Island Harbour,Gordons Bay

[Neilmac50]

Taken this morning about an hour after sunrise,ISO 200,f/5.0,1/640 second,processed in Lightroom then Nik Special Efex Pro 3.

[Donald]

Neil.

The light is gorgeous. I think the composition is maybe a bit busy, with many competing elements sort of overlapping each other.

[AB26]

Hi Neil,

I am going to be very frank.

What Donald means is the boat in the foreground is spoiling the image. You should either have captured the boat or the building on the island.

When you look at a scene see if you can see a picture in it. Do not just look at a scene, SEE what is in it and what would make a picture. Try to visualize the end result. Look at a scene and imagine you are looking trough the viewfinder. Draw four viewfinder lines around the scene in your imagination.

I would strongly recommend you to put aside the software and attempt using your camera to get the image as close to what you want by adjusting camera settings. You got the camera, use it Neil. The D3 can do it all for you without resorting to software. You should only use the software to “enhance” an image.

Learn to use the WB, contrast and colour rendition in camera. You will be amazed by the results you can get straight out of camera with a D3. Shoot only in JPG forcing yourself to get to know how to do adjustments in camera. Shooting RAW and working the images in Lightroom and Efex Pro is not going to teach you how to use that magnificent pièce of camera equipment of yours.

The more you use the camera the beter you will get with it. Do not try to save shutter actions, shoot in all modes testing each and experimenting with different options.

Neil, a little challenge for you: the Cape sunsets are magnificent, go out and see if you can capture a sunset in full manual mode. Do WB settings in Kelvin temp. and see what results you are getting.
With the sun as low as it was in this image there should be a tint of warmth in the sky and on most white surfaces. You should not get a clinical white when the sun is that low. Look at the colour of the water it is sewage green and not see green.

You got a camera many of us can only dream of, use it to its full potential, doing less PP and more shooting with the features the camera offers. It only gets beter the more you practice and experiment.