On the morning after Hurricane Isaias blew through the Wilmington NC area, I traveled out to the Oceana Pier on Wrightsville Beach to see how big the surf was. We were delayed by a tree blocking our exit road, so the sun was higher than I would have preferred.

There was a strong off shore breeze that was catching the crest of the waves and blowing them into a million droplets.

This was my favorite capture. But it has been a PP challenge for sure. I have used my tricks to take it to this point. The sun was blowing out the droplets' whites. The appearance of noise is really just the airborne droplets. And the disturbance to the water on the back of the wave is due to the droplets hitting the surface.

I have included the NEF and hope some of UHH's great PPers will take the challenge and come up with a better shot. Many thanks to those that do.

Crescendo

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Original NEF
Attached file:
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A South African woman who grew up hundreds of miles from the coast learning to skim board at Wrightsville Beach NC

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Why are we not celebrating the first Asian-American major party candidacy?

I have made this comment in a thread that many of you may not visit:

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-659892-2.html#11478284

So I would like more visibility. It is a reply to a comment:

I came to UHH more than six years ago, not knowing a lot about photography or post-processing. I was just getting into Photoshop in 2014, and it was intimidating. Digging through UHH postings and asking for help from UHHers led me to become better at "framing" potential stories with my camera shots, then improving them with software. (I use PS, Nik Collection, Topaz Labs, Topaz Studio 2 and, possibly most importantly, TKActions. They allow me to manipulate digits locally in ways that amazed me once I "mastered" them.)

Thus, I ask for the opinion of other experts, because a little tweaking can make a shot so much better.

Thank you for providing me the platform to thank UHH.

I do not want to overreact to your comment, but it is a nice springboard into some comments that may influence newer UHHers.

I came to UHH more than six years ago, not knowing a lot about photography or post-processing. I was just getting into Photoshop in 2014, and it was intimidating. Digging through UHH postings and asking for help from UHHers led me to become better at "framing" potential stories with my camera shots, then improving them with software. (I use PS, Nik Collection, Topaz Labs, Topaz Studio 2 and, possibly most importantly, TKActions. They allow me to manipulate digits locally in ways that amazed me once I "mastered" them.)

Thus, I ask for the opinion of other experts, because a little tweaking can make a shot so much better.

Thank you for providing me the platform to thank UHH.

Got distracted for a while. Many thanks to all who have commented/made suggestions. The detail of the water surface in #2 appeals the most, but several of you find the background people distracting/unnecessary.
I have created a cropped version 2x3 that makes the "Skimmer" the complete story.
I have concluded that it boils down to what story I want to tell: 1. an action beach scene in the context of all the other people in the surf or 2. an action scene just focused on our grandson.
I think there is a place for both.
Thanks again to all for looking and suggesting.

I shot this with a Sony RX100II. At the beach in bright sunlight, it captures pretty well.

In the post processing phase, I have settled on two versions.

The first concentrates on my grandson mastering the skim board without pulling out the detail of the water activity.

In the second, I used Viveza2 to accentuate the droplets and fine waves in the water he is trying to skim in.

Which one appeals to the average viewer? (I am not suggesting UHHers are average.)

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Great shots, Brent. My parents owned a Woodie back in 1949 (I was 4 so the memories are vague.) I believe it was like No. 3.
My intial reaction to the first shot was "weak on social distancing", but I checked the exif and realized you had shot two years ago.
BTW. Was the show at Dana Point?

We all know that European beaches have accommodated a lot more visible female skin than the U.S. has. There has been a lot of publicity about the drive towards allowing topless bathing on our beaches. I have begun to suspect many of our females have decided to "head fake" us and move towards bottomless bathing.
Shot with a Samsung S7 (archaic) and processed with Topaz to look like a painting.

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You are truly blessed with a stunning model/partner. I sense the focus is too soft (which may be intentional.) Recommend you include higher-res "downloadables" to allow us to look more closely at your work.

Glad you like them. Thanks.

The sad part is that the beauty will wane quickly with the onset of summer. Thanks, merry

Many thanks, John

Thanks, Tony. I appreciate that you appreciate the wonders of the bog.

Hi, Sylvia. I asked that question after I found this range map for Sarracenia. Lots of the Canadian range is further north than Scotland.

I actually suspect the reason is related to what Alfred Russel Wallace learned in Brazil and the East Indies...although Darwin got most of the historical credit.

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