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Robe Obelisk


Robe Obelisk
Photo Information
Copyright: John Plumb (JPlumb) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 825 W: 200 N: 1011] (3125)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-04-06
Categories: Nature, Architecture
Camera: Nikon D200, Nikkor 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 G ED AF-S VR, Sigma EX Wide Circular PL 72mm
Exposure: f/9.5, 1/90 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2007-06-27 22:18
Viewed: 668
Points: 24
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
The Robe Obelisk, on Guichen Bay, was erected and placed at Cape Dombey in 1852. It was used to navigate the entrance at Guichen Bay and to store rocket lifesaving equipment. The firing of rockets, carrying baskets to distressed ships to bring passengers ashore saved many lives. It’s height, at 12 m makes it highly visible out to sea. An early problem with this structure was that it was originally painted white. Sailors complained that by the time they saw the white structure they were already too close to the rocks which extend out 2 km from the base of the cliffs. You can see some of these rocks at the base of the cliff, and around the Doorway Rock. This complaint resulted in the red and white structure seen today. This was the only navigation aid available in Robe until a lighthouse was built down shore in 1973. The land around this structure is quickly eroding. There is ongoing discussion even now about maintaining this site, for when the Obelisk is left stranded on an island.

The whole shoreline around this point is made up of this rugged eroding limestone rock. I didn’t have a lot of time in Robe, but given the right conditions (storm and or sunset) there are some very interesting shots here waiting for someone. There is even a very large population of Feral Pigeons, seen as black dots against the rock. Not the most interesting bird, until you get decent flocks of them.

Much of this from:
http://www.seasidelights.com.au/au/sa/robe.asp?fState=SA and http://walkabout.com.au/locations/SARobe.shtml and http://www.abc.net.au/southeastsa/stories/s428464.htm

Workflow was as follow:
Shot in Raw - NEF files adjusted for exposure and shadow maximums
Filtered for lens correction – Distortion and Horizontal Perspective (on horizon)
Adjusted levels
Adjusted curves with an emphasis on the sky
Added saturation +15 to master
Dodged and burned with overlay layer (5% opacity brush)
Added a layer for sharpening (excluding sky) and “over-sharpened” with USM
Modified sharpening with a layer mask (15% opacity black brush)
Saved as a tiff
For this post, further sharpened with Sharpen Edges on the “USM” layer, framed, and saved as a jpeg

I received a critique from Linas Kardasevicius (linask) where he suggested this looked a little over exposed and that I might darken the sky and water to give it more of an overcast look (which it was). Sounded like a good idea, so I have done this in a workshop. Works for me, let me know what you think. Thanks
JoseMiguel, mvdisco, siolaw, linask, pboehringer, wishlist, pierrefonds has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To linask: Darker Sky and Sea SurfaceJPlumb 2 06-30 09:38
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi John
What a particular form has this obelisk!
I like so much the composition you made, with the slope of the mountain, following the one of the obelisk.
A very interesting note also.
Congratulations and thanks for share it.
My best regards,
JM

Bonsoir John,
Another beautiful picture near by the sea, very nice composition and colors, An excellent POV. very sharp picture .Well done . Have a nice day.
Michel

oh it's should be a great sunset photo. try playing with the curve to bring out the cloud.. or wait for a good sky.. anyway.. i like the sharpness u done..

keep it up

utamaputranto

Hi John,
This is a great shot of this good looking land mark. I certainly like the red stripe, wouldn't be half as good looking without it. The cliffs look very rugged. I must make a trip down this way again soon. Great POV.
Cheers,
Debbie

  • Great 
  • siolaw Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3876 W: 394 N: 6765] (23187)
  • [2007-06-28 5:07]

Hi John,
A good POV on the headland and beacon tower with nice framing and overcast sky giving subdued colors adds to the atmosphere of loneliness... it may be a bit bright but no big issue there!
Cheers
Laurent

  • Great 
  • Rosa Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 583 W: 142 N: 924] (4142)
  • [2007-06-28 14:17]

Bonjour John,
Belle image aux couleurs douce, bien cadré avec la balise sur ce rocher, super beau travail.
Amicalement,
Rosa.

Bonjour,
Belle photo de ce phare ... jolie compo, belle ambiance.

Amitié Alain ...

Well composed photo. The weather was probably far from perfect for great landscape photos, but the result is very good. Still I think it can be made even better. It looks a bit over-exposed. I think darker sky and sea surface would be better. Since you have raw file with quite large dynamic range I think it can still be possible to darken some parts of the photo even more and keep rocks on the shore properly exposed.

Linas

Hello John,
An interesting story to give the background for this structure, which I confused with a lighthouse in the thumbnail!
Well composed presentation!
Greetings,
Pablo -

John, I go 100% along with Linas critique, but I see that your WS did some serious addressing on that issue and improved it a lot. At first moment I had the wrong impression regarding the birds that I interpreted as oversharpening of the rocks. The WS really works wonders!

Hi John,
my personal choice goes for your WS..it's good!! I don't think that day you had the right lighting to take a picture like this..but you managed quite well..this is another stunning view of this beautiful place..
Thanks for sharing!
Igor

Hi John,

A good POV of the Robe obelisk and of the sea, the photo has a good composition, DOF and nice colors. Thanks for sharing.

Pierre

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