What’s Your Preference?

wbrook13 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-23-2011, 05:58 PM

I came across a group of guys kayaking last week-end; and I set up and took a number of images. Here is one of my favorites, with two different crops. Since I am new to this, I'm not sure if either one is worth messing with in PP.
My main questions are (1) Which crop is the best? (2) If I shoot this again, should I try to get down to water level? (3) Should I shoot with a faster shutter speed . . . .or are these type shots better with a little "motion blur"?
Anything else you would like to add would be welcome advice. Thank you, in advance, for your critique.

Camera Canon EOS 50D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/350)
Aperture f/6.7
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

Krusty79 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-24-2011, 11:02 PM

I like the 2nd shot better because the orange kayak is distracting in the first one (ideally, you could clone him out). I would also strongly recommend not to center your subject, especially in this shot. It's almost always better to have your subject entering your shot. So, I would place him in the right third of the shot. I'm not sure if a lower perspective would help, but you should always experiment with different vantage points. In this case, I would experiment with different shutter speeds as well. You might also try panning with the kayaker, so he is in focus but the background is blurred from the motion.

wbrook13 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-26-2011, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krusty79

I like the 2nd shot better because the orange kayak is distracting in the first one (ideally, you could clone him out). I would also strongly recommend not to center your subject, especially in this shot. It's almost always better to have your subject entering your shot. So, I would place him in the right third of the shot. I'm not sure if a lower perspective would help, but you should always experiment with different vantage points. In this case, I would experiment with different shutter speeds as well. You might also try panning with the kayaker, so he is in focus but the background is blurred from the motion.

Thank you, Krusty, for your suggestions. In regards to placing him in the right third, I thought I did that with his head. . . . . . . because I thought his face was the most interesting subject here. Is that wrong? Should it have been the kayak? If I make it over there again, I will try different vantage points and shutter speeds. I have not tried the panning before; guess I need to try that as well. I had my camera on a tripod here, focused on a point, cable release in hand, and shot as they reached that point.

UlpilotSC · #4 (**permalink**) 03-30-2011, 11:30 AM

I like the second one. The water is fast and violent, the orange kayak just slows everything down. Now if he was moving too, you could leave him in. I see from looking at your crop that youve cropped as wide as you can without including the orange kayak, but the yellow boat is still almost at the exact center. It needs to be a little more off center - give him somewhere to go. So - you either need to crop a little closer and move the kayak, OR - you could clone out the nose of the orange boat and crop a little wider.
If you're feeling really adventurous, try cloning out all of the orange boat, and crop the whole (original) picture in just a bit.

wbrook13 · #5 (**permalink**) 04-01-2011, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UlpilotSC

I like the second one. The water is fast and violent, the orange kayak just slows everything down. Now if he was moving too, you could leave him in. I see from looking at your crop that youve cropped as wide as you can without including the orange kayak, but the yellow boat is still almost at the exact center. It needs to be a little more off center - give him somewhere to go. So - you either need to crop a little closer and move the kayak, OR - you could clone out the nose of the orange boat and crop a little wider.
If you're feeling really adventurous, try cloning out all of the orange boat, and crop the whole (original) picture in just a bit.

Thank you, UlpilotSC, for your suggestion. You're right, I cropped as far left as I could without having any of the orange kayak show. I'll give the cloning a try, and see how it looks. (I'm just learning the cloning technique). If I like the result, I'll re-post.

wbrook13 · #6 (**permalink**) 04-03-2011, 09:02 PM

Here is my attempt at cloning out the orange kayak.

johnb3 · #7 (**permalink**) 04-04-2011, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbrook13

Here is my attempt at cloning out the orange kayak.

The clone job did the trick. The man is going somewhere and is not static in the middle of the picture.

wbrook13 · #8 (**permalink**) 04-06-2011, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnb3

The clone job did the trick. The man is going somewhere and is not static in the middle of the picture.

Thank you, John. I agree, taking the distracting orange kayak out has brought the emphasis back to my subject.

Krusty79 · #9 (**permalink**) 04-06-2011, 08:54 PM

Whoops, I didn't notice you replied to my post. I like the cloned image the best. You did a good clone job. I think the final shot has the best composition and captures the action well. Nice job.

If you could contact that kayaker, you could probably sell him a print!