Sailing on a calm sea

[AndrewPDX]

D5000
70-200 f/2.8 @ 200mm f/16
1/250
ISO 200
0EV

I really wanted to make sure the mountains in the background were visible, so I did a fair amount of post work (increased blacks, upped the contrast, dropped the luminance on certain hues, etc). I'm pretty happy with it, but wanted to know if you guys felt it was over processed at all.

General comments/critiques welcomed as well. Thanks!

[crockny]

What bothers me is the amount of sea at the bottom which is not that interesting and your subject seems squished at the top. I'm thinking if this had been a landscape orientation it would have been better and if you had included more sky and mountains and less ocean I think it would have worked better.

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by crockny

What bothers me is the amount of sea at the bottom which is not that interesting and your subject seems squished at the top. I'm thinking if this had been a landscape orientation it would have been better and if you had included more sky and mountains and less ocean I think it would have worked better.

I agree with the above. I had to look very hard to see the mountians due to the amount of blue in the entire capture.

[crockny]

Sorry I guess I didn't really answer your question, did I? The mountains don't show up very well for me and overall it seems too blue ... although I'm fond of blue and it does set a mood, it doesn't show the mountains if that's what you're aiming for ...

[AndrewPDX]

although I'm fond of blue and it does set a mood, it doesn't show the mountains if that's what you're aiming for ...

Thanks. No, I didn't want to make the mountains a focal point, I just wanted to make sure they didn't look like sky. I really wanted a blue, isolated shot. I purposely left in a lot of empty, foreground/middleground ocean, but I can see why some people may not like it.

I've got a slightly different shot that I'm using for that more traditional horizontal image. See here:

[chriskey]

I much prefer the landscape shot...and is that a dolphin??

[crockny]

This is a much more interesting shot to me (love the dolphin) and still has a calm mood with all that blue ... unless that's a shark and then it's a lot more ominous!

[Donal]

+1for the dolphin. The second shot is more attention getting. I think the focus is not on the mountains and they look like they are part of the clouds.
Mountain focus aside, it's a great shot.

[fugo]

I prefer the vertical format - yes there is a lot of sea but the gradient is attractive to my eyes and the framing includes the full reflection of the boat.

all in all I like the shot (fav'd on flickr!) - nice colours, framing and subject. i like a bit of minimalism in my photos! the dolphin is cool in the landscape shot, but overall I prefer the vertical shot.

I would say if possible it would be better if there was a little bit of clear sky above the cloudline if possible.. i just find the sudden end of the two white peaks of the clouds a bit odd.

technically, you probably could have got away with ISO 100 as the shutter speed was pretty fast - not that i've noticed excess noise in your shot or anything, but if you can you may as well! also, if you were using infinite focus (which I guess you must have been) it would be best to stick to a lower aperature to avoid diffusion softening the image. f/8.0 is generally where most lenses are at their peak sharpness.

[EOBeav]

Greetings from another Oregonian.

Without reading the other responses, the biggest thing I notice is that the mountains in the background blend in too much with the water. I don't really get a sense of separation between foreground/background to this one. I have similar thoughts about the second one, but I like that there is less foreground and the dolphin/shark is a nice addition.