Well done my friend.
Shaeri

Buin (37634) 2008-05-17 13:23

Hallo John!
This one simply is beautiful! What a gorgeous view!
The other TE friends have said all - but this one deserves another two points. Here they are ... ;-)
Greetings from summerly Germany!
Frank

wishlist (4133) 2008-05-21 0:58

John,
first of all congratulations for your new Bio which is absolutely great and very useful, with all the details about your fantastic post processing skills.
Now, straight to the point. I can dive into this picture and run the beautiful fields up towards the village; this image is so beautiful, crisp and its brightness is amazing! The amazing sky is the classic icing on the cake, adding depth, balancing the compo and giving a beautiful contrast with the colours on the ground. Quality is at the top level, as always.
Fantastic job indeed!
Thank you and take care,

Igor

MLINES (10884) 2008-05-22 4:37

Hi John, Possibly the best of this fine beach series. The clouds, the greenery and the ocean blue makes this an excelent composition. TFS. Murray.

waminda2020 (409) 2008-05-23 4:22

John - we must live in the same area! I enjoy the pies at gerringong (a little too much:) ), got caught in a rip off werri beach and a very windy area!!!
Nice photo with a storm coming in from nowra. Nicely composed and a nice reminder of how lovely our backyard is :)

jmcl (13795) 2008-05-24 13:01

Hi John

The vibrant greens and blues make this leap out of your portfolio .. the wonderful low clouds and the symmetries of cultivated plants make it keep giving once we have opened it .. wonderful image. take care,

John

pboehringer (770) 2008-05-25 12:50

John,
absolute perfect conditions in light and POV to render a full scale of colors, contrasts and sharpness all through the photograph. The most perfect bonus here are these clouds that look so clean, crisp with the taste of big popcorns.
Peter

alftrek (2799) 2008-05-25 16:25

Hello John,
Your shots always bring back many good memories of the past when I used to lived in Sydney in the 80s and early 90s. I enjoyed very much looking at your posting from NSW.

In my opinion, your decision to steer away from the 1/3 rule is perfectly justified here, as the green FG makes this a very attractive perspective. Everything seems to be good in this shot, the beach, clouds, etc.
Excellent work

Regards
Alfred

daddo (11350) 2008-06-08 2:26

Hi John. A rich panorama full of details from near to afar. Great atmosphere with the lovely light and those clouds all lined up. Glorious colours, particularly the ocean in the distance. Regards. Klaudio.

testmaniac (12116) 2008-06-19 3:38

Hello John, you show us fantastic landscape! Great composition,contrast and colors! Everything is perfect!

TFS and regards,
Phil