Tracks in the Sand

[travelpat]

Hi everybody,

I'd like to get your opinion on a couple of things about this picture. I took it because it gives a good idea of how that beach felt: Solitary but with clear signs of human presence.

1) According to the rule of thirds I should have moved the horizon a little farther away from the centre. Giving the sky more space takes it away from the tracks in the sand which are somewhat of the main attraction in this picture. On the other hand giving less space to the sky would have taken away the feeling of openness this place had. What do you think about the positioning of the horizon?

2) Would you have positioned yourself somewhere else for taking the picture?

3) The photo was taken in auto-mode (P). Would you have used manual settings to create a certain effect?

4) What kind of post-processing would you do with this picture?

5) Anything else that comes to mind?

Thanks guys.


ISO 80, 1/500 f5.6, Canon Powershot A570IS

[Doug Sundseth]

I'm fine with the position of the horizon line here. The "Rule of Thirds" is mostly a mnemonic to remind you to only center important things for a reason. FWIW, instead of 33% into the photo, 38% (approximately) into the photo is a bit closer to the golden ratio anyway, and pretty close to what you've chosen.

P mode has served you fairly well here. Your exposure is decent throughout the image, and your DoF is fine (helped by the short lens in the Powershot).

The problem I have is that you don't really have a subject here.

Before anything else, you need to decide what you're shooting and then refine your distance and framing to emphasize that thing. You have an interesting background throughout the photo, but there's nothing to focus the attention. Put a nicely lit dune buggy in the foreground, or a surfer running toward the water, or a seagull searching for lunch where it will fill much of the frame, and I think you would have a nice photo.

[NgaiHill]

I agree with Doug that your horizon is alright where it is here, although it looks a little sloped to the left to me. This could just be the effect of the dunes on the right.
Also agree with Doug that there is no real subject here. I get that you are photographing the emptiness of the beach and a subject would take away from that.
Personally I would've laid down on the sand and folllowed one set of tracks into the scene. That would've shown them more as the subject and the lines would take you into the picture. At the moment all you have is a nice picture of a quiet beach.
Love quiet, empty beaches BTW, they're my favourite kind!

[EOBeav]

Just an idea for composition: Try shooting this closer to the ground, and so that one or the other of those set of tracks is most prominent. Let the tracks lead our eyes to the water (leading lines).

[travelpat]

Thank you for the input guys. When I looked at this picture and thought about what I could have changed I never thought about putting a distinct subject in there. I really like the idea of making the tracks the subject. Ah, I want to go back there and take more shots