Wine on the Beach - Maldives

[TheBigE]

We recently returned from a super relaxing vacation in the Maldives. I spent nearly 10+ hours expolring the underwater world in this area - simply amazing. But I digress.

We had a sunset cocktail hour on the beach - with the tables of wine and drinks out in the ocean. I grabbed my camera and took this using my 70-300mm lens. I am still trying to figure out which one I like better...the more I look at them, I am preferable to the second image. As a note the name of the resort is Kurumba.

Image #1

ISO 400, f/4.5. 1/3200 sec at 98mm with Nikon D7200 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6
PP: Basic color boost in PS, level the horizon and dodging and burning on the sign in the background.


Image #2

ISO400, f/16, 1/250s at 75mm at 98mm with Nikon D7200 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6
PP: Some Luminosity Masking on Sky to bring in some contrast on clouds, basic LR adjustments, dodging and burning the wine and Orton Effect on background.


Unfortunately the table is not level but the Horizon is in these photos - so that is bothering me a bit. Not sure if I can fix this without some major work in PS. It was just the nature of the way it was positioned on the water.

Any and all C&C is appreciated.

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, I like the second one but the first places the setting in its setting.

[Mike Buckley]

It's great to get beyond your comfort zone and to try thinking out of the box, and that's probably what was happening in the first one. However, it's extremely unusual that a composition will work when such a large area of the image is in the foreground and out of focus. So, it's no surprise that the first image is not at all successful for me in that regard.

The second one works really well for me on all accounts. That includes the position of the table, which is tilted so much that it looks natural to me rather than a post-processing mistake. Excellent composition the way you juxtaposed the thing in the background (a set of swings?) with the two wine bottles.

[AG64]

I think #1 could work better if the table and wine was just filling the bottom right quarter of the frame. I'm not sure if you have any different perspectives that would enable that type of a crop. The out of focus elements are filling a bit too much of the frame for my taste, and distract from the water and sky.

[Wavelength]

Excellent display of shift of focus; well done

[TheBigE]

Thanks John, Mike, Arno and Nandakumar - I agree that the second image is better overall and I am happy the way it came out...I find the addition of the boat in the image helps really also bring it all together. The Wood structure in the background is in fact a swing. Finally the more I view the image the more I am becoming OK with the "titled" table.

The first image, while the Foreground is out of Focus is more of an "advertising" image and would hang on the wall of the resort. Much of the foreground is out of focus and this really challenges the eye and without context really does not help the composition.

Funny - I saw this scene and it was the one time I did not have on swimsuit during the vacation - I ran out into the water with my shorts and camera (No strap...)....not a big deal, other than I only had two pair. My wife looked at me finny, but I said trust me I see this photo on our wall...

[Mike Buckley]

I saw this scene and it was the one time I did not have on swimsuit during the vacation - I ran out into the water with my shorts and camera (No strap...)....not a big deal, other than I only had two pair. My wife looked at me finny, but I said trust me I see this photo on our wall...

Cute story!

[bnnrcn]

Second image looks nice and inviting