Ocracoke Lighthouse

[Layton E Parham]

Late morning shot last summer on the outerbanks of NC. Is there too much clutter in the image?
MarkIII, 500F4L IS, ISO 400@ F9 +1stop . 80% crop

[Harold Davis]

hey!! my old stomping grounds!! one of my favorite places on this earth and i think the lighthouse is one of the most beautiful. i dont mind the foreground elements here, but as far as the entire image goes, there seems to be something a little funky going on that i cant put my finger on. maybe too much contrast, maybe not enough? and i would have like to have seen the bird in the left of the frame and not intersecting with the lghthouse.

thanks for sharing, layton. makes me a little homesick!!

[Robert Amoruso]

Layton,

I think the thing that throws a curve ball here is the OOF boat in the FG right. It draws your attention from the center of interest, the lighthouse. Agree with Harold on the seagulls - but that is minor in comparison to the OOF boat.

I like the placement of the LH in the image in relationship to the tree line and the middle ground buildings and pier. If the boat was not there I would be a lot more pleased with the image. Looks a bit over-sharpened.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Layton,
Hmmmmmmm......... not sure if it's clutter or the contrast between the buildings?? While this can make an interesting contrast compositionally.........the buildings are mostly blocked and don't add overall to the image. I'm thinking you had a very nice vert comp with the tree line and lighthouse if you threw the 1.4 on...........easier said than done........but that would have also toned down the sky as the lighthouse and sky are much closer in tonal value and it looks like there was detail in the sky!