Portland Bill

[Doozer]

Hi all,

First post on here but keen to get some feedback where I can. Picture taken at sunset on Tuesday. All C and C welcome.

Thanks for looking,

David

[CLK]

This is a beautiful picture, just the right exposure to the surf in the fore ground to visualize the movement leading out to the sunset. This is a question, to you and the others who follow, is the upper left sky a little too dark? Although my eye is drawn to the surf then sky, that dark sky seems to outweigh the rock in the opposite corner. I look forward to others comments. After saying all of that it would be a picture I wouldn't mind having on the wall in my house to look at every day.

[Donald]

That's a pretty impressive first post onto the forum.

Normally, the first reaction would have been to express concern that the horizon is right on the half-way line. However, I think the fact that the little spit of rock reaching out at the bottom right is such a strong feature and the front edge of it is well placed in the frame, nullifies the 'problem' of the half-way horizon. Be interested to read other views on that.

Other than that, I'm with Connie so far as the exposure - shutter speed etc - is concerned.

As to Connie's point re the upper left area of sky - I see it as a good counter-balance to that area of rock at the bottom left. I think it helps balance the image. Again, it will be interesting to read what others think.

One point re posting images. You have posted this at 693 pixels on the long edges. If you posted at something like 1024, 1200 or even 1500, then when we clicked on it to view it in the Lightbox, we would see the much larger version - which in this case would, I think, make quite an impact.

[Doozer]

Thanks for the positive comments. Agree with the slightly darker corner but my photoshop skills are not that great yet so when I tried to even it out it looked a bit odd. Will have to revisit I think. Was also aware of the horizon splitting the picture but for some reason when taking the picture it seemed to work so went with it.

Thanks Donald for the note about pic size. Will see if I an change it.

[Donald]

Was also aware of the horizon splitting the picture but for some reason when taking the picture it seemed to work so went with it.

In which case, that's fine. Because, I think, it's all about conscious awareness. If you had presented this image blissfully unaware of the issue/question of horizon, that would have been a learning point. But the fact that you were aware at the time you were capturing and made a decision based on that, is what is really important. Whether you or anyone else then likes the result of that decision is an aesthetic matter, but in terms of your photographic development it's about being aware of the decisions you're making.

[Doozer]

Whether you or anyone else then likes the result of that decision is an aesthetic matter, but in terms of your photographic development it's about being aware of the decisions you're making.

A point well made, for me thats definitely something that you realise overtime and start to try and see what the picture will look like when you have taken it.

[tbob]

I would have tried moving a bit towards your left to get more of the sweep of the small bay in the rock and get the tip of the rocky outcrop closer to the setting sun. Not too much because then you get the tip smack in the centre which might not work well. Tighten up the entire image and reduce the expanse of sea which is the least interesting part of the image. Digital is cheap so try moving to change the alignment of the elements to see what works, although not to the point of randomly shooting with no thought about what you are doing; and I see you are already thinking of the composition in the viewfinder before shooting; which is great.

Maybe a crop to make the image more of a panorama and lose the sky just above the clouds; try it and see what you think.

Otherwise I agree with the prior comments. I quite like this.

[FrankMi]

Hi David, I understand where you are coming from. I often have the same kinds of feelings with I view a scene I am about to shoot. Sometimes my feels change when I study the image on my monitor. One thing you can do to help 'see' what is working and what may not is to close your eyes for about 10 seconds and then as you look at the image on your monitor, note the first thing your eyes see and where your vision goes from there. If it is different than what you saw when you took the image then you may want to explore alternative ways of looking at the scene, most easily through changes in cropping.

As I see the composition, there are two primary areas of interest. The broiling sea is larger but the sunset being reddish, commands more attention for its size so for me they are about evenly split as attention getters. My feeling is that the sea should be the more prominent of the two and let the sunset complement it.

One way this might be able to be done is to drop the top border to just above the highest cloud. This would make the sea a larger percentage of the image and should provide it enough more dominance to sufficiently reduce the competition from the sunset for attention.

Hope this makes sense!

[Doozer]

I would have tried moving a bit towards your left to get more of the sweep of the small bay in the rock and get the tip of the rocky outcrop closer to the setting sun.

Thanks for the feedback. There was actually a large pile of rocks to the left which restricted the angle but think I could have moved over a bit so will try that next time I am there.

David

[Doozer]

One thing you can do to help 'see' what is working and what may not is to close your eyes for about 10 seconds and then as you look at the image on your monitor, note the first thing your eyes see and where your vision goes from there

Great tip, and yes it does make sense. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

David