DSLR Photography Forum

A week or so ago, I got an 18x12 inch print done. It wasnt cheap, and I'd not tried the format B4.
When it arrived at the Kennel, I hated it! :x The composition was rubbish!
It looked ok on screen, and it looked ok 6x4, but bigger....Well, it's 'orrible! :o

So, I want to try again for an effective big pic, (maybe not the same dimensions, but similar).

Here's the one I want to try;



Your opinions please?

The picture is really beautiful... The composition is very nice... It has many interesting things to look at... The colors are lovely... I just have a doubt... in the reflection there are some white signs... I tried to find them in the fence... but I culdn't find them ....

IRMA!! :o BLIMEY!!! :o :o THANK YOU!!!! :o :o :o

I hadnt noticed the white bits!!!! :o :o :o :o :o

Fixed now, (not uploaded), thanks!!

So. Anyone else? Imagine this BIG. Does it work?

Peto??

Monkey boy?

Btw, where is Slej?

For me, "middle lines" don't work well; those lifebelts take my eye away from the pic's strong bits. Forgive me, Rufus!
My "crop" isn't suggesting that my way of looking is any more valid, just me showing how it looks inside me 'ead.

What's the subject of the photograph?

For me, "middle lines" don't work well;....................


Mmmm...... I'm confused................ :/

slejhamer Wrote:What's the subject of the photograph?

The boats......................... I think.

If you're not sure, then I'm not sure.

Have I upset you somehow?

I can sympathize -- I hardly ever print anything, because I find it's not worth the trouble or money. I need to get a half-dozen large prints done soon, though, and I've never worked harder on any photographs.

Rufus Wrote:Here's the one I want to try;

Do you have a title for the photo? I'm not being pedantic, I find that titling my photographs is the best way of finding out if I've 'gotten it' in the photo. Some of the best-received photos I've ever presented on-line are the ones that I've known the title of before I even press the shutter.

... this is my way of saying that I can't figure out what the subject of the photo is, either. Perhaps more significantly, I can't figure out a theme, either.

I like Freeman Pattersons' advice to always ask, 'what is my subject, what is my theme, and how do they relate to each other' before taking a photo. (Too bad I never remember to do it...) I'd like to say that the theme is stillness and rest, because of the reflections and dark tones of the trees. I keep wanting to go through the implied path into the gap between the trees (center, 1/3 up) and that's where my eyes want to rest. The too-bright highlights of the boats and the pavers are at odds with this theme, and the orange lifesaving station is too... orange.... and attracts too much attention to itself. Also, the sun is too high to catch the morning colours and too strong to mute the highlights, which both would have helped a more restful theme.

...was this captured in raw or jpeg?

Rufus Wrote:Have I upset you somehow?

Not at all! I'm not-so-subtly suggesting that this may not be the one to get printed big.

The "middle lines" as Zig points out are problematic (the eyes are drawn directly to the center of the image by the lines of the boats, the dock, and the fence.)

Most important, the little dock blocks the view of the boat. Instead of inviting me in, I feel it's fencing me out. So here you have many "leading lines" that don't lead the viewer to a defined subject.

More helpful now?

I think Mathew hit it right on with his comments on the darkness in the trees and the blown whites of the boats. Quite bothersome. One thing however, you really seem like you want this image printed large. Exact size I'm not sure but that appears to be what you are set on doing. So do it. It is your shot and if you like it then thats all that matters. Unless it is going to be hanging in a place to catch constant critique the ordinary eye outside of the photographers will surly like it as a piece of art. Go for it Ruf.