Piling Graveyard

[Paul Pagano]

I shot this a few months back at one of my favorite spots on the Saint Johns River here in Jacksonville, Florida. This is one of the best places I've found so far to catch a dramatic sunset. I also come here to shoot a lot of Cormorants at low tide. They hang out on the pilings.

[Leroy Laverman]

I like the sky in this one Paul. I'm not sure about placing the horizon in the middle though. A 'rule of thirds' crop might work here but I'm not sure if you should crop the sky or the water. I'd try cropping the sky first and keeping the nice reflections.

[Robert Amoruso]

Paul,

A very dynamic sunrise. I agree with Leroy - placing the horizon in the middle is generally OK when you have a solid reflection in the water, but not the case here though I hesitate to say crop down on the sky as it looks so good. Cropping up on the bottom makes the pilings intersect with the bottom edge of the frame - also not desirable.

I would probably leave this image as is though do try the crop from the top. I recommend get out there again and go for a 2/3rds sky 1/3rd water framing and move around to get a nice arrangement of the pilings w/o any interested the bottom of the image. This looks like an excellent location for great images. Do you mind sharing this location with us?

[Grady Weed]

This image gave me some ideas to try in Portland at the waterfront. Thanks Paul. Roberts suggestions are good ones. Thanks for posting.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Paul,
Agree with all the above comments.........and my suggestion is to get wet! I think if you do that.......you will be able to follow Robert's advice on a future composition.........if you walk into the water past the dark line of pilings and keep that type of dark piling line out of your frame, with seperation in between them.......you would have a very succesful and dramatic image. Nice to see you are looking for the unusual,
Roman
PS Paul.........did I run into you in Little Estero?

[Paul Pagano]

Thanks everyone for excellent suggestions. Leroy and Robert, you're right. For whatever reason, I tend to middle frame horizons out of habit I suppose. I need to get out of the habit.

No problem getting wet Roman, I wade out often to shoot Cormorants here! I've never been to Little Estero, so I don't believe we met. I tend to stay up here in North Florida (Alligator Farm and Guana River Wildlife Management Area). My time to get out and about is a bit limited.

Robert- This location is in Mayport, Florida along the Saint Johns River (A1A) just South of a Coast Guard Station. It does tend to be a great location for photos and I've snagged several good ones here.