Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

[StuartR]

As the sun was shining for a change we went to Mersea Island this afternoon for some fresh sea air - the first of 2007.

It was bright & cold so 'er indoors and the MIL stayed in the car while I went for a short stroll and took a few pics. Thought I'd use the polarising filter for a change which really helped the sky - although I did tweak things a bit in PS afterwards.

I've always thought composition was one of my many (photographic) failings - what do you think?

[Pops]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

Wow I got to one first
Gonna stick my neck out here Stuart and say that all three have to much sky for me.
The last one in particular I feel only needs a quarter of what you have. The boat in the foreground is the main point of focus and it gets kind of lost with all that sky showing. Just scroll it up a bit to see what I mean.

[Autumn]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

No. 1 - I don't mind this amount of sky on this occasion because it is so interesting (perhaps a bit of a crop would focus your eye on the boat more). Re composition, I think the boat could be a little more to the right for my eye. It is well lit and quite a pleasant picture.

No. 2 - The only thing I am not keen on is the triangle of causeway, bottom right. Other than stand on the beach to take the photograph, I don't know how it could be eliminated and still keep the composition, which I like.

No. 3 - I don't think the red boat is lit enough. It should be more like the half boat on the left. I would remove the contrails as they spoil the cloudy sky and my eyes are drawn to the diaganol line.

On the whole a pleasant set of images for a day out. Looks as though you had a good day.

Happy New Year to you.

[Cam]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

I got rid of that white dot in #2. I take it was something on your sensor or lens.....

Nice pictures by the way.

[Josh Bear]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

The first two work for me. The sky is very interesting and in fact the picture may work without the boat in the foreground.

I like the composition. Also try converting to B&W and applying a colour filter (e.g. red) you might get very interesting results.

Best Regards

Josh

[guymclaren]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

I like, The sky makes them.

[LesleyO]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

There's no problem with the amount of sky in your photos; it's a good sky with interesting clouds, and suited to the images. However, the third shot is not level, and leaves the impression that the water is running out of the left side of the photo. If you use the right side of the brown shed on the far shore to get your vertical set properly, you will see the difference.

LesleyO

[coupekid]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

As the sun was shining for a change we went to Mersea Island this afternoon for some fresh sea air - the first of 2007.

It was bright & cold so 'er indoors and the MIL stayed in the car while I went for a short stroll and took a few pics. Thought I'd use the polarising filter for a change which really helped the sky - although I did tweak things a bit in PS afterwards.

I've always thought composition was one of my many (photographic) failings - what do you think?

Some super shots there stuart!

The first one works well, but agree with what some have said about a little too much sky.

I like the second one, however, I do feel a little more space on the right is required to balance the boat.

The third one is the best in my humble, however, its a shame about the 'half boat' on the left, would have been good to have all or nothing.

[Tinka]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

Hi Stuart,
I like these images especially the first two, the same image but portrait minus shed, and landscape, I like the sky and cloud formations, the third image is spoilt by the half boat on the left. number two is number one for me.

[StuartR]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

Thanks for the replies peeps.

I just couldn't bring myself to crop the sky in No. 1! Shame the boat is so central though - I could have fixed that by moving a couple of feet to the left.

No. 2 is my favourite - mainly because I think I've got the "rule of thirds" right for a change? I hadn't spotted the white spot - it's gone on the original now. Looks like it could be a dead pixel on the sensor so I'll do some test shots to check that (not that there's much I can do about it if it is ). This one will probably look OK in mono so I'll try that later. Agree it's a shame about the empty concrete on the right - there were some colourful fishing nets round behind the shed (actually a cold-store I think), perhaps I should have moved them round to the front

No. 3 - shame about the half a boat - I agree and I could have fixed that easily by moving a bit to the left. The horizon is too central as well. I should have shot from a lower angle perhaps? - more boat, less sky. I think the picture being wonky is an optical illusion - see attached. I'm not saying it's perfect mind, but it's not that far off.

[StuartR]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk (Monos)

A few monos...I did warn you they were coming!...the first using DXO the others using the excellent Virtual Photographer plug-in (download it from http://www.optikvervelabs.com/ be warned though, you will spend HOURS playing with it - I blame the regulars on this forum who keep posting the links ).

Final pic was an attempt to rescue a fairly boring shot - not sure I should have bothered but, as I did...

[Tinka]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk (Monos)

Hi,
I like your mono images, your certainly getting the hang of coverting, love the last one with the colored nets.

[Bearface]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

Stuart, the best of these (for me) is the second one of the original three. It's nicely balanced and it's a good, honest, unpretentious photograph with a clean, wholesome feel to it.

The mono conversions are a tad severe for my tastes, and there are elements in the highlights which have burnt out in the conversion processes. As for the selective toning (mixing colour and mono), well it's not my thing either, I'm afraid. Seems perfectly well done however

Just keep your eye on the hot pixel (someone mentioned the white spot earlier). Sometimes they're intermittent problems, but often they're not. Just get used to cloning it out in areas where it's easily visible

[StuartR]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

I think it could be a seagull? At least I hope it is! I'll do some tests at the weekend.

[Bearface]

Re: Mersea Island - New Years Day walk

I think it could be a seagull? At least I hope it is! I'll do some tests at the weekend.

It looks like the giant white apostrophe that has been spotted by keen punctuation enthusiasts, hurtling through the skies around the coastlines of the UK and Ireland. Apparently they aren't dangerous as individuals, but in pairs they have been known to surround their victims and alter the very context of their existences..........scary stuff

The one in your shot looks like a closing apostrophe - they're a rare sight in that area