Facing the Sun

[gmarques]

Last sunday, I was out very early, not yet 5 AM, and I was leaving home.
The chosen spot was about 30 minutes (there's no traffic at this hour, just some people returning from the local disco ) of car trip and is a lagoon very close to the sea.
As I was driving my car, the first sun light start to show, nothing to worry about, i had 1h30m until the sunrise.
So, after I park my car, and check all the settings that need to be checked ( that I was taking pictures in raw format and the iso was 100 ) was
time to put camera bag on my back, put the tripod on the shoulder, and turn on the lantern so I could see my way.
At this hours of the day a lantern is a precious thing.
I remained about 1h30m at this spot, and then went back to home when first people start to arrive to the beach.
I had several pictures to bring home, and chose to post this one to critique.
I was taking pictures and for some momments the wind started to blow and the boats started to turn to the same direction.
As the wind blown from east, the boats start to turn to that same direction, that is, to where the sun was rising. I saw this and decided to take the picture.
This explains the title "Facing the Sun".
There's a little blur on the boats because I have used a slow shuter speed but I want to gave that windy feeling on the water, so I sacrificed a little the sharpeness of the boats.

[epeyton@tampabay.rr.com]

I like this it makes me feel lonely. I would crop it down around the boats there is a little too much sky and water, to me.

[clockdoc]

Nice work! Your early morning trip paid big dividends. I agree with Evelyn regarding cropping some of the sky off from the top.

[melanie2457]

What about just including the one boat in the center and then some sky and water? I love the colors of the sky and the reflection of those in the water, I just find my eye being drawn to a point between the middle and right boat and just sitting there. So if you tighten the crop around this point it might show off a lot more, oddly enough...

[ELAY]

Well first off, i commend you for taking these photos at a time which I understand does roll by every day, but which I don't think I have ever experienced personally.

The colours are beautiful and exposure looks great.

Now, i don't know if you were in a position to venture any closer to the boats, but when I saw this it seemed to me that the strongest shot might have been taken closer to a single boat, with the boat occupying a large bit of the foreground. As it is, the boats are too small, and spaced too far apart to be effective foreground objects.

EL

[gmarques]

Thank you all,

I agree with you about taking a closer plan of one of the boats, it's just me that love the "wide visions" of nature.
I had some close-ups of the boats, but I think they loose impact as the frame is horizontal. Next time I'll be doing some close-ups, but with a vertical frame.

ELAY, you have to try it.
Besides the fact that you don't see people around, it's just you, the camera and in my opinion, the most beautifull model of all,
it's something difficult to explain but it's like you where in peace with the world.

[ELAY]

OK, I'll try it.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting a closeup of the boats; I was just thinking that if got a bit closer to one of the boats, then you could have a classic foreground/middle ground/background landscape.

Same shot, but with a boat below the horizon occupying more of the space occupied by the beach currently.

Something more like this.

EL

[gmarques]

I see your point ELAY, and it would gave more impact to the photo, your're right.
But the shore didn't gave me any chances to get closer.

[ELAY]

Yeah, sometimes the sea doesn't cooperate.

Don't get me wrong -- you should be happy with the photo you took. Great colours and mood. Just always thinking of improvements.

EL

[gmarques]

Improvements... that's what makes me go out of the bed at 4AM.