Three Boats

[bugster0121]

This is twilight at a state park here in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA. A pro (I am still a wanna be) was with me at the time and had a different perspective from 25 feet away and down in the grass further. He and I both like this better which I discovered on my own. C&C is always welcome and encouraged. Captured with my 60d and 24-105 lens at f8, 1.3 seconds ISO 100.

[mugge]

I like your picture. For some reason I just want to 'unbalance' the composition a bit. Maybe eliminating the tree on the right.
That is only my opinion.
Cheers Ole

[Rebel]

Nice scene Tim, I wouldn't eliminate the tree on the right as it frames the scene nicely!

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, nice lines that move my gaze around the composition.

[bugster0121]

Thank you very much Ole. I agree with Matt that the tree on the right helps the overall framing. Thanks Matt and John

[Geoff F]

I can see what Ole means about the tree because being at that angle it does tend to lead the viewer out of the fame and away from the main subject material.

Not a lot of options though. I suppose you could try a very slight crop from the top and right side to reduce that effect.

Alternatively, rename the image something like 'Sunset Trees' and leave everything as it is now.

[bnnrcn]

Lovely colors

[bugster0121]

Thanks Geoff. Great food for thought. One of the many reasons I really like this forum. Thank you Binnur.

[rawill]

I like this this image, love the colours,
Maybe the trees do frame the scence as others have said.

I would like the "frame" to be less.
Some time ago I took some with a "big frame" I have decided less is more.
And I ask myself what is the "hero" in the scene.
The title is "Three Boats"
Maybe because of the "frame" I had to look for the boats, my eye was drawn to the frame.
I don't think that is what you intended.

Like mugge I would try taking out the tree on the right, and a bit of the foliage from the top.
Then I would have a think and decide which I liked the most.

But like I said, I really like the image.

[Wandjina]

I'm with the "croppers" on this one. It is a great photo, great colours, however I think the foreground frame dominates the photo a little too much. I'd crop out a little of the water at the bottom of the photo and the trunk of the tree on the right. It might help to "lighten" the feel of the photo a little bit.

[MrB]

I agree with the comments in posts #9 and #10. The tree trunk and the bright triangle of water that it creates in the corner of the frame are such bold elements, that they combine to be a strong distraction from the intended subject. I would prefer Martin's crop, and perhaps with even more off the top. (The crop also benefits the enjoyment of the image by removing the intrusive watermark.)

Cheers.
Philip

[bugster0121]

Thanks you also Martin & Philip. I was wondering about black and white so I uploaded an original b&w as well as the suggested smaller crops in both b&w and color. I was experimenting with some lightroom presets and used the selenium filter as the base then tweaked a couple other settings.

Thank you all again.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Tim Although the crop works fine for the color version, IMO uncropped version looks better for the B&W.

[bugster0121]

Hi Binnur:

Thanks again. Most prefer the color version and its about 50/50 when I show a few people the crop but the color wins universally. Now if Donald were to render it they would probably take his . Been experimenting with B&W and need to really improve my renderings.

[FootLoose]

You have captured some beautiful colours in the sunset and its reflection on the water. Converting to B&W loses that, obviously, and alters the nature of the scene.