Fish 'n Chips Photo

Photographer’s Note

I stopped my car on the spur of the moment one evening in late winter - it was relatively mild, about 18 degrees I suppose, which brought many to the beaches for evening activity - to take some shots of the setting sun behind the St Kilda pier. I saw this young couple eating 'Fish 'n chips' out of the traditional paper, occasionally throwing a chip to the frenzied gulls. Behind them you can see the pier and the new kiosk, built to emulate the very old one destroyed by fire a few years ago.

I realise the positioning of the couple and birds in the comoposition is not ideal, but I think I must have been too preoccupied fiddling with the exposure details to worry about that! I tried to expose the shot to keep as much detail as possible at the bottom of the shot, in the sand and the figures, and later darkened the sky a little in PP.

To those who always wax lyrical - here in Australia anyway - about the sunsets in Bali, I always say they are as good as anywhere in the world right here in Melbourne, looking over to the west of Port Phillip Bay.

By the way, if you don't know what 'fish 'n chips' are, imagine a large piece of 'Flake' (shark flesh - really quite a nice fish to eat) doused in a thick, gelatinous batter of eggs, flour and water (far more than is good for you) and cooked in a large vat of oil that may be several days old. This is served with frozen ready-made potato chips cooked in the same oil, and the whole lot wrapped in white butchers' paper. A real gourmet version might include a slice of lemon and a sachet of mass produced tartare sauce. A vast amount of salt is included. A delicious, heart-stopping meal, that.

Dinyar, gypsygirl58, branley, ChrisJ, pasternak, deblink, Lisas_world, thaprem, papagolf21, Cretense, prezntime, pranab, nbj, chrisnet, bostankorkulugu has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Dinyar (704) 2006-11-12 2:46

You captured the mood very well.
However the over-exposed sun spoils it a bit.
If you had cropped out some of the top it would have looked perfect.

robertosalguero (110) 2006-11-12 2:49

Nice capture of this sunset. There is some overexposure but that is not really a problem as the image is really nice and colorful. The mood of the picture is almost warm and sensual. Nice work Andrew.

Roberto

gypsygirl58 (1329) 2006-11-12 2:53

Hi Andrew,
I like this shot, brings back memories of fish and chips on the beach as a child! Yumm!! Still love them. Good composition with the jetty across the pic and the couple on the beach add interest. I love the sky and I agree our sunsets are just as good as anywhere else if not better!! I don't mind the blown out bit at the top of the pic either. Well done and TFS :-)
Cheers Tina

ChrisJ (71614) 2006-11-12 4:25

Hi Andrew

Wonderful silhouettes of the gulls against the warm evening light & sunset. Fantastic colour & sharpness. Tfs!

daddo (11961) 2006-11-12 5:11

Hi Andrew. Now this is your Delacroix, your Turner, your van Gogh. What wonderful colours, so wildly applied. I love the contrasting colours of the sky and the liquidy mercury of the water. Lovely silhouettes. Amongst your best. Regards. Klaudio

branley (3681) 2006-11-12 7:07

Hi Andrew,

great shot and a great note....heart stopping indeed but delicious all the same. I think you've got this about right, a bit of over exposure never hurt anyone; the sky is wonderful, I like the lamp and the tree on the left, (the lamp looks like it has the reflection of the sky) the almost silhouetted pier stands out very well, I think the positioning of the people and the birds are ok and the bit of water leads us out into the open sea to....who knows where? A lovely composition and well seen.

Have a great Sunday Andrew.

Regards

Stephen

jasmis (52354) 2006-11-12 8:59

Amazing compo with birds, lamp and two silhouettes siiting down. Marvelous colours. Interesting note, too.

jtclee77 (466) 2006-11-12 12:36

Interesting title for your picture. Really nice colours you captured here. Great evening shot. Nice use of the lamppost to add to the foreground interest (you even got the lighted lamp bulb) as well as great sillouhettes of the birds flying down to eat the "fish and chips" :).

TFS with us this great shot.
Jon

Guillem69 (4) 2006-11-12 15:08

Not original image but well done sunset shot, high contrast and nice brightness on the sea

pasternak (14191) 2006-11-12 17:29

Hi Andrew, the sunset colours are fantastic, although the sky is slightly overexposed, and I really like the two birds, pier silouettes and especially the lantern and you could even poke a tree into the frame on the left! The couple is unfortunately in the shadow, and also not too dark for a "real" silouette, so they can't make for a real subject here in my view...

Cheers
Alexander

deblink (2548) 2006-11-12 22:02

Hi Andrew,
This is a glorious sunset; no it doesn't matter where they are they can always be spectacular. I like the silhouettes of the seagulls and the pier. Don't know much about over-exposure so to me it just looks great. Thank you so much for sharing.
Cheers,
Debbie

Lisas_world (1186) 2006-11-13 7:24

Great evening shot, Andrew. I note the valiant effort of that street lamp to throw off some light. The composition subject is engaging even if the compo is slightly (just slightly) less than ideal. I love how the water seems to emit its own strange light at the end of a day.

Funny how sunsets are thought to be cliche, but we never get tired of sitting and watching them. Nice one.

Regards,
Lisa

thaprem (2508) 2006-11-14 6:31

Andrew,
A fantastic moment, well caught in spell of the time...
The sea gulls add the pegging note to this shot..
Fantastically done.
Cheers,
Prem.

papagolf21 (57785) 2006-11-15 4:26

Bonjour Andrew,
J'aime beaucoup cette composition où tous les ingrédients sont réunis pour rendre à cette image une forme de poésie. Le cadrage est excellent et met bien en valeur cet instantané moment de bonheur.
Bravo !
Amitiés.
Philippe

Cretense (58913) 2006-11-15 7:54

Hi Andrew!

Very impressive photo! The composition is perfect. You have put the horizon in the right place. Great detail the people on the lower part. The sky and the clouds are very impressive. I am just asking my self, why the sea has this much "cooler" colour than the sky. Besides that an excellent job!

Best regards,
Hercules

prezntime (3945) 2006-11-15 11:28

Hello Andrew.
What a stunning light you have captured. I don't believe the gulls and people are incorrectly placed...it is a true perspective. It is nice to see the "two" couples enjoying the heart-attack in paper! 8?}
Good placement of the silhouettes and the lamp is a bonus feature here.
Well done,
Chris.

fabEarth (253) 2006-11-16 3:22

Nice shoot, good POV ! The sky is very great

isabib (1951) 2006-11-17 18:41

Hi Andrew,

Great composition and well done on this shot of the sunset. The people and the birds gives life into it. TFS!

pranab (5354) 2006-11-20 3:35

andrew,
a heart stopping(!!) meal, aptly said and that's my favorite meal.
good composition with the color and the silhoueted effect. inclusion of the couple and teh sea gulls does not disturb the composition at all. it actually adds some life into it. well done.
ps: a student of mine just moved to melbourne few days ago.

nbj (1892) 2006-11-25 8:45

what a fantastic scenery! lots of atmosphere and beautiful colors.

izmirli (3425) 2006-11-26 0:21

merhaba dear andrew
very good lovely picture.beautiful composition and colours.well done.
best regards.
gürkan akçakır.

ahmetgedikli (22649) 2006-11-26 2:51

Hi Andrew,
Very nice view of this place.
I like the colors, lighting and silhouettes.
Well done.
Have a nice sunday.
Ahmet

chrisnet (20378) 2006-11-26 4:01

Hello Andrew,
What a amazing sky! The birds and the two silhouettes are well seen, great atmosphere here, I like it.
Regards
Christian

lorak (227) 2006-12-03 4:33

Hi,
Well-composed, good, sharp picture. I like the birds and beautiful sky.
Greetings!

Elaine_Blath (6374) 2006-12-14 13:45

Hi Andrew,

I really like this one...I haven´t seen for quite a long such a well captured sunset, with the atmosphere of quiet evening...and the inclusion of people adds to it very well!

Take care, Ivana

bostankorkulugu (34562) 2007-01-27 4:07

a poetic shot... magical atmosphere... congrats andrew...

best regards

korkut:)