2017 Project 52 - First Quarter by Arno (AG64)

[AG64]

I’m a new member and really like the Project 52 concept, so I’m going to give it a shot. I’ll admit upfront I’m going to be posting on a bit of an irregular schedule. With work, etc. I may go weeks at a time without picking up the camera, so I’ll probably be posting photos from a single shoot over the span of several weeks.

I have a series of photos from a few days ago during a drive down to the New England coast. In the first one I was trying to get some interesting foreground elements with the surf and rocks. I blurred out the rocks to try to isolate the lighthouse and surf a bit more, but in retrospect I’m thinking I should have gone for more depth of field to leave the foreground rocks more in focus.


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The next 4 shots are various stages of the sun setting behind the lighthouse. There were just enough clouds to create some great color, but the backlighting was a bit of a challenge. I like the first on where a bit of the sun is showing, but unfortunately the glare is a bit excessive. I tried toning it down in post, but my Lightroom skills are still somewhat rudimentary at this point. I’d appreciate any comments and recommendations.

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5

[Shadowman]

Hi Arno,

Nice efforts: yes with the first you could consider the lighthouse as a necessary link to the waves; the gaze of the viewer should want to make the connection between the two not overlook one or the other. The sky is equally important to the composition, too cheery of a sky and the impact of the waves and lighthouse changes; likewise with the rocks. The angle you chose does help as the lighthouse appears almost submerged. The other four images fall under the cheery composition, the second image with the sunset works best and the others need a bit more fill light in the foreground and on the lighthouse. Nice start.

[Geoff F]

Whether to have blurred foreground is a matter of personal taste, Arno. So for me, I don't like it that way. We tend to automatically focus our eyes on the closest object so anything which has a blurred foreground looks strange. Although it is often possible to get away with a little bit of light blurring with wildlife subjects.

However, finding a way around this issue with real life subjects which have too much motion for focus stacking can be very difficult. Sometimes I look at a scene from various angles before eventually walking away without taking a shot.

With your image, I wonder if a mix of crop and clone from the right side and bottom would work. The waves look OK and I suspect the whole scene would appear stronger without that blurred bottom right corner.

The second set has good dramatic lighting and the last two are most appealing to me; although I wonder if a little crop from the bottom (maybe remove about one third of the water) would make the sky even more spectacular?

[AG64]

Thanks for comments John and Geoff. I attempted a quick clone of the waves to remove the rocks in the first pic. It's looks a bit better minus the rocks, but still not particularly satisfying.

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I've also included a crop of my favorite image of the group with a bit less water, which works better for me.

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Thanks again for the suggestions!

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Arno,

While I prefer it, #7 still has the lighthouse very central, personally, I would crop about 10-15% image width off the left hand side, moving the lighthouse left in the composition (because the sun is to the RHS).

If you've not heard of it; have a read up on Rule of Thirds - not that I consider it a rule (never to be broken), more a guideline (break when necessary), but one that works more often than not.

Next time you're shooting there, I wonder what a backlit spray shot would look like - e.g. a combination of shot #5 when lit like we see in #2 or #3?

Cheers, Dave

PS
I have added your thread to the 2017 P52 Index.

PPS
I had to number your shots for easier reference.

[Wavelength]

Excellent set of images Happy welcome

[Shadowman]

Arno,

I did a similar capture, with a less dramatic sky then yours; and felt the waves were the main subject but wanted my background element (the ship) to share a connection with the water. I knew that my vision wouldn't materialize with a shallow depth of field so I used a deep depth of field technique. I did try other settings but the final composition in the link was what pleased me most. I wish I had more time to really work the scene but as stated in the dialogue she disappeared so quickly.

Liner

[bnnrcn]

Welcome Arno I like #5 with the splashing wave. I would crop the image as Dave already suggested, but from the right hand side in this image as the splashing wave is on the left.

[AG64]

Thanks Dave. I'll make sure I number them going forward for easier reference. I took a large number of shots hoping to catch some good spray. #5 was probably the best one I took. There were definitely some good waves, but my timing wasn't quite right. Plus my hands were pretty much frozen after a while.

Attached is a left crop as you suggested. I had to crop some sky and water to avoid having a square-ish image. I like it...

#8

[AG64]

Binnur, here's a revised crop per your suggestion. Definitely an improvement over the previous version

#9

[bnnrcn]

Both crops work better Arno

[mknittle]

Both crops work better Arno

I agree

[AG64]

Week 2:

The following 2 shots are from a recent trip to a seaside wildlife refuge on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A tradition has developed where people collect the driftwood and flotsam that the tide brings in and create a constantly-evolving sculpture. I photographed it at sunrise and was hopeful that the color would create an interesting composition. After PP, the color image was rather meh, so I tried B&W and am much more pleased with the results. I think it does a better job of accentuating the low angle light from the left and the darker clouds behind. I've attached 2 images which I like for differing reasons.

The first one does a better job of highlighting the sunlight, particularly where it hits the flag
#1



Due to the wider angle of view, the second one really illustrates how isolated it is, but I don't think the lighting is as interesting as the first one
#2



Comments welcome. I'm working on my Lightroom skills so I may try the color version again after viewing some more tutorials.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Arno I find the second image better compositionally. The first image is nice with details too , but IMO it is too centered. So, I would crop the image from the RHS and from bottom a bit.

[Geoff F]

Two rather different effects from the same scene with these images.

The first has plenty of detail and although the main subject is placed centrally I find enough variation in the foreground and sky between left and right to break up any over riding potential symmetry problems.

The second image makes full use of an excellent sky.

[AG64]

Binnur and Geoff, thanks so much for the comments and feedback. It's been one of those weeks at work, and I haven't had the opportunity to check in for a while.

On to my next entry...

[AG64]

Week 3:

I guess I'm officially on a black and white kick... Here are a couple I took last Sunday when I had a little time to get down to the coast. It was one of those perfectly clear winter days with bright sun, no color and no definition in the sky. I was struggling to get some good ideas for photos, so I figured I'd play around with the reflections off of the water. They both seemed to work best in black and white.

#1 Trawling


#2 Scallop

[Shadowman]

Post #31, nice blend of elements, symbolism, old/new, contrast, and shapes.

[Craigie]

Two nice shots Arno, #1 for me.

[joebranko]

The glitter on the water in #1 overwhelmed the image whereas in #2 it is more subdued and IMHO better.