To continue on with my subject from yesterday, another thing that I enjoyed searching for at the beach was starfish. Many times they were missing arms or curled up, but with a lot of patience we were able to find a few perfect specimens. They are very delicate when still fresh from the ocean, so photographing them where I found them was the best so that they were not damaged. I love the patterns and symmetry of starfish, and I didn’t realize they can be so many different colours.
When editing this photo, I decided to try a few different things. I converted it to black and white for the first version and left it in colour for the second one, and for both I played with the lighting and sharpness. I realize now that I am publishing this post that the sharpening could be better, but unfortunately I am at work so I can’t make any further adjustments. Oh well! Which one do you prefer?
photos from the loonybin 
I like both, but the black and white is pretty cool. When I lived in California, I could never find starfish…I’m jealous.
Hey, I’m jealous that you got to live in California!! LOL 🙂 I have never been there. And yes, I think I like the black and white photo the best too. I would love to be on that beach right now – it’s soooo cold here today, but at least there’s no snow!
Nature’s artwork is always so perfect and so perfectly beautiful. I love both versions of your starfish and delighted that you enjoy treasure hunting on beaches like I do. And you have found a unique way to save your finds via great photography and words. How special is that? Thanks for sharing.
Oh Dor, you always make my day. Thank you!! And yes, I love treasure hunting on the beach, and because I am a morning person I had no trouble dragging my hubby out of bed each morning while it was still dark to walk the beach to photograph the sunrise and search for treasures. Getting down there early always yielded the best bounty. By the way, tomorrow I will be posting the first of the train station photos. I experimented with a lot of close up shots (which I never used to do), and I hope you enjoy them!! 🙂
I rather prefer the color version, Cindy, and I also think I’d prefer it in a square format, but that’s just me. A good find!
Ooh, I never thought of trying a square format. That would look good! I will have to experiment some more when I get home. Thanks for the input Gary!! 🙂
Hey, Cindy, let me step in again, please…I have long been an active member of the branch of us photographers who feel unconstrained by conventional format preconceptions. I’ve used film and print paper that seemed to want to dictate that every image should be cropped to fit a specified format–square, 3×4, 4×5, 5×7, 8×10, etc. When I first became serious about photography as one of my artisitc avenues of expression, one of my main tenets naturally developed into “the subject alone dictates the format.” Whenever I open a newly captured image for development, the first thing I do, nearly always, is to look to cropping out anything that does not add to the subject that is the center of why I was drawn to make a photograph, but at the same time, including anything that enhances it. This is, for me, a very precise process, and may take as long as–or longer than–any other post-processing steps in my developing process. I think I may have to work on a detailed post on this subject. Thanks again for the inspiration!
So, does that mean that you don’t even stick to the photo ratio? You just pick whatever format works for the particular image? I do some cropping, but obviously I need to experiment more in this department. Thanks so much for the input Gary, and I look forward to your detailed post on this topic. Glad I could help with the inspiration. 🙂
Square and color for me too!
Okey dokey. I shall try that! Thanks Jeff. 🙂 I never think of changing the format.
Me either, but when someone has made the suggestion to me in the past, it is one of those “slap my forehead, why didn’t I think of that moments.”
The original color image.
Thanks! Most people seem to be enjoying the colour image the most. 🙂
I’m back with an important announcement…
Word Press “Versatile Blogger” Award Nomination
This is an official announcement that I’ve nominating you for the “Versatile Blogger” award.
As a recent recipient of the award, one of the three award rules I must comply with is to: “Nominate 15 bloggers I read, enjoy, inspired by, and making sure you notify them of their place on this list.”
What is this Word Press award? I had to do a little digging since this was all new to me and I only started my first ever blog in January 2012. “It is a way to introduce bloggers to each other and to promote quality blogs that the awardees and their readers might not be discovered otherwise.”
You can read more about the award and my responses to the three required rules at my website: http://rickdiffleyphotography.com
Thank you for your blog and inspiration!!
~ Rick Diffley ~
Thank you so much Rick. I truly appreciate this nomination. It makes me feel so good to know that people are enjoying my blog because I put a lot of heart and soul into it. I will comply with the rules of the award as soon as I can, but please be patient with me 🙂
I like the color version because the sand is already so dark–it almost looks like a colorized black-and-white shot!
It does kind of look like that doesn’t it? I’m not the greatest with Photoshop yet, but I think all I did was fix the levels and it ended up giving it that colorized look. The original just seemed a little dull. Thanks so much for visiting and commenting! 🙂
I do agree with robin – the colour version almost looks as if it’s been colour-edited! I prefer the b & w. 🙂
It’s really strange. Like I said to Robin above, I didn’t change anything with the colours. I just fixed the levels, but then I don’t really know what the heck I am doing in Photoshop anyway. LOL 🙂 I’m learning though. There’s a real mixture of opinions on this one. It was fun!
I agree with everyone saying square! I quite like the black and white edit (although they both look great!)
I’m glad I posted these picture because now, as a result of the comments, I am experimenting more with how I crop. I always stuck to the ratio of the original photo before – I just never thought of doing anything different. Thanks for the feedback. 🙂