Leigh-on-Sea

[The Analog Kid]

First photo post on here. Taken earlier this year on a bitterly cold day. I chose square format but would welcome any thoughts on possible improvements......

[Richard]

You have certainly captured the feeling of a cold day so well done. As for the format, you probably tried a few before you were happy with the square - which does work. I would have probably given it a tall vertical format to enhance the feeling of distance across the mud flats. Either way an interesting composition.

Richard.

[taken]

a cold day! well i see the sun shining brightly so i feel quite warm looking at ur pic! the boats are too tiny to be of any interest to a viewer,foreground water pattern,texture,design,etc are watchablebut not interesting enough to keep me glued! the tone, the sepia effect is the wonder point in your pic,that creating all the interest,all around

[shreds]

It is many years since I was there, but that shot really does sum up the heavy mud flats of the Essex coastline. (I presume thats where it is?)

The opportunities for capturing this sort of light are legion, and I would love to spend days between the tides capturing the essence of this area of Essex. However for me it is a long way away....

Square formats have been seemingly out of vogue for a while, but in a number of exhibitions and competitions they seem to be making a comeback. Whether it works best here will depend on the viewer, as it is very subjective. I can certainly see where Richard is coming from as the boat seems to 'stretch' the shot upwards

[crisscross]

First photo post on here. Taken earlier this year on a bitterly cold day. I chose square format but would welcome any thoughts on possible improvements......

As folks say, got the atmosphere, got the makings of strong focal features....but

(a) I think the square crop from what looks like a wide-angle lens shot is not too clever, I could manage with just the top 2/3 back as a landscape (though often do use square, nothing against it in principle)

(b) the colour is not coming through convincingly at my end - if the sky pink is real, there should surely be something of it reflected in the foreground pools? It seems to be screaming to be made into a monochrome very lightly tinted to maintain the cold feel.

Generalising a bit from the particular shot, but if you do go monochrome, you should find a set of colour filters in the software you use that will also bring out the contrasts you want and, if it originated RAW, it is also worth playing with the colour temperature to perform a similar, but not identical, role even though you are not ending up coloured

[shreds]

Crisscross,

You have just made me realise why I have such an affinity for this shot, I have a framed print taken years ago of fisherman on The Gambia River, similarly taken into the sun.

I loved the effect of using a colour transparency film, not monochrome and the subtlety of the colour so imparted really does set it apart from a monochrome one, even though I could easily have had it printed in B&W.

All personal taste I suppose (and that shot has been sat on my wall for eighteen years, so it must be right for me!).

[crisscross]

Crisscross,

You have just made me realise why I have such an affinity for this shot, I have a framed print taken years ago of fisherman on The Gambia River, similarly taken into the sun.

I loved the effect of using a colour transparency film, not monochrome and the subtlety of the colour so imparted really does set it apart from a monochrome one, even though I could easily have had it printed in B&W.

All personal taste I suppose (and that shot has been sat on my wall for eighteen years, so it must be right for me!).

Very much re-inforces something I have just put in another thread 'what makes a good photograph'!!!

Chris

[The Analog Kid]

Thanks guys - I appreciate your comments.

The day was bitterly cold (as January tends to be on the Thames estuary as it hits the sea at Leigh - despite the brilliant sunshine). This isn't a monochrome or sepia-tned shot, it's a colour shot - admittedly taken with the benefit of a 3-stop graduated ND filter to ensure some detail in the sky. That said, the attraction for me was the monochrome 'effect' which reduces the shot to the basics of light, shape and texture without the added 'complication' of colour.

I chose the square format as I had been toying with the idea of buying a 6x6 film camera. I'd used one extensively when I did semi-pro wedding shots (friends, family and friends of family only....) many moons ago and I really love the square format. Much under-used and yet extremely versatile. This let me see what a 6x6 might look like. I now have a nice Bronica SQ-B and some lenses......

Thankfully, my D300 has what Nikon calls 'active d-lighting' which stops clipping of the extremes of brightness and shadows, so taking and processing this sort of shot is a bit easier than a wet print version would have been from a negative.

Anyway, thanks again. Paul.