Thornton St Ferry

[dje]

I took these shots this morning, before the rain arrived. I thought they were suited to Black and White. Interested to hear your thoughts on composition etc.

Dave

Best viewed full size.

[FootLoose]

Dave, I think these two images are exceptional for the amount of detail they encompass. (note, dustbunny upper right quadrant of the first shot.)

In situations like this, it is hard to know how much of the foreground to include - where to crop etc. I don't know what the rest of the wharf looks like in the first one, but I wonder if it is possible to include a little more of the walkway? In any case, I think I would try cloning out the top of the pylon in the middle that is just peeking over the bottom of the frame.

In the 2nd shot, I like that you have included the person on the left. It gives it that 'human touch'.
On the right hand side of the frame, there is something projecting out from the wharf which co-incides with the hull of the boat so that the boat appears to be sitting on it. I find that a little distracting.

I think you have made very good use of the hand railing but I also wonder how it would look if you had included more of it - if that were even possible.

BTW I hear Brisbane is in for a dumping. Any chance of re-shooting these in the rain? Just for the different atmosphere.

[Shadowman]

Nicely processed, agree with Greg on the particular crops; just a bit more of the walkway/pier railiing would have been great.

[dje]

Thanks for your comments Greg and John.

I'll attend to that dust bunny ! With these shots, I decided on 16:9 aspect ratio and cropped a bit off the top and bottom. So there is potential to include a bit more rail/walkway at the bottom. I'll have a look at it again.

Yes Greg it looks like a cyclone is forming off the coast and at this stage the prediction is for it to hit the coast around Yeppoon in a day or so. We are in for heavy rain I'd say but I don't think I'll be venturing out in it !.

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

Agreed with all of the previous comments. Also very nice conversions.

[John 2]

Lovely conversions Dave. Nice balance in the sky. As to composition, my take on the first is that all the interest is in the RH two thirds. I would crop it left and bottom as below with the pier providing a nice zigzag lead in the city scape. I would also clone out the tip of the TV mast on top of the skyscraper to make it look as if you have included all of it. The verticals may need a bit of a push to the right as well.

In the second, the pier on the left takes my eye in that direction first whereas the interesting part and really clever bit of circular composition is the railings linked to the cityscape behind. Cropping most of the pier removes the distraction. Just my thoughts. Others may not agree. Two nice images one way or the other.

[IzzieK]

I see what the problem is on #1 but John2 had already mentioned it. I love the second one and both of John 2's edits. They made a much stronger image.

[dje]

Thanks Mike, John (2) and Izzie for your comments.

John your comments about the lack of interest in the LHS of the first shot are interesting because that thought did occur to me too at one stage. In fact, going back over my images, I actually have another shot whose original composition is very similar to your edit ! With the second shot, it's probably a case of just getting a different effect with your crop. I'm not sure either way to be frank ! The original 3:2 had more of the walkway at the bottom and with more of that it may look more balanced with the amount of the shelter at the end of the pier as shown. Unfortunately due to a hick-up with PS the cropped pixels were accidentally deleted so I will have to completely re-process that image in PS to get the 3:2 version up to scratch.

Dave

[Manfred M]

Dave - you have a couple of really nicely executed shots here. The detailing in them is just amazing.

What strikes me is how much the current architectural trends in downtown buildings seems to be very similar, regardless where one goes around the world.

I definitely prefer the first one as the coverage of the foreground, middle ground and background just flows a lot better. I find that the railing and the angle it makes disrupts the viewer's eyes from going into the middle of the image.

[dje]

Thanks for your comments Manfred. It's interesting to see how different people see images a bit differently to others.

I was pleased with the detail in these shots, and I guess the B&W treatment emphasises this to some extent. The D610 is a very capable camera IMO. One thing I discovered the other day was that it's AA filter only really works in the vertical direction. I've seen tests done by Jack Hogan and also my own slanted edge tests indicate greater sharperness in the horizontal direction. The other thing about sharpness and detail I believe is that the light makes quite a difference. With these shots, the buildings were directly illuminated by reasonably diffuse light.

Dave

[TonyW]

It's all been said before - the detailing and conversion are excellent. I would probably prefer John's cropping.

Manfred's comment about the architecture is interesting. The original curved fronted building on the right was designed by Harry Seidler who came to Australia (Sydney) in the 1948 after working with Gropius and other well known architects in the US and elsewhere. He shook up the architectural establishment with his, for then, revolutionary designs. It looks as though the more recent curved fronts were a copy.

[IzzieK]

Good added info Tony...looks like you know your architectures...and history too. Excellent!