Sailboats before sunrise

[GB1]

Had to adjust this photo a little because it was so underexposed. The effect came out a little abstract .... I also cropped out some unsightly reflections at the bottom.

GB

[Loupey]

I like the colors. I would crop out the bright light on the left and the (ropes?) on the right. It's too bad the boats are blurry although it gives it a surreal effect. The water looks fairly calm - did the boats move with a passing wake that I see? Did you shoot another one after the boats were more stationary?

[dbutler]

GB, what a wonderfully dreamy shot! THe colors are simply fabulous. If I did crop, I would do it right up to where the lights break off, to keep that lovely diamond band clean.

[gahspidy]

It does have a nice effect with the colors and the overall scene. Too bad the boats are blurry as I think having them somewhat sharp would improve, but you can get away with it like this because of the painterly/impressionistic feel to the scene.

[SmartWombat]

I like the impression of a painting.
Must be a long exposure because of the blurred masts as they rock gently in the harbour.
I too think losing the bright eye-grabber on the left and the blur on the right would improve it.
But cropping on the right puts the boats too close to the edge of the frame, perhaps.

[payn817]

Love those colors! It looks so peaceful, wish I was there with a 'rita and pole in my hand. Maybe a little Buffett playing in the back.

[Speed]

Had to adjust this photo a little because it was so underexposed. The effect came out a little abstract .... I also cropped out some unsightly reflections at the bottom.

GB

Well the result looks great to me!

So how much was it underexposed? One stop? Two stops? Did you record the exposure data? Inquiring minds want to know.

;-)

[GB1]

Thanks for the replies!

Loupey, yes the boats were rockin a bit but not from any noticable wave. You can't see it here but there's some large naval ships behind these so I guess it's a fairly traveled waterway. I guess the best one can do is keep the exp short (use faster film). I did take a lot of shots but none eliminated the motion. D, here's the slight cropping you suggested. Those it does elim that out-of-place light reflection, the photo seems less exciting to me. Comment? Gary, yeah I think it all adds to the impressionist feel. Not much one can do about the mast blu I don't thinkr, for I've never seen it down there where they don't rock (it doesn't take much).

Paul, yeah I tried that crop but like you suspected it seems that the boats are slip sliding out of the photo. Esp with that neg space on the left. So I did a major crop of the left too - what do you think? payn817, sounds like you'd probably fit right in with the boaters here in S. Cali Speed, no I didnt record the data but my guess is that it was about a 5-7 sec exposure at about f 8.0. It was a sunrise shot taken about a year ago. I'd guess it was about 2 stops under. Here is another from the shoot after it got a bit lighter.

GB

[Loupey]

I think these two are an improvement over the original. Personally, I would go somewhere in between these two (still crop the ropes on the right but crop the left side to just where the row of lights ends). I think you need to have a little void on the left side to keep things slightly off-kilter, off-balance.

[dbutler]

I do prefer the slightly cropped version but that's just me. This shot, as far as I am concerned, couldn't possibly be less exciting. It's just that nice!

I also like the other image from later in the day. The lights reflected in the water are great!