Morning Mist - A question of Composition

[tlonghenry]

I took this photo as part of the "Golden Hour" photo challenge. I am rather new to photography and I am trying to improve my technique. My goal here was to use the fishing pier to lead the viewer into the photo. Was this a successful use of basic composition rules or do you have any suggestions for improvement of the shot?

Camera: Nikon D3100
Lense: 50mm F/1.8G
Apeture: F/16
Shutter Speed: 1/250s
ISO: 200

[Benrocky]

Its a really lovely picture you have there. Great effort for your first submission.

If it was me try and crop/cut of the bottom 1 inch of that shot. This will

A) Tidy up the foreground abit

B) Not have the horizon 50:50. Ideally you would want 1/3 Sky,2/3 Foreground or vice versa

[RATphotography]

I like the composition. The pier dominates my eyes at first glance. I immediately follow it and once you get to the end where you normally would think your eye would just run off of the page, there is almost a sunburst pattern to all of the lines. First there is the cloud trace diagonally, then the horizontal tree line. The fog is another, then the water line. Then a pattern in the shadows of the water, and back to the pier. It reads like a book. I like it a lot. The sun is pretty close to the area where this sunburst pattern is centered. Very cool.

I would disagree about the centering of the photo from the previous statement, just because there is such an interesting contrast between the top half (which is almost empty except for the sun and cloud trace, which are compositionally interesting in that half) and the bottom half, which is broken up by the other patterns. However, a slight crop where they suggested may tidy it up as the other commenter suggested.



https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-...35170636528687

[sk66]

IMO, the leading line attempt does not really work. Primarily because the majority of it leads out of the frame and the "turn in" is cropped off.

Had you moved up and used the secondary railing (which is moving l-r in this image) for the "leading line" it may have worked better.... (can't say for sure where the sun/mist would lay w/in the scene).

[tlonghenry]

The last section of the pier is removed to prevent people from using it . It made framing a little tricky because of the large gap between the shore and the pier. It is very helpful to read how people very on their perception of the image. Keep the great comments coming!

[Krusty79]

I don't have a problem with the horizon being in the middle of the shot. I think the railing is partially successful as your foreground interest. It does provide some interest, but it also starts leading the eye out of the frame and away from the sun.

Definitely a good shot for a beginner, though. Even if you weren't a beginner, I would say it's a good shot.

[asaphotographer104]

This is an EXCELLENT example of "golden hour"!! I'm impressed
At first glance, you may think the railing is going to take you out of the frame but then your eye catches the horizontal part of the rail and you're opened up to a whole other realm within the pciture!
My eye was lead from the front of the frame to the sun (by-way of the rail) then the mist brought my eyes to the right of the photo where I saw the unique patterns of the leaf-less tree. I believe the composition of this photo is spot on! Great shot!

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by asaphotographer104

This is an EXCELLENT example of "golden hour"!! I'm impressed
At first glance, you may think the railing is going to take you out of the frame but then your eye catches the horizontal part of the rail and you're opened up to a whole other realm within the picture!
My eye was lead from the front of the frame to the sun (by-way of the rail) then the mist brought my eyes to the right of the photo where I saw the unique patterns of the leaf-less tree. I believe the composition of this photo is spot on! Great shot!

+1, I concur. I viewed the photo exactly as Abigail described it above. and the treetops move the horizon up a bit, so it's not really centered

[narmour]

I have to disagree with the other comments, I find the railing quite distracting. Also the tree on the far right drags my attention away from the interest in the image. I would go for a 'less is more' type of composition... the mist, trees and sunshine are more than enough to make a stunning image here with the amazing light on show.