Snug Haven

[SwissJon]

I took this this yesterday evening in the frozen harbour of a tiny little town in Ontario called Snug Haven. It was -13C and was rather chilly for photography, especially since I was standing around for a couple of hours.. But I was well wrapped up.

I'm reasonably happy with the result, but I've a couple of questions:

The river in the foreground.. Is it distracting? I flipped the photo horizontally and immediately found the eye was lead out of the picture.. So this way round do you find it draws your eye in, or is it a distraction?

Would you do some colour correction on the snow in the foreground, or leave it blue as it is?

Is the foreground too dark?

I'm just a bit worried this is "just another sunset"?

Thanks as ever.



Exif:
34mm
F/16
1/10s
ISO100

[windrider86]

For me, it is too dark. Not sure how to pull it off but sure would add some interest if the rays of the sun were more froward and into the stream.

And no, the river is not a distraction. It adds interest to an otherwise same ol sunset photo

[baajero]

Forground might a bit dark... but if it was lighter then the image would lose it's atmosphere I think... so I think it's perfect.
I think the image would die without the river... At the moment it's not just another sunset because of this tiny river
Great shot all in all...

[SwissJon]

Ok, I had a go at brightening the foreground.. Not really sure I like it so much.. What do you think?

[bigben6]

I liked it darker, and I maybe would have framed the river to the left and kept the sun frame right.

[dvtldav]

I like the original better and the river needs to stay. I think it is really good the way it is and wouldn't change a thing if it was mine.

Dave

[Barry Jackson]

If I had not seen the second example I would have thought it was too dark.

The river needs to stay.

The two clumps of grass in the lower left help lead you towards the sunset.

The horizon is a couple of degrees lower on the right.

Too cold for me.

[milosh]

I like the second version of foreground, I think it just provides more interest and it hasn't lost any of it's charm. For me, the river is a nice element, but it leads me out of the frame... It there was a way to flip just the river horizontally, then it would lead right into the Sun (actually there is, creating a second copy and masking the upper part, but you would also have to clone the sun rays). If you're not doing that, the river needs to stay anyway.