Photography Forums UK

[Girl Friday]

I took this at St Abbs but could'nt work out how to edit it to get a decent picture. Or what is the picture I should have taken? Help or ideas please.


021 by Jenevieve27, on Flickr

[ahab]

Good DoF IMO but unfortunately the setting is all wrong (not your fault) I would much prefer to see this sort of shot taken either on the shore or in a boatyard. I find the surrounding scenery a distraction. Ideally you could remove the boat from the bg and put it in a more appropriate one. If I tried it it'd take me a month of sundays Perhaps if the boat wasn't in shadow it might bring out more of its detail.

[FlashBangWallop]

Got to agree with ahab to be honest

What would have been better here,I think, is some close ups at quirky angles

Just my opinion - I'm defo no expert

Nice enough but more imagination required

[JR1]

Sorry have to say it is the sort of snap one may take on holiday, the title is also "boats" where are the others ?

[Girl Friday]

Decided that they too were just 'holiday snaps'! I know that there is a picture in there somewhere & hoped for some constructive ideas on how to get it.

[ahab]

Don't be disheartened Jenny by the adverse cc. In it's way it tells you to be more selective in your subject setting. If we'd said "Oh! what great shots" you'd probably have carried on taking pics without thought of framing etc. CC good or bad is how we learn. (When I say 'we' I don't mean me, I know nowt)

[Dewi Sant]

Hi, Jenny - it's a while since I posted anything here. but here goes.....

As rule of thumb, you should always try to get the composition as good as poss "in-camera" and that is the best bit of advice that I was given years ago by an old City and Guilds tutor. Photoshop and other pp software is ok for pulling a picture back from any small errors by cropping etc - but getting it right first time in camera can save an awful lot of faff later. Having said that, you're on the right track when you say there's a picture in there somewhere - there always is a "picture (or pictures) within a picture" if you take the time to look. Some are more difficult to spot than others and to be perfectly honest, I couldn't see much within this one initially. Plus, it's quite a small image to work with, but I had a go at it anyway just to see what it would turn up if we got rid if the parked car (that's the kind of thing you should look for at the time of taking the shot btw) and changed it from Landscape format to Portrait.

Took about 10 mins to crop it in so that the ladder takes the eye into the picture, fiddle with layers a little then add a bit of gradient overlay to darken the edges down a bit. Finally I added a bit of vibrance & saturation and cleaned up a few spots. If I'd spent a bit longer on it I could have got rid of the shed in front of the boat, but this was just to give you the idea of bringing out a picture within a picture and trying to make something else work from the shot where the origanal doesn't. Sometimes it's successful - sometimes it's not. I'm not entirely sure about this one - jury's still out It does pay to spend a little longer thinking about the shot before you press the shutter though - and ask the basic question "will this picture be interesting" and you should always have an idea in mind of what you want to achieve with that picture - i.e do you want it to convey some kind of message, or give the general ambience or atmosphere of a place, the character of a person or do you simply want a pretty picture of a feature of nature - doesn't matter as long as you have a plan. It's that way of thinking that makes the difference between a snapshot and a photograph.

The biggest problem is that digital photography has made us lazy (and I include myself in that) to a degree these days, as it's relatively easy to put things right after you've been a bit slapdash in the taking of the photo. We can get away with things now that we never would have back in the film days.

HTH
D.

[FlashBangWallop]

Nice edit Dewi

[Girl Friday]

Thanks Dewi - I am still very wet behind the ears. Your edit and the explanation of what you have done is just what I was hoping for. This was actually the best of several shots that I took trying to get it right but the angle of the sun and the edge of the dock all conspired against me and most are on the cutting room floor!

[Andyst]

Sorry have to say it is the sort of snap one may take on holiday, the title is also "boats" where are the others ?

Hi girlfriday,
please ignore usless comments like the above as some people dont understand the "constuctive" in the phrase "constructive crit" the rest of us will try to help
as for your pic, i have to agree with the idea of a closer crop to pic out quirky details. You might try an abstract to make people think about what it is you have photographed. 1 last thing that jumps out at me is the boats cabin is white and is kind of lost against the white background of the white walled house.

hope this is helpful

regards
Andy