Paddle Steamers

[SwissJon]

Especially for BigFuzzy, I went out and captured some colour in the sky tonight.

I have some questions, but feel free to comment on other aspects:

I put the camera in manual tonight because the AE was over exposing the picture in Aperture priority.. I'm not sure if I made it a little dark.. My monitor is rubbish and I always seem to make things too dark so they look ok on my screen.

Shooting into the sun like this burns out the sun and its surround.. Increasing the colours so they reflect what I saw results in some colour banding. Is there any way to make the transition to the rest of the picture smoother? An ND filter? ND Grad?

What about composition? Is there too muct water at the front? Would the boats look better if I cropped to either end of the two and pehaps lost some foreground? I quite like the way the water fades to black, but I'm not sure if it's strong enough as a subject framing the sunset? Do I need something in the foreground apart from the waves? I've another photo with a swan dead centre, but the sunset isn't and I get a little motion blur from the swan on that one.

Exif:
Camera: SLT-A55V
Focal length: 16*mm*(equiv. 24*mm)
Aperture: F14
Exposure time: 1/30"
ISO speed rating: 100/21°
Program: Manual
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Location: < 1 km West of Ouchy (near Lausanne), Switzerland


4th February 2011 by SwissJon, on Flickr

[dvtldav]

I really like this shot. For me I wouldn't do a thing to it.

Dave

[benchdog]

Hi SwissJon

I really like shot as is but if anything would suggest a tighter crop taking out the bottom and top quarter of the image. I think this would strengthen your conposition.

[LoveDSLR]

I prefer a vertical crop showing the center only.

[SwissJon]

I think if the boats had been facing each other, I'd agree with you LoveDSLR, but I tried that, and as it is, the portrait shot makes it feel a bit unbalanced to me. I'd love them to be parked bow to bow.. Maybe I'll have a word with the port director.

You mean cropping the edges too Benchdog, or Making the photo panoramic?

[LoveDSLR]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

I think if the boats had been facing each other, I'd agree with you LoveDSLR, but I tried that, and as it is, the portrait shot makes it feel a bit unbalanced to me. I'd love them to be parked bow to bow.. Maybe I'll have a word with the port director.

This is the best I can do for balance.

[navcom]

Nice exposure and great use of symmetry....but you are right that the crop is not quite right. I think removing more of the sky and cropping closer to the boats will help pull the flow together...like this the attached.

I think the sun feels more at home higher in the composition. There isn't much interesting in the sky but you do have reflections in the water.

LoveDSLR...vertical orientations in compositions with mainly horizontal lines don't really work too well...makes it feel cut off and cramped.

[benchdog]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

You mean cropping the edges too Benchdog, or Making the photo panoramic?

I would make it panoramic. I'd try cropping different ways both top and bottom, bottom only, and top only see what you like. For me the top and bottom of the image doesn't add a lot interest like I said before.

http://digital-photography-school.co...1&d=1296958788

[benchdog]

I was trying to copy and paste the image in the message but I couldn't figure that out. I'll have to work on this.

[mwanafunzi]

Would the boats look better if I cropped to either end of the two and pehaps lost some foreground? I quite like the way the water fades to black, but I'm not sure if it's strong enough as a subject framing the sunset? Do I need something in the foreground apart from the waves? I've another photo with a swan dead centre, but the sunset isn't and I get a little motion blur from the swan on that one.

I think that the photo would look better cropped. Initially I thought that only cropping out the water would be a good idea but after looking at the photo for a while I felt that the sides needed the axe.

My take on the crop

boats.jpg

Reasons for the crop:
1. The silhouette on the left of the sun is too heavy and therefore I placed sun slightly of center.
2. I prefer the sky over the water as a subject.
3. a square(ish) crop seems to better balance the photo


As far as exposure is concerned, on my monitor, it does look a tad underexposed.