I'm not sure the technicalities of composing the shot are a complete defense.
Let's take the pictures you have just presented, and Wayland's montage as well, as example.
In your first picture I (note the use of the first-person personal pronoun - this is undoubtedly MY PERSONAL view. Others, quite rightly, will differ. That should go without saying) think you have perfectly captured the movement and power of the water.
However, why the smoky water effect fails for me is its very unreality. I think it fails, is wrong, or (a better distinction) does not communicate with me is because this effect renders it something other than water. To me it does not reflect the movement of water, it doesn't even look like water any more. Hence the 'smoky' adjective. Oh yes, I know that image, movement, emotion, etc has connotation and doesn't have to be literal, but for my aesthetic the smoky water effect still does not convey the literal or metaphoric aspects of water. It's not water at all.
Same with Wayland's henge/raven/clouds confection. Technically it is unimpeachable. But as I look at images like that I find myself checking the corners for the Disney channel logo.
When I look at the picture you took of the shell on the beach or the man standing on the concrete box amid the grass, both of those have interpretative qualities rather than a literal rendering and both speak to me with a far clearer voice about the landscape and what it meant to you than the Disney-like effects used elsewhere. They communicate with me.
Again, to underline it all, this is how I personally react to such tinkering in this context (I'm sure there are some contexts when this sort of thing is exactly right). The person standing next to me may well think quite differently. The artist almost certainly feels differently to me. But the fact that I, and maybe someone else, disagrees with them means they have failed with this image to communicate their thoughts and feelings TO ME.
But that's no bad thing.
And another underlining.
I still love looking at the images people take and this thread is one of the very best things on this forum. So a sincere thanks to all for sharing the images. It matters not one whit whether one likes each individual image or not, the fact they're shared is a great thing, interesting, enjoyable, and I'm glad they're there.
