Lakeside Music

[SwissJon]

I was down by the lake tonight, watching a rather disappointing sunset after a day of clouds, when I spotted this guy playing his harp on the waters edge. Having remembered what you lot said about needing a strong subject in a photo, I figured this guy could be that.. Managed to get 4 photos before he realised what I was doing and shooed me away, shame, because I was about to drop some coins in his hat.. Next time I see him, I'll drop some cash and a copy of this photo.

A few questions about this:
I've enhanced the colours to boost the sunset, have I gone too far? Does it look fake?
Once again, my camera was focussed on the horizon.. I just noticed when the guy asked me to skedaddle.. Is the soft focus on the guy noticeable?
Should I lose the little bouy in the background? Some of the clouds at the top?
It's quite weak behind the guy on the right hand edge, since the eye goes left to right should I flip the photo or will having his back to the left edge cause the eye to get blocked?
Since the right hand edge is blocked, should I crop it out along with a bit of sky or will that cause the photo to go off balance?

Camera: SLT-A55V
Lens: Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* DT 16-80mm F3.5-4.5 ZA
Focal length: 28*mm*(equiv. 42*mm)
Aperture: F6.3
Exposure time: 1/160"
ISO speed rating: 100/21°
Program: Aperture priority
Metering Mode: Center-weighted average
White Balance: Auto
Image Stabilizer: Off
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode

[Krusty79]

There is something that struck me as a little bit off in this shot, but I can't quite articulate why. I did do a search on silhouette shots and found a DPS article - How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps.

Two of the articles I read recommend putting the sun BEHIND the subject to create a glow around him. A clean silhouette is preferred, but yours has that bump next to the musician. Another thing the article mentions is that silhouettes of people are usually better taken from the side, as a profile, so their features are more identifiable. However, I don't know if that would help in this shot.

I don't think the sunset looks fake and I do find the buoy and cloud fragments a little distracting.

[bigben6]

Crop the bouy, maybe the two cloud fragments, but I think its a great shot myself... he may be fuzzy but because he is blacked out you cannot tell, on second though it crop a decent amount of the sky if ti were me...

[dvtldav]

Nice capture. I like the shot a lot but I would definitely lose the bouy and some of the clouds at the top. I like the right side the way it is as it gives the eye someplace to stop.

Dave

[EOBeav]

Your colors seem a bit washed out, not vivid like I'm used to seeing it when the sun is low on the horizon. I'd like to see more blue and orange, not less.

Also, I can't tell if your subject is holding a guitar, bagpipes, bassoon, or what. :-)

I'm enjoying your shots. I'm a little jealous that my time out with my camera has been limited lately.

[SwissJon]

Well, the sunset was a really blah last night, I pushed the colours as far as I could without over saturating them.. This photo was really the result of me wanting something after having made the effort to lug my camera and tripod to work and get off the train and hike down to the lake. I wish I'd had a more willing subject, but hey, he didn't seem to want to earn any money, perhaps he was having a bad day..

Thanks for the link Krusty, I think you're right, this would have been better with the sun behind in profile..

It's a set of bagpipes Beav.. I always have a camera on me, even if it's my P&S.. I don't watch tv much, My son likes to watch cartoons an 20 year old episodes of friends in French, so clicking, and looking at your photos is how I relax.. lol.. The other day I took a macro of my supper for something to do

Just so you can see what the instrument looked like.. Here's another shot. I didn't post this one because I thought the fact that he was facing out of shot was a no-no.

[bigben6]

I like this shot better in some ways, colors are better, he is more defined, better idea of WHAT he is doing, and the colors reflected on the water pop really well.

[EOBeav]

I gotta agree, I kind of like the second shot. :-)

[Krusty79]

I like the 2nd one better also. The sun is not centered and it is a lot easier to tell the silhouette is a musician. Those articles I read recommend using an easily identifiable silhouette because the viewer cannot see any colors or textures to identify the silhouette..

[Trankonia]

Jon, I like the second better as well. In the first, it looked like he was holding a Bow. I thought he was a Bow hunter reflecting on the day's hunt.