Hi Tim.
I like the idea of a canal image for the scenic theme. I like the way you've thought about framing the boats with the bridge.
However, I think there are too many dark areas. You could try playing with levels and highlights/shadows to bring out some of the detail in the bridge and the wall on the opposite side of the canal. Also I think a tighter crop by taking a little off the top, bottom and right.
Hi Mike. The lighting was quite difficult, the bridge in shadow and the boats/water blown. This was the best of the bunch, and even then I've had to selectively lighten the bridge and muck about with the levels for the boat and water.
I know what you mean about not being 100% on the composition, but I felt cropping any more would centralise the boats too much in the shot.
Please feel free to have a play and post your editsback though, I am still learning
Hi Tim,
Scenic - the renault sprang to my mind as well, but I thought that would be too easy
I really like tth shot, it doesn't look too dark to me, I think the subdued tones work well given what you were aiming for (the urban image) but I'm not an expert, but I agree with Mike about taking a bit off the top.
Hi Lorraine, I could lose the ironwork on the bridge (I agree it doesn't add much), but would it remove too much of the framing?
As I posted to Mike, please feel free to edit the shot and post back your thoughts
Hi, Tim, good that you are trying different composition techniques, but I'm not keen on how the boats are placed in the photograph. They look a little squished.
Cheers.
Hi Andy, I guess the angle I was shooting from squashes the boats together, but the angles were restricted. Maybe I should have walked down and moored teh second boat a bit further back
. Seriously though, trying to get both the boats and bridge in was quite hard, the angles were wrong if I moved closer, not so much horizontally, but vertically, as the tow path was about 6 foot above the waterline (I was lying on the ground to get the shot).
Like your thinking behind the shot, Tim. But can't really make out the bridge. The shot could just do with a wee bit more details in particularly the narrow boats since they are the main subjects.
Hi Stan,
If the boats had been a bit closer to the bridge, I could have perhaps zoomed out a bit, but to be fair, the bridge isn't that interesting (maybe silhouetting the bridge would have worked), I was just trying to use it as a frame. It's quite interesting how the views you get with the mk1 eyeball often don't translate as well onto the screen.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
Note to self - Must try harder next time