Footsteps on the beach

[BrianA61]

My trip to Vietnam started with a scooter ride through the countryside with my wife's nephew and one of my friends. First stop was the local beach. We were the only ones on the entire beach. Walking back to the scooters, I lagged back and was able to capture this scene. Color version was nice but the conversion to b&w was better at bringing out the details of the footprints and sand. How did I do?

[wilgk]

I like it Brian,
I particularly like the interplay of the various lines, the lines in the sand, the footprints in the sand & the shadows of the people.
For me the trees and sky are a wee bit distracting & I find myself wondering about the result of you were a little to the right.
That aside for me well worth your time & I look forward to seeing other images from your trip.

[Donald]

For me the trees and sky are a wee bit distracting

I agree. If you scroll the page to put the trees etc out of sight (I know you remove the heads of the people), I think you have a much stronger image in which attention is more focussed on the lines, footprints and shadows on the sand. This is a classic example of everything in the frame contributes to the image and the need to make sure that everything that's in the frame has a purpose in terms of making the image.

[DanK]

It's a good image, quite engrossing.

I'm of two minds about the crop. I do wonder about how it would look to have headless bodies at the border. As a compromise, I cropped a bit. This one isn't clear to me.

However, I do have two other suggestions. First, I would crop quite a bit from the sides, for three reasons: it's off center, there's distracting detail on the right, and there is negative space on the left that doesn't contribute. Second, while this is just a matter of personal taste, the strong sepia tint doesn't work for me. Cropping a bit from the top, more from the sides, and removing the tint yields this:

[Manfred M]

+1 to what Kay, Donald and Dan have written. Had you been on higher ground and shot down to eliminate the background, this would have been an even stronger shot.

Ansel Adams had his vehicle equipped with a roof-top shooting platform just so that he could get up higher to get the shot and the change of perspective that this gave him. I know a former wedding photographer who had a truck with a large step ladder just to be able to get up higher and shoot down on his subjects.





This is an older shot and while it is not great, I've always liked it because of the simplicity of the sheep and their footprints on a beach.




I also like Dan's "pure" B&W version. The sepia tone you used doesn't have the same tonal range as a pure B&W.

[Donald]

I know a former wedding photographer who had a truck with a large step ladder just to be able to get up higher and shoot down on his subjects.

Indeed, Manfred. A lot of professionals and enthusiatic amatuer photographers list a step ladder as an essential part of their kit.

And that too illustrates a point relevant to Brian's image. He is on holiday in a foreign country. He's not expected to carry a step ladder around with him. BUT if we want to get a strong image as opposed to a good holiday image, we need to adopt a different mindset. Brian has a good holiday picture. But it is not a strong art image because of the distractions that are not lending anything to the image. It's one of the dilemmas of going on holiday/vacation. Are you going to hopefully great photographs that will make great images, or are you going to have a holiday/vacation with a partner in tow who may not be interested in your photography

[Manfred M]

Indeed, Manfred. A lot of professionals and enthusiatic amatuer photographers list a step ladder as an essential part of their kit.

And that too illustrates a point relevant to Brian's image. He is on holiday in a foreign country. He's not expected to carry a step ladder around with him. BUT if we want to get a strong image as opposed to a good holiday image, we need to adopt a different mindset. Brian has a good holiday picture. But it is not a strong art image because of the distractions that are not lending anything to the image. It's one of the dilemmas of going on holiday/vacation. Are you going to hopefully great photographs that will make great images, or are you going to have a holiday/vacation with a partner in tow who may not be interested in your photography

True Donald. A person on a step ladder with a camera on a beach is bound to get some unwanted attention. On the other hand, if there is a high spot, looking down, that would probably work.

[DanK]

It looks like the trees are very far away, so it would have taken a very big increase in elevation to remove the sky.

[Geoff F]

I wonder about cropping the sides to produce a 4 x 5 ratio and lose the side distractions? The pure black & white of Dan's version looks better to me than the original rather sepia tone.

[BrianA61]

Thanks for all the feedback. After reading everyone's take on the image, I might revisit this and do some cropping to better focus on what I was trying to get across. On my trip, I was actually trying to do both in getting meaningful and sometimes art worthy photos as well as just capturing personal memories. Maybe difficult to do both, but, I think some of the shots did both. I first looked at the photo in just the plain greyscale tones and it came across to me as a little too cold looking. Adding the sepia, albeit a little strong, seemed to be a little more appealing. I seem to always have the desire to add a little warmth to b&w conversions but maybe that's just me. Thanks to all with the feedback. It really helps me see things from multiple perspectives and improves my skills. That's why I love this site.

[Wandjina]

And that too illustrates a point relevant to Brian's image. He is on holiday in a foreign country. He's not expected to carry a step ladder around with him. BUT if we want to get a strong image as opposed to a good holiday image, we need to adopt a different mindset. Brian has a good holiday picture. But it is not a strong art image because of the distractions that are not lending anything to the image. It's one of the dilemmas of going on holiday/vacation. Are you going to hopefully great photographs that will make great images, or are you going to have a holiday/vacation with a partner in tow who may not be interested in your photography

Dragging as step ladder around while on vacation is not something I would do. But sometimes, everything falls into place and a holiday snap becomes a good strong image.

[FootLoose]

Brian, you would have had a pretty good image if you had focused only on the footprints in the sand. (You don't need a ladder for that ;-) ) Try an 8x10 portrait crop to include only the set of footprints on the left.

[MrB]

I would prefer to see the complete shadow on the left and correspondingly less of the image on the right. Regarding a more downward view to remove the background distractions - perhaps a situation where an articulated screen would be useful for an overhead live-view shot, and perhaps also a shorter focal length.

Philip