Red and Blue Umbrella

[Jim A]

Actually this started out as a way of finding out how to join two separate selections in Affinity Photo. However, I just kept going, experimenting and playing

Red and blue umbrella at Hamilton Gardens by Jim Air, on Flickr

[Shadowman]

It just floats.

[Manfred M]

But does it work?

Effectively your have a fountain, as one subject. It looks like it belongs in the image.

You have a second subject, the umbrella, that really does not seem to fit in the scene.

Images with more than one subject usually are not the strongest approach.

[Jim A]

Very good point Manfred. One of my two best performing images ever, features an umbrella against a great background. I suppose, that in some way, I was trying to replicate that with another interesting umbrella against another interesting background. Also I was learning primarily and to a lesser extent experimenting. Obviously, I have to go back to the drawing board. This also dashes my hopes of instead using a pair of gumboots, in the UK called Wellington Boots, and when I looked up on Wikipedia

"North America. Wellington boots, called rain boots, rubber boots, mucking boots, billy boots, galoshes or gum-boots, are popular in Canada and the United States, particularly in springtime when melting snows leave wet and muddy ground"


....... because it would be the same issue, the fountain is the primary point of interest.

[Manfred M]

Jim - what actually struck me more than the fountain was the lighting. An umbrella in that sunny situation looked a bit out of place.

That being said, I think the image could work as, but just not in the way you have arranged and taken this shot. Make the umbrella (and Wellington boots?) the subject and ensure that the other elements accentuate, rather than compete with your main subject. Even the sunny day could work as it would provide an odd counterpoint to the rain gear.

As an aside, I fully understand Wellington boots. My wife is English, so that term is well known around our house. Add Paddington Bear and we have a couple of well-known English cultural icons.

[Geoff F]

As well as Manfred's comments, the umbrella, left side of fountain and part of the background are in sharp focus but everything else is soft; which somehow seems to look strange.

[joebranko]

Maybe it's a parasol?