Sunset Sail

[Rachel Hollander]

Another sunset over the Gulf of Mexico. Taken on a sunset cruise out of Naples, Florida.

Canon 50D
16-35 @ 35mm with circular polarizer
1/80
f22
ISO 400
flash used
HH from a moving boat, cropped to remove another boat on lhs, dust spots cloned out, straightened, brightened slightly, USM and NR applied.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Dave Mills]

Hi Rachel, I took the image into PS and found the file size to be 122. I wanted to play with some crop ideas but it was too small to work on. Some ideas are to take some off the top and crop the rt between your first and last name. If this were my image I would take out the 2 smaller subjects to the left of the boat...

[Rachel Hollander]

Dave - that's strange because the file size is 199kb and its 1024 so I'm not sure what the 122 is. Yeah, I looked at cropping some from the right but I couldn't find a crop where I was happy with the placement of the sun and the boat. I went back and forth about cloning the objects on the left, the middle one is pelican on a piling, so thanks for the suggestion.

Rachel

[Rachel Hollander]

Dave - I took a quick stab at what you were suggesting and took a little bit off the bottom too for better balance. Please let me know if it is what you had in mind.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Robert Amoruso]

Rachel, I like the second post better. You simplified the composition and tightened it up.

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice mood here Rachel
I like the repost more, and I feel that the composition would have been better balanced overall if the sun was more to the RHS as that side seems a bit empty, but that's being nit-picky

given that the boat might have been travelling - do you have any other variations?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Robert and Morkel. Morkel - I do have other variations and will have to take a look.

Rachel

[Declan Troy]

What was the purpose/contribution of the flash to this?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Declan - It was a tip I picked up in Africa that sometimes the use of a flash can produce richer, more vibrant color in sunrise/sunset photos than without. I tried it and found that I often prefer the photos for which I used flash. I do, however, generally take some with and some without. My guess is that what is really happening is that I'm using the flash to alter the WB while shooting on AWB and the same could be done manually or in PP but that the use of the flash is an effective shortcut IME.

I'm sure someone else can expand on this from a more technical standpoint.

Rachel

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Rachel,
Been away so sorry for the late reply......sun looks great.....but there is something funky going on in the look of the overall image and I can't put my finger on it! My best guess is the moving boat and SS....made it a bit soft and funky. Given your conditions.....I would sacrifice some DOF....say f11 for more SS with the 50D.......should have been enough to freeze movement and give you enough DOF in the situation.....always a tightrope we walk in landscapes!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Rachel, IMO the repost is an improvement!!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Roman and Dave.

[Declan Troy]

Hey Rachel. Thanks for the flash rationale. May have to experiment with that.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Rachel, beautiful color in the sky. I too wish for a little more space between the sun and the boat, but otherwise I like this one!:S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andrew