Here are a couple of shots that I took while on vacation. My girlfriend really liked how they looked, now I'm wondering what you think. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. Please let me know what you like or dislike about them. I almost fogot, no editing done to either of these.

Thanks
Michael

Michael:

It's really hard when you know that people have viewed your post, but they don't take the time to answer. So, I'm going to jump in here and give you that curtesy.

I like the water. The ripples came out nice and the color of the water is nice.

However, I'm not so sure that I'm crazy about the idea of the main focus being a buoy (or whatever that is, my fault). If it were a boat or a person, that would be great. It just seems lost in the vastness of the water and is not very appealing.

Hello Michael

I like your idea of one float in a sea of blue/black - the ripples add interest to the "background" . The float in the first image looks a little lost in all that blue, I think it is better placed in the second image and the reflection adds a lot. The second image may suit a vertical crop - would be interesting to compare both.

Michael:

It's really hard when you know that people have viewed your post, but they don't take the time to answer. So, I'm going to jump in here and give you that curtesy.

I like the water. The ripples came out nice and the color of the water is nice.

However, I'm not so sure that I'm crazy about the idea of the main focus being a buoy (or whatever that is, my fault). If it were a boat or a person, that would be great. It just seems lost in the vastness of the water and is not very appealing.


Hi Sandi,

Thanks for taking the time to make some comments. Oh, and the imiges that are floating are small fishing bobbers. :)

Hello Michael

I like your idea of one float in a sea of blue/black - the ripples add interest to the "background" . The float in the first image looks a little lost in all that blue, I think it is better placed in the second image and the reflection adds a lot. The second image may suit a vertical crop - would be interesting to compare both.


Hi Irish,

Thanks for taking the time to comment on the images. I too like the second image over the first one and especially the reflection. I'm still not sold on either one of them to be honest tho.

Thanks for looking.
Michael

I actually like them both. Maybe because I love water and reflections, but then a lot of people do. The funny thing is, I just took almost the same shot but not near as good as yours. There is something about those vivid colors of the bobber that shows up so great on the dark water. I think your placement of them are great. The second ones reflection is excellent and not an easy shot to get right. That lone bobber does tell a story. What happened that it is left there? Did the line break from a fish fighting for his freedom? who knows, but there it is, doing what it does best "bobbing" . lol It makes me think of the movie I just saw ' open water '. Just a lone thing out there in the middle of nowhere. You did a great job on the water, do you remember what settings you used?
Kit

I actually like them both. Maybe because I love water and reflections, but then a lot of people do. The funny thing is, I just took almost the same shot but not near as good as yours. There is something about those vivid colors of the bobber that shows up so great on the dark water. I think your placement of them are great. The second ones reflection is excellent and not an easy shot to get right. That lone bobber does tell a story. What happened that it is left there? Did the line break from a fish fighting for his freedom? who knows, but there it is, doing what it does best "bobbing" . lol It makes me think of the movie I just saw ' open water '. Just a lone thing out there in the middle of nowhere. You did a great job on the water, do you remember what settings you used?
Kit


Thanks for the comments Kit! I have no idea what settings I used on these pics but I will look this afternoon when I get home and post them here. I'm sure I used my Sigma 170-500mm on my DRebel, but other than that I have know idea. I will see what I can dig up for you later.

Thanks

I actually like them both. Maybe because I love water and reflections, but then a lot of people do. The funny thing is, I just took almost the same shot but not near as good as yours. There is something about those vivid colors of the bobber that shows up so great on the dark water. I think your placement of them are great. The second ones reflection is excellent and not an easy shot to get right. That lone bobber does tell a story. What happened that it is left there? Did the line break from a fish fighting for his freedom? who knows, but there it is, doing what it does best "bobbing" . lol It makes me think of the movie I just saw ' open water '. Just a lone thing out there in the middle of nowhere. You did a great job on the water, do you remember what settings you used?
Kit


Both shots were taken in Manual mode with my DRebel. ISO: 200 f 5.6, with Sigma 170-500mm zoomed in at 500mm. The only differance in the settings was the shutter speed. The top image was set at 1/1000, the bottom 1/1600.

Hope this helps.
Michael

I almost fogot, no editing done to either of these.
Michael
Michael,

I've heard that dslrs often save images in a rather soft state, allowing you to choose how much to sharpen it. In this case I think you need to edit your images to sharpen them, because to me the bobbers appear out of focus.

I don't care for the bullseye composition in the first shot. However, I do like the contrast and colors in the water.

I prefer the composition of the 2nd shot, but the water is not as dynamic as in the first.

Spike

Michael,

I've heard that dslrs often save images in a rather soft state, allowing you to choose how much to sharpen it. In this case I think you need to edit your images to sharpen them, because to me the bobbers appear out of focus.

I don't care for the bullseye composition in the first shot. However, I do like the contrast and colors in the water.

I prefer the composition of the 2nd shot, but the water is not as dynamic as in the first.

Spike

Thanks for the comments Spike. I haven't done anything with the sharpening filters on any of my photos yet. I see a lot of comments on this forum about the usm filter but I have yet to do much with it myself. I guess it's about time I do.

Thanks again.
Michael

I like the contrast of the colors on the blue gray water. But I think they are a little lost. Prehaps cropping some of the water away would make it stand out even more.