Stumble Head Light

[John 2]

Had a short break last week in South Wales. Stumble Head is just south of Fishguard and I wanted to capture the lighthouse against a good Atlantic sunset. Took these two whilst I was waiting for the sun to go down. They are essentially the same shot taken about 30 minutes apart. The main difference though, is the point of focus. The first has the light house in focus but not the grasses. The second is the opposite. Couldn't make up my mind which I preferred at the time. I still can't and so in the best tradition of C in C, I thought I would ask the experts. Comments very welcome therefore.

Fuji X
Fujinon 23mm f1.4
ISO 200

1/1200th sec @ f8


1/240th sec @ f8 +.33 compn

[Digital]

John, I like the first photo better.



Bruce

[Geoff F]

Neither one for me I'm afraid, John. I try shots like this from time to time, and they all get ditched!

The second one is the more hopeful of the two for me.

A merge of two focus points so both foreground and background were sharp might have worked, but difficult to achieve with moving grass.

Did you get any shots of the lighthouse without grass?

[Shadowman]

The first.

[FootLoose]

Changing the focus changes the subject. I quite like the first one, John. I don't find the oof grass particularly distracting, it locates the lighthouse in the local environment.

[John 2]

Thanks to all for the comments. I think I'm beginning to lean towards the first myself but although I like the concept, I wish the light had been more interesting. An idea for another opportunity.

Geoff, I don't know why I didn't try to stop right down to get front to back focus although I suspect that the 23mm wouldn't quite have managed it. I do have the shots I went there specifically to capture but they are proving quite a challenge to PP as is always the case with sunsets. I may have to resort to some tone mapping for one of them. I will post them once I'm happy.

[bnnrcn]

I actually like them both John

[chauncey]

By including the grasses, you're causing the scene to be overly complex...KISS.
Work the scene to best explore the lighthouse...that is your subject.

[John 2]

Thanks Binnur, thanks William. William, you could be right but there are so many straightforward shots of lighthouses (including a few of my own on the day) and I was trying for something different. You have to try.

[ajohnw]

I prefer the 1st but having out of focus foregrounds is a bit advanced for photographers but funnily enough not for artists. Maybe a bit too much of it though.

Interesting though. I posted a different method of approaching dof recently. First shot has a resolution based on that of 16.5mm - fine for the lighthouse even if you focused further away but not enough for the grass etc.

2nd shot has a resolution of 3mm so if the light house or the horizon had been the focus point the grass definition would have been much better. Probably adequate in fact really for this type of shot.

John
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[Wavelength]

i liked #2; in #1, where, your subject is the light house and grass in the foreground disturbs and distracts; but #2 has fine lighting and the well lit grass and their flowers are very pleasing; there, the non focused light house supports the image without overpowering the main subject..

Regards

[terrib]

Well, all the responses just reinforce there is no right answer. Everyone likes something different.

I believe I like the first one best as my brain automatically goes to the lighthouse as the subject and I'd like it to be in focus. The OOF grasses to not bother me in the least and I think it is because they frame the main part of the lighthouse so nicely.

On the second, I really like those grasses and the backlighting on them, but the lighthouse for me is too dominant as a subject to my brain, even out of focus, so my eye keeps going back and forth.

[John 2]

Thanks John, Nandakumar and Terri. Just some experimentation and you're right Terri, it's different strokes for different folks.