Our Secret Beach

[Toddyh]

There's a little beach on the NSW Coast that is only accessible to 4wders. The track in is gnarly and only for serious 4x4s and experienced drivers. The rewards are well and truly worth it though.
It' only a small beach but so isolated it could be a tropical island.



The rock pools at one end are pretty amazing. Everything from champagne style swimming holes to little pools teeming with life.





Then there is the land and air based wildlife. Goannas, Yellow Tail Black Cockatoos and Sea Eagles

[Isac]

Looks a lovely place to unwind after winding your way there Toddyh. You've captured the whole ambiance of the place with great images. Good framing and colours.

[Toddyh]

Thanks Isac. I hope I captured some of how special this place is.

[loose cannon]

Nice composition in all of these and it certainly looks like a special place.

All could do with some very minor tweaks in post processing to really lift them up a notch though.

Are these jpeg straight from camera ? One of the reasons I ask is that they all look slightly soft and could stand a round of sharpening but softening can occur at upload to the forum so if they look good on your monitor just ignore me.

(that's a Brahminy kite btw)

[Toddyh]

Care to offer up suggestions to post processing? More than happy to take specific pointers. I've already used your torch on the car at night trick to reasonable success. So thanks again for that one.

I think I did a very minor touch up on some of the photos but I honestly don't remember how much and for some reason exif viewer isn't working on the photos (i'm a bit of a numpty when it comes to photoshop/lightroom).

A kite hey? Thanks for that correction. Did a little research and turns out they are colloquially called a red-backed sea eagle. I think I'll stick with Brahminy Kite.

[Isac]

About your EXIF data, do you use a Windows OS computer or that other fruity brand?

[Toddyh]

Using Windows and Lightroom 5

[Barkly]

OK - enjoyed the pics. But I am a serious 4x4 driver with a speced up Prado. Going down the coast for 2 weeks early in the New Year (Dalmeny). Care to PM and let me know how to access the beach?

Cheers

[Toddyh]

Other way from Dalmeny. This place is on the mid north coast

[loose cannon]

Hey, I wrote the book on being numpty with photoshop

Just reckon they could do with a bit more 'pop'. Talking pretty minor stuff here but they are fine images and well worth a tweak.

I realise I'm being a bit vague here and that wont be helping a whole lot. Maybe add a little contrast to the rocks in the foreground in the first image for example, but being careful to not darken the background green hills. Those rocks are a strong element in the image but they look a little flat to my eye. Just sharing a few thoughts here Toddyh.

Are you familiar with using masks in photoshop? (I don't use lightroom myself, it remains a mystery to me)

[Toddyh]

Thanks for the thoughts.
I have no idea what a mask is. Only have lightroom no proper photoshop I guess.

[Isac]

I think you need FASTSTONE Image Viewer. It's the best FREE editor around. I use it as my default image viewer and while you are viewing it, you have access to all the editing tools. Here's a link to a thread that shows a few screen shots and you can download it at FASTSTONE. Here's a couple I edited with Faststone. I straightened the horizon and did a shadows adjustment.

[Toddyh]

Thanks Isac. I will check that out.