Morning at the Marina

[dje]

I took this shot a couple of days ago at the Manly Boat Harbour in Brisbane, at sunrise. It was a beautiful morning and it was most enjoyable - standing behind the tripod watching the light change, and exchanging pleasantries with the early morning walkers. I used a 3 stop GND hard grad filter with this shot. I'd welcome your views and suggestions for improvement.

Dave.

PS : Click on image for best viewing.

[enaiman]

Do you want to improve THAT?

It is absolutely beautiful Dave, no chance of improvement

[Donald]

Do you want to improve THAT?

I'd just settle for that original as well. Super bit of work, Dave.

[gregj1763]

Ditto the other comments Dave. Thats a keeper.
Well done.

[Kchen]

Superb shot!

[JohnnyG]

Not sure I wouldn't have pulled the filter up just a bit more to to let some of the more natural horizon light show through...but having been there and done that, I know how hard it is to do in the time frame of three or four minutes of perfect light. I use the DOF button on the camera to determine filter location, though have to admit I am still a bit of a hack using the Lee filters.

[Geoff F]

I'm just wondering, Dave, if a slight crop of the bottom and left side would have even more impact. Not really sure though, so just a thought.

[Momo]

I think it's a great shot. At the same time, I wonder what it would look like if you used something like a 9 stop ND filter to smooth out the water texture. I have one showing up on my doorstep today... so, hopefully I will be able to experiment with this type of shot soon.

Nicely done...

[dje]

Thanks everybody for your comments. Much appreciated.

Johnny it is difficult to position the filter and I must try that trick with the DOF button.

Darren I dont have any ND filters, but in this case I might be concerned with the long exposure causing some blurring of the boat masts due to movement.

Geoff here is a crop as you suggest. I think it does improve the composition.

Dave

[CougarFool]

I prefer the cropped version: the image is much tighter and works better. Excellent picture.

(Sorry, I haven't had much time to comment on people's pictures recently.)

[dje]

Thanks Nigel.

Dave

[Geoff F]

That crop, Dave, is exactly as I imagined the scene.

I think having less foreground 'tightens up' the scene and appears to improve the perspective.

[dje]

That crop, Dave, is exactly as I imagined the scene.

I think having less foreground 'tightens up' the scene and appears to improve the perspective.

Geoff you have a very good eye for composition IMO.

Dave

PS : Isn't it wonderful how digital photography gives you the opportunity to play with crops to improve composition, providing your original gives you the right options.

[acsky]

Dave

The second crops works well, but mainly because the original was excellent! Very well done.

And I agree completely with your last comment. Sometimes it is possible to create very different images coming from a single original picture. One of the reasons one can spend a lot of time playing with the same image trying different options.

Toño

[dje]

Dave

The second crops works well, but mainly because the original was excellent! Very well done.

And I agree completely with your last comment. Sometimes it is possible to create very different images coming from a single original picture. One of the reasons one can spend a lot of time playing with the same image trying different options.

Toño

Thanks Toño