Halong Bay Islands

Critiques [Translate]

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• wahclellaspirit (1881)
• [2009-10-18 1:37]

Hello Murray,

These islands are magical with their sheer cliffs and forests, as well as their distribution throughout their chain along the coastline. Great atmosphere captured in the scene. Cloudy skies could not be helped with atmospheric condiotions and lighting,
Well Done...
Steve

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• cunejo200 (17225)
• [2009-10-18 4:59]

Hi Murray,
Palawan in the Philippines has also the type of karst landscape similar to PhangNga in Thailand and Halong Bay in Vietnam. The towering cliffs are most impressive as one navigates the bay using the local boats that nicely dot the seascape. Hope you saw the long caves in one of these main islands. Seeing the terrain made me realize why and how the Americans lost the Vietnam war among other reasons. The cloudy condition made the image moody but still spectacular with the natural beauty of this world heritage site. Regards.
Danilo

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• dilshan74 (1855)
• [2009-10-18 8:48]

Very impressive capture and given the circumstances of shooting from a moving vessel and shooting against the strong sky/backlight, you have captured this beautiful landscape with a great note that follows to help understand the significance of this place and its scale. Thank you for sharing.

regards,

Dilshan

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• rewshearer (20718)
• [2009-10-18 17:49]
• [+]

Sometimes timing is everything and in this shot I wonder if the timing - i.e. time of day - wasn't working in your favour. The light seems to be coming from ahead of you, which is problematic in terms of exposure. If the sun was behind you, it might've had better impact.

One inexpensive accessory I would recommend - especially since you're not one for Photoshop work - is a grad filter. I bought a mounting ring, a bracket, and a couple of different filters for around $100NZ so they're really not a lot - and the effect is immediate.

In an image like this, for example, a filter would reduce the brightness of the sky, allowing more detail and saturation in the lower part of the shot.

Rew

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• rminkow (15166)
• [2009-10-23 20:14]

Hi Murray..nice shot of this great place...I hope to get there sometime...nice work.

Roger