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I attach a photo that I took while on holiday with my Wife on an Alaskan Cruise. The original shot included a frame as I took it through the cabin window of a whale watching boat we were on. I used a digital camera Kodak DX 4530. I am seeking any comments good or bad,but particularly, whether the buoy should be more centrally located.
I attach a photo that I took while on holiday with my Wife on an Alaskan Cruise. The original shot included a frame as I took it through the cabin window of a whale watching boat we were on. I used a digital camera Kodak DX 4530. I am seeking any comments good or bad,but particularly, whether the buoy should be more centrally located.
Hi billbirchall,
In terms of image quality, your photo needs some corrections in terms of noise and contrast, but that is something that is not of your main concern so much as I understood from your posting.
As far as the buoy is concerned, personally I think it shouldn't be so much centrally located for the simple reasons that are:
Object centrally located: shows mostly intention of capturing a given object.
Object not centrally located: shows mostly intention of capturing a given moment.
These are the two basic rules (you can call it "my own rules" or whatever) I follow on my photos according to what I want to do and capture.
So your photo in terms of capturing an object is OK. Personally I would like the buoy not centralized since from what you wrote you describe a given moment on an Alaskan Cruise boat, so I believe the moment and what you see from traveling with boat as it passes by, matters mostly to you than the buoy as an individual object.
And actually it is like this since there is generally nice scenery around.
This is only my opinion as composition is very subjective .
I feel uncomfortable with the main subject smack in the center unless it dominates the scene .
In your case i would have took several including a portrait shot , but my choice would be to put the bouy on the left hand side and let more of the mountain range show .
Horizons are another talking point again most reckon the rule of thirds applies , but i've no objection to horizons centered providing both the foreground and sky are of equal importance .
You should get a few very different opinions on this though , and who knows whats right or wrong , beauty is in the eye of the beholder and never more so than a personal photograph .
When you say you took it through a window - was that an open window or did you take it through the glass? I ask becuase there is a funny sort of painted effect on the mountains - a lack of contrast I suppose but nice all the same.
About the buoy I would have put it on one of the two bottom thirds intersections
Overall though I love the picture - its fresh, vibrant and has an invigorating feel about it and the red of the buoy is striking in its contrast to the blues and whites of the rest of the picture and its also good that you got the broken up reflection of the buoy completely in the picture.
"My own suspicion is that the universe is not only stranger than we suppose, but stranger than we can suppose."
--John Haldane
In terms of image quality, your photo needs some corrections in terms of noise and contrast, but that is something that is not of your main concern so much as I understood from your posting.
As far as the buoy is concerned, personally I think it shouldn't be so much centrally located for the simple reasons that are:
Object centrally located: shows mostly intention of capturing a given object.
Object not centrally located: shows mostly intention of capturing a given moment.
These are the two basic rules (you can call it "my own rules" or whatever) I follow on my photos according to what I want to do and capture.
So your photo in terms of capturing an object is OK. Personally I would like the buoy not centralized since from what you wrote you describe a given moment on an Alaskan Cruise boat, so I believe the moment and what you see from traveling with boat as it passes by, matters mostly to you than the buoy as an individual object.
And actually it is like this since there is generally nice scenery around.
Archangel/bigbob/spl
Thanks for the comments they were most helpful. However, could you please tell me what 'noise' is and what needs to be done with the contrast? Do I increase or decrease it? Also, no I did not take it through the glass as the window was open.
I attach a photo that I took while on holiday with my Wife on an Alaskan Cruise. The original shot included a frame as I took it through the cabin window of a whale watching boat we were on. I used a digital camera Kodak DX 4530. I am seeking any comments good or bad,but particularly, whether the buoy should be more centrally located.
Hi.
Taking the comments into account, is this any better?
I keep wondering if the buoy is actually spoiling the photograph.
There is such a vivid contrast between buoy, the blues of the sky and water and the dark green of the forest, that I find it rather distracting.
I'd go along with what has been said regarding composition. The bouy is too central for my taste, and Archangel's take on it is an interesting and very valid one.
However the noise issue needs some clarification, as some misunderstanding may result in the wrong remedy. It seems to me that the noise mentioned is not colour noise caused by high ISOs etc, but rather is is Jpeg or compression artefacts that have crept in though over compression of the file or through repeated processing and resaving.
Do you have the original untouched and unprocessed file. If so try resizing this to about 800pixels wide and resaving at a very light level so you get a file about 200kb Compare it with the one you have posted and see if you can see a difference. The edited version is frankly much worse quality wise, and looks as though you may have used some noise reduction software, which I don't think it needed
Pops
I hear what you say but that was the view at the time I took the photo. The whole objective was to capture the seals and the vividly coloured buoy against the backdrop of the mountains.
Pops
I hear what you say but that was the view at the time I took the photo. The whole objective was to capture the seals and the vividly coloured buoy against the backdrop of the mountains.
Regards
Bill
Hi Bill, what a cracking scene - where was this? I'd love to have been there!
What everyone is saying regarding the centralisation of the main subject is covered by the so-called 'rule of thirds' - off-set your subject to on third of the length or width and, as I think you have found with your revised version, it transforms the composition. It's a trick used all the time - just watch some TV, a lot of the time the subject will be off-centre and deliberately so.
If I had a longer lens, I'd have zoomed in closer - you very probably had no control over the distance, which is understandable. A longer lens would have allowed a closer inspection of the seals and the buoy but without necessarily losing the fantastic vista of the mountainous backdrop.
Did you mention what camera it was? There is no exif data preserved in the image. I'd go with Stephen - the quality issues of the image seem to be down to over-aggressive processing of the image, probably after the picture was taken rather than by the camera.
Stephen
I do have the original, but have no idea how to do the resizing that you suggested.
Regards
Bill
OK Bill, its likely that you have some software, even that camewith the camera that will resize your image. Look for the command Image Size, Resize. A dialogue will appear no doubt which will allow you to input the dimensions. If possible do it in pixels and try for 800 wide, the height should alter automatically to compensate. Then resave, but use a different name, take care not to overwrite the original.
If you haven't got suitable software, there is a free one mentioned HERE
Given that this photo was taken with a Kodak DX 4530 (a 5MP camera model of 2003) with not some extinction for its image quality, I believe that the first image posted was an untouched straight out of the camera crop or a cropped image taken initialy at lower resolution (let's say of 3MP or 1.2MP).
There is some chroma noise in the first picture posted and some jpeg artifacts.
In the second image posted, there is some different croping and the buoy is not that much centered and some noise reduction has been applied from what I saw.
Though I'm surprised billbirchall that while you can crop different the photo (in the second posting) and apply some noise filtering, you don't know how to resize a picture.
Maybe if you can tell us the software you use we will be able to help you of how to do it.
Unless you want to post the full size photo.
But generally, I think you've got the meaning with the centralization of an object in the frame.
I attach a photo that I took while on holiday with my Wife on an Alaskan Cruise. The original shot included a frame as I took it through the cabin window of a whale watching boat we were on. I used a digital camera Kodak DX 4530. I am seeking any comments good or bad,but particularly, whether the buoy should be more centrally located.
Hi Bill,
A beautiful scene spoilt by the Buoy being central, it should be more to one side or not in at all, it does take your attention away from the rest of the image. I take it that the boat/ship was moveing?? you should have waited until the buoy was in the right place or out of shot. all is not lost though, it can be removed by post processing, perhaps a more experienced person can post some instructions. Love the scenery.
Hi Bill,
A beautiful scene spoilt by the Buoy being central, it should be more to one side or not in at all, it does take your attention away from the rest of the image. I take it that the boat/ship was moveing?? you should have waited until the buoy was in the right place or out of shot. all is not lost though, it can be removed by post processing, perhaps a more experienced person can post some instructions. Love the scenery.
Tinka, I got the feeling the buoy with the seals on it was what he was photographing. Remove it and he might just as well not taken the picture.
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