Beachcombing on the River

[Didache]

Hi all .. I am starting to get my portfolio ready for the club competitions after the summer. One of the competitions is a themed one (submit six pics out of seven given themes). One theme is "The Beach". I wanted to do something a little different which might catch the judges eye, and I thought of doing something on the little beach that runs along the Thames in London. Yesterday I got this guy who was looking for old coins or something. More or less as shot, except that I cloned out a small bag he had lying on the sand/shingle.

As always, any comments are appreciated.

Cheers
Mike

[CLKunst]

Mike,

I think this ought to be a very effective contribution to your project. I like the position of the man in the frame and his concentration. The buildings and the edge of the river in the background give it place and add good color and details while not taking away from the scene or making it feel over busy. A solid start indeed.

Best of luck with your projects!

[Didache]

CLKunst -

Thank you very much - that is encouraging.

For the record, the seven set topics are:

The Beach
Landscape (Rural, urban or industrial)
A Feeling of Winter (but no winter landscapes!)
Natural History
Human Portraiture (including candid)
Neglect
Railway Station

You are allowed one opt out, hence you must provide six prints. This competition (called The Master Photographer) is one of the highlights of my club's year. The images are marked out of ten, and the highest cumulative total wins it - simple as that!

Cheers
Mike

[photophorous]

I like this shot. Good composition and timing, and I like that you included the buildings in the background. Probably a good choice to clone out the bag. It could be my monitor, but the over all color seems odd to me. The man's arms appear to be sunburned. My biggest concern is the flat lighting but I don't know if you can do anything about that in London. I must confess I am biased towards B&W, but I think it generally works better than color in flat lighting.

Paul

[Overbeyond]

This is very good Mike but it looks a bit oversaturated on my screen, especially the man and beach.
In this area the Thames looks no more than a large stream when the tide is out or perhaps has been made to look so by the amount of zoom.

[Didache]

Thanks Tom .. actually all my online prints are slightly oversaturated. This is because my printer tends to unsaturate them a little. Just something I make allowances for

It was taken about halfway between The Globe and the National Theatre .. just the standard lens.

Cheers
Mike

[JDocPony]

I like the little color po, actually, most of the guys (farmers) around me are this shade From MAYuntil NOV. I like how the color in the buildings is almost repeted in the Beach.. I do like it ... very nice twist to an old subject!

[Addies Granddaddy]

Mike, I saturate to a fault sometimes.
I like the fact that the guy's going about his business with no apparant care that you're snapping him. Nice capture. Good luck with the projects.
John

[Didache]

JDocPony & John .. thank you kindly

Looking at it, he really WAS that colour. He obviously spent a lot of time outdoors and he had a weathered look about him.

John - I tend to like well saturated images too with a nice boost in contrast. It's just my style. I like pictures that "pop".

Cheers
Mike

[Greg McCary]

Mike I like the shot and as always the composition is perfect. The only thing I might suggest would be taking some of your on advise that you gave me. Add a splash of extra color without over doing it. Saturate his boots some more and maybe it will take on a comical mood. But I think you are fine with this one and I am sure you will fair well in the competitation. I can't wait to see more. Good luck.

[Didache]

Thanks Greg. I admit that I still don't quite see the issue with regard to saturation, but if you're ALL saying it, then obviously I need to relook at it. That is what the critique forum is all about!

I'll try this slightly desaturated version and print it off to see how it looks. Better?

Cheers
Mike

[Greg McCary]

Mike looking at this one, I think you had it right to start with. I prefer the first one.

[Overbeyond]

The second image looks good to me. This could be a monitor issue. Mine is calibrated and I think it shows things well.
But Mike if you are oversaturating just to compensate for your printer surely you should show them here before this saturation is added. I have to lighten matters slightly to compensate for my printer. But I do this just when printing not before showing on web.
What do you think?

[Didache]

Hi Tom .. I only give it the smallest of tweaks - not nearly as much as the difference between the two versions here. More a case of erring very slightly on the saturated side (I wouldn't want to give the impression I post highly saturated ones here and much less saturated ones from my printer) - in fact, I don't remember this issue coming up before on the forum on any of my pics.

Actually I have printed off both versions, and something halfway between looks right to me!

Cheers
Mike