From the murky depths I levitated, and found myself near the Unhospitable Coast (the humpback whale is still down there somewhere). Of coarse I had to add some vegetation, and found an interesting use for the stairs. Some afterwork in PS, but mainly to get nicer light. Enjoy.
---Dune
Reminds me of "Myst" somehow. Nice concept with the stairs :)
Great atmospheric/misty setting. Love the cliffs. Can't see those stairs lasting long; one of those big swells is liable to make driftwood of them. Good post work on the sea; the smooth strokes on the water gives it a long exposure feel.
John
I have been admiring your waves. Did you use a distribution shader for the whitecaps? I also like the water spouting against the cliff. It's a nice touch.
@njeneb: Yes, a distribution shader to get more foam on the higher waves. The coastal waves were distributed by a quick coastal swoop of the painted shader. I tried for many hours to use the 'snow effect' to get real foam spouting up against the cliffs, but the settings had to be so precariously precise for a realistic effect, that I gave up. It should work though. I did add a small band of broken up white at sea level to get some water running down the cliff near the waves, as well as a higher band with a reflective shader, of course, and a color adjust.
@schmeerlap: there was no post work on the sea, the foam came from a fractal. The only post work was duplicating the whole image layer in PS, setting it to bleach, diminishing it's percentage to 50%, lowering it's tonal curve (S), and putting them together (CTRL-E). Gives a slight haze around the lights.
---Dune
Oh yes! Looks like "Mist" or "Riven"
Very good work. I admire the image more with an explaination of how this was done. 8)
excellent surf/foam, my only minor crit is i find the green a little bright/harsh, apart from that I love this!
I agree with inky - the surf / foam is very good. I think, too, that your green in the cliffs needs some variety and perhaps some dirtier green to it.
Great image. No crits at all with it except the title - should be Inhospitable. Sorry to be pedantic!
@inkydigit & calico: My wife thought so too, and I now agree about the green.
@Kevin: I figured something like that, I didn't understand the dotted line under the word when typing, but I left it. Thanks.
@others: I love Myst and Riven. Got me hooked some time before I got hooked on TG.