Interesting shot, I like the way the shadows lead me to the horizon. The one pole in the center of the net is somewhat bothersome though.
Paul,
Thanks for looking. I think the pole is actually part of the net. The nets were set up for a volleyball tournament on Clearwater Beach. The poles are used to see if the player touches the net. I may Photoshop it out and see how it looks. But after looking so many times on screen and seeing it in person I had not looked at it like you did.
Thanks,
Rob
For me it is a much cleaner image. I know it may have been a part of the game set up but I really think this works better.
Agreed.
Where are the players? It looks like a nice day, nicely captured in your image.
John,
It was 8 in the morning and the players in the tournament were not there yet.
Rob
Hi,
Very nice picture, I liked the shadows very much too.
Well, as for the pole, I think that since it is part of the net, it's not that good to take it off. I'm afraid to get used to remove everything that don't seem good in picture even if when it is part of the scenes. But it's only a personal opinion and I'm new to photography so I may change my mind in the future when I learn more.
Yes! I would even remove the bouy on the right and the other pole on the left in the water. That is just me though. The net and the shadows are the subject and anything else distracts. I'm also wondering if the horizon could use just a slight counterclockwise adjustment, and on my screen both left and right corners of the sky look a bit uneven which may or may not be the way it was, but to add to the tranquillity of the scence I would try to smooth them out to blend with the rest of the sky. The dark spots top left are what bother me the most, but like I say it might be my screen, and it also might be the way you prefer it.
Nice shot and good on you for being there early.
Wendy
Another thing to think about with an image like this, Rob, is whether you should get the whole of the subject in the frame. The nearest pole supporting the net runs out of the frame at the bottom.
If you had taken a couple of steps back (or if you cropped it you might still have it) what difference would it have made to the image if the bottom of the pole had been in shot?
ps - I also agree with Wendy about the need for a slight rotation to get the horizon level.
Now see how nice that looks! Nice pic, sometimes less is more.
Hi Rob, I think this is a big improvement, in this case I think less is more really works. Of course the opinion that matters most is yours, what do you think? For me this was a good lesson in how attention to a few little details can make a big difference. Thanks for posting
Wendy
I'd just echo what Wendy said.
Once you've got yourself a good pic, it's the attention to detail that turns it into a very good one.
You did well to keep your shadow out of the image
Ken,
I do have a couple that you can clearly see my shadow in, but in this one I did a pretty good job of hiding my self. You can see the out line of my head and one shoulder if you look between the shadows of the 2 palm trees closest to the net.
Thanks for looking.
Rob