Boat Passing a Heron

[mykadog]

A photography class this weekend discussed composition about the Rule of Thirds and Leading Lines. I tried using the rules in this photo by cropping the passing boat at the upper left intersection and the banks of the canal as lines leading into the photo. Is this what the instructor was talking about?



Camera Model: NIKON D300
Date/Time: 2011:07:02 10:57:41
Resolution: 752 x 623
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 19.0mm (35mm equivalent: 28mm...
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
Aperture: f/11.0
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: spot
Exposure: program (auto)

[Doug Sundseth]

You have the right idea here. The lines you saw are leading the eye into the center of the image.

The next thing I think you should work on is tightening up your composition. (I realize that you were quite time-constrained here, which makes everything harder and some things impossible).

In this photo, the interesting subjects, the things you want your lines to lead to, are the boat and the heron or egret. I would try to pick one as the primary subject and use the other as a balance and mostly fill the frame with the two of them. If you were a bit lower down and used a longer lens/zoom, you could remove much of the uninteresting vegetation from the right side of the frame, the gray sky from the top, and the least interesting part of the creek from the bottom while still keeping the best parts.

This would likely also improve your exposure, since it would be a simpler composition for your camera to figure out.

HTH

[crockny]

It's quite overexposed and doesn't seem sharp, maybe for that reason. I think you should crop it to a portrait orientation to get rid of the vegetation on the right and make the water lead the viewer past the heron to the boat ... just my two cents ... try lowering the exposure a bit too ...

[Krusty79]

You do have a leading line into the image, but it could be stronger. If you moved down lower and to the left, it would make the leading line stronger (more distinct) and that would cut out a lot of the vegetation on the right side of the image, which really isn't contributing anything.

You should consider getting a graduated neutral density filter for times like these when the sky is much brighter relative to the ground. Shooting in the golden hours also helps, since there is less dynamic range then and the light is softer.

Here's a shot I took in Yellowstone that illustrates a leading line along the left third.

[EOBeav]

The line takes me to the Heron, but not the boat. In some ways, the boat seems misplaced to me, so it might have been nice to have it cropped out.

Did your instructor also talk about shooting at different times of day? You'd get better light at sunrise or sunset than you do here. However, you'd have to ask the Heron if he'd be willing to come back then, also.

[mykadog]

Thank you all very much for your input. It is overexposed as were nearly all the pictures I took that day. Looks like in this one I exposed to the vegetation when maybe it should have been to the sky. I like the idea of the graduated filter. Never thought about using one in the middle of the day...just for sunsets and sunrises. If I had it to do over an angle from the other side of the canal and waiting until the boat was almost directly behind or maybe past the heron would have been better. As it turned out I heard the boat coming, saw the heron, stopped and waited. A few steps to the left would have made a much better picture. He did talk about "time of day" but this is when I was there.
Thanks again for your comments. I do appreciate them.