Pier Shot

[BEEZY]

I shot this over the weekend at my aunties 50th birthday bash, in a marina off the Detroit River. I'm at work now, and can't really supply any details, but I'm interested in knowing what you guys think of this picture. Thanks


Nikon D80/ AF Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6G/ Sigma DG 28-70mm
1:2.8-4/ Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor/ Nikon 18-105mm DX VR
Nikon SB600 Flash

"Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly." - Robert Schuller
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." - Ansel Adams

"Truth is the light illuminating my images"- beezy40

[dcclark]

The first thing I notice is that railing running right through the middle, and the table in the bottom left. They really detract from the photo, since it seems that your intended subject was the pier/boats in the distance. However, everything is blue/grey except the railing -- which emphasizes it and makes me wonder if you wanted to focus on it instead. While you could get some cool geometry and lines from the railing, it doesn't seem that you were going for that in this photo.

So, overall, I'd say that this photo is confused about its subject. What did you want to do? If the intended subject was indeed the pier/boats, then you should have gotten closer to the edge and cut out the distractions. If it was the railing or table or something to do with them, you need to bring them into the frame more and emphasize them by choice of angle.

Finally, the vignette is severe. I know that vignettes can be an artistic choice, but this one isn't really focusing my eye on anything -- it's drawing my eye away.

I don't mean to sound too harsh, but I think you need to consider what the purpose of this photo is, and work from there.

[Trader]

At first look, my reaction was, "Could any more be squeezed into this shot?" I know the title of this post is "Pier Shot" but I can't figure out what pier you are talking about. The vignette bothers me also.