Autumn morning

Critiques [Translate]

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• sevy (5133)
• [2007-10-01 8:38]

Hello Paul,

Very nice light on this shot which could be B&W, but the yellow touchs bring also some interests.
The composition is equilibrated with the sun, the cliff and the isolated boat.
Very well done,

Yves.

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• AdrianW (2193)
• [2007-10-01 12:14]
• [2] [+]

Nice shot Paul! You've captured this fleeting moment well; perfect lighting, with the deep greys contrasting well with the burst of sunrays streaming through. The boat provides a lovely focal point for the composition :)

A few minor things pop out though; firstly this isn't quite as sharp as I might expect. If the original looks sharp at 100% then investigate Luko's excellent sharpening advice here. Part of it may be caused by the excessively narrow aperture you've used though; even at 70mm there's no need to use f/22 in a shot like this, assuming you focus on the boat f/8 may well do it; above ~f/11 diffraction sets in, and loses you sharpness, so try and avoid shooting fully stopped down. Shooting at f/11 also increases your shutter speed; which makes shooting handheld easier and more reliable.

There may be a slight tilt to the horizon; it's hard to say, as the shoreline probably does move towards us from left to right. Try rotating it ~0.5°CCW and see what you think there.

There's a bit of the sky burnt around the sun; it's impossible to really correct that in one shot, but if you shoot a bracket set (say +2, 0, -2) then merge to HDR with something like Photomatix then you could probably tame it a little. Similarly if you had time a graduated ND filter would provide an alternative; albeit a slower and less flexible one IMO.

Finally there seems to be a little solarization (visible colour steps) in the sky particularly in the sky above the rocks on the left left hand side. Not sure how that's come in; maybe you tweaked the histogram a couple of times in 8-bit? Always work in 16-bit until you've finished the editing process, and convert to 8-bit only when saving as JPEG.

Despite those minor suggestions; it's a very nicely executed shot :D

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• raquelsouto (27)
• [2007-10-01 12:33]

More than Stunning! I bet it felt wonderful after you captured this photo!

best regards,
Raquel

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• hello_ishan (1567)
• [2008-01-09 23:11]

Hi Paul,
Though the sky is little overcast but its effect on water is simply great. The boat in sparkling water & silhouettes of mountains in the background is looking beautiful. TFS.

RS

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• jafadabret (25798)
• [2008-01-16 5:26]
• - [workshop] [compare] [+]

Salut Paul.
C'est une très belle photo avec peu d'éléments mais bien composée. Elle souffre d'un manque de netteté et d'un manque de contraste. J'ai tenté un WS dans ce sens. Il faut souvent peu de choses pour améliorer une photo.
Jacques