First Try- Rule of Third

[chandran]

Hi All,


I am new to this forum and this is my post as well. This shot was takem with a Nikon D60, 18-55mm kit lens on a sunny day at 10 am. I took this shot from a boat while crossing a creek two months ago. I believe the composition is good and rule of third is ok. need more exposure at the foreground. I cropped the above portion a little bit and did some autocorrection. That too in MS Office picture manager.

Please tell me about my composition and is the Rule of Third worked?, any other critique are welcomed.

[doctorjames]

Could you let us know a little more about what you are hoping to achieve with the shot. What you were wanting to draw people to and what your overall aim was?

[chandran]

My subject was the boat and try to make a feeling that the boat is heading towards a destination which is invisible in the pic.please tell where i am wrong

[doctorjames]

Originally Posted by chandran

My subject was the boat and try to make a feeling that the boat is heading towards a destination which is invisible in the pic.please tell where i am wrong

Its not really a case of being wrong. Photography is usually about compromising, and the situation you have put yourself in is quite difficult.

The sky is very bright, lit by the strong morning light, so the exposure is off. Your camera has probably taken an average of the whole scene to get the exposure. It may have been better to have taken a spot reading off the boat.

You cant to much about your angle, as that is fixed by you being on the boat, timing may have allowed you to be more precise about your placement. Having the boat travelling more away from you would help with making a sense of onward journey more prevailing.

There are lots of other things I wouldl have tried to do differently, and if you want to hear more then please let me know. I dont want to be too demoralising. Only about 1% of the frames I take I wouldnt rip to shreds with my own critique.

[Doctor Atomo]

I think you did a fine job.
Your stated goal was demonstrating the rule of thirds, and compositionally the skyline is at 1/3 and the main boat is at 1/3 so I'd say you accomplished your goal.
The photo gives me a "commuter hour on the river" feel, it's quite obvious that the boat is the subject and it does appear to be heading into the invisible distance.
The exposure is a bit off. The sky is too bright and the water and people a little dark, but that was not your question!
An interesting photo. Where was this taken?

[kstiltne]

I think the photo has a very nice feel to it, though the exposure is a bit off. I'm pretty new to this so unfortunately I don't have any specific suggestions on how to fix it, but I think your main question was on the composition, and I feel the composition really works for the photo.

[karen_s]

Overall the image is very nice, a little underexposed as you have noted but still nice. It has a bit of a photojournalistic feel to it.

As to the composition, your subject is placed nicely on the third. My eye keeps wanting to head out to sea, which was something you wanted the viewer to do, but it seems to get stuck on the little boat on the left and I can't get to that invisible destination you speak of. You might try cropping in a bit more from the left or remove the little boat in post processing. I would also crop in a tad more from the right to make the big boat on the far right a bit less noticeable. Then, to balance it all out, take a tad more off the bottom.

I do think this works well as is. Playing with the crop might give you a different feel but neither is really right or wrong, just different. (And I do like the widescreen view.)