Rocky Sea Landscape

[Jake Maguire]

Hi,

I recently took this picture on a school trip to St Ives in Cornwall and I am reasonably happy with it but I am not happy with the overall quality of the shot. I don't think the photograph really shows how great this spot was. As I am a beginner I would love to know what I should be doing differently to take better shots in the future.



I would post details like aperture and so on but i really can not remember. If you wanted to know, the camera I was using was a Fujifilm FinePix S7000.

Any comments, good or bad, are greatly appreciated!

Jake

[Michael_2010]

Your settings were:

Camera Fujifilm FinePix S7000
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/350)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 22 mm
ISO Speed 160
Exposure Bias 0 EV

[Jake Maguire]

Thanks!

I just realised how to find those settings thanks to you.

Jake

[jjvdelft]

Hi Jake, This is a nice picture. I think the use of your flits would lighten the foreground and bring a softer flow to the focus of your picture.
Regards,
Jacques

[Jake Maguire]

Hi Jacques,

Thanks for the feedback, will take on everything on board. Thanks for the compliment too!

Jake

[Krusty79]

It looks to me that the shot was composed to lead the viewer's eye to those stumps in the water, but I'm afraid I don't find them a compelling subject. There's not much there to hold my interest. Since you have been there, you probably have an emotional attachment to that scene, but afraid I am not feeling it by looking at those stumps.

What part of this landscape made it so great? Can you recompose the shot to emphasize that part?

[Riptide879]

I am getting the same vibe as Kruzty79 is about the photo. When taking photos it is important to make sure you try to capture the essence of the place as you know it. When you were composing the shot you had all 5 senses to get an idea of what the place was like, however we only can use one. The shot looks like a very good landscape but the diagonal piece of wood is slightly distracting from the landscape of the shot. I like what you did with framing the shot and the border around it is very important to the mood of the shot.

The only other thing that I can see is the direction of the shot. Perhaps if you angled the shot more to the right you would capture more of the landscape and would improve the essence of the shot. As your eye travels across the picture it starts at the rocks on the left and because the stumps form a diagonal line across the photo you subconsiously follow it but in this composition it leads to the frame of the picture. Perhaps with more of the landscape your eyes would be leading to more of the open water.

Other than that it is a very good shot. I like how you not only framed it with the window you were looking out of but with the rock ledge on the side.

[Krusty79]

Well put, Riptide, welcome to DPS.

Jake,

I like to direct beginners to this post:

Landscapes - the Best ways to Shoot them. What to do and What not to do

Ken's post covers the basics of landscape photography. If you follow his recommendations and keep practicing, you should see yourself progress. Good luck!