Indianola

[Michael Lloyd]

Yesterday I was out scouting locations for a portfolio that I'm working on and I came across this pier. To be honest, this is no where near a final image for me. Something isn't working and I can't put a finger on it. It's not the obvious, like bad lighting, not enough blur, or weak B&W conversion, I can fix those things. I suspect it's the composition, which I can also fix. I think this scene would work in color (and B&W) if the clouds were more foreboding or if there was fog. I find myself wanting to see the top of the pier and still see the foreground rocks. That should be easy enough to accomplish with a T-S lens. The angle of the waves and pier seem to work but something is not right and I can't put my finger on it. I thought that I would get a second opinion(s) or two or ten...

5DMKII manual on a tripod
Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/21 ZE

Singh-Ray Vari-ND @ 8 stops

ISO 50
1/4s @ f8.0

I shot this at around 10:15. Contrary to what you might think, this is too early. High noon or late afternoon would have worked better for the Vari-ND. Also note that 8 stops wasn't enough. I could've stopped down to f22 at the cost of sharpness but this was a test run for the Vari-ND to see if I really needed the Mor-Slo ND (5 more stops). I do. 1/4s is still too fast for what I'm trying to do. I put two images in one to compare the timing of the waves in the two shots.

[Mark Fuge]

Hello Michael,

It depends on your vision, but if I were to modify the above image, I would turn it into a pano. I would crop so that the shadow of the pier on the left border were centered and crop the sky as needed. But your image your vision.

I like both images, but would also prefer more shorebreaks on the bottom. Don't know where the beach is, but if possible and there were more rocks I would try to get as much as possible into the bottom.

I have attached a possible example of the crop of the top image, for your info.

Others might have other technical ideas, but this is one option for you.

Good luck!

[Michael Lloyd]

Ah... that's a lot better. I had too much sky for such a low perspective. I wasn't at the site very long so I didn't explore other angles. Thanks a ton for your feedback.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Michael, I think Mark has a good idea.

[Michael Lloyd]

Hi Cheryl,

I think you are correct

I tried a 1x2 crop on the color version too and either one is vastly improved. Thanks again for the suggestion

[Indranil Sircar]

Michael, I do like the pano crop that Mark has suggested. One thing I noticed interesting was that the horizon and the pier is merged. If you could go lower to give a peek of the horizon, it probably would set proper perspective in relation to the horizon. I definitely like the foreground rocks and the splash.

[denise ippolito]

Michael, Nice to see you posting in OOTB. Indranil brings up my suggestion regarding the merge of the horizon with the pier. I like the B&W and a crop from the top.