Ben Loyal

Hi everyone, a wonderful late afternoon with some warm light between quick moving clouds but my main concern is despite the curve is there too much foreground off the tidal estuary at low tide? Or any other points I’m missing?

What technical feedback would you like if any? Any

What artistic feedback would you like if any? Any

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
1 Like

I do feel like the foreground feels like it would benefit from seeing more of the curvature with a wider angle. I also see a nice S curve in the mid-ground that could lend itself to more compositions if you have more zoomed in compositions. The clouds and light are interesting, I think you could burn in some more of the darks in the clouds to get more drama there.

I like the color palette here, as well as the gentle light. I don’t particularly like the fg composition. An S curve leading to the mountains would have been more effective imo. Great sky, by the way.

I like the dominance of the mountains in the scene. The S Curve in the foreground to me feels out of place as I would like to see all of it or none of it. I’d suggest cropping the bottom to get rid of the little sliver of the tide pool.

Great mountains and sky! I agree with Igor, the foreground is not that interesting. Putting an interesting foreground in our photos has become almost a “must” the last decade, and I think we all fall prey to including too many that don’t work.

Thanks Richard, I will have a look at the sky, I think I was trying not too carried away with it as I can get a bit heavy handed. As for the S and the water, just out of shot right the river bank was collapsed and the boulders/clumps of earth was very “untidy” I have other angles but none ar perfect. Thanks again.

Thanks Igor, It’s the light, colour and sky that are the pic from when I was there but as I said to Richard the right side was restricted with fresh erosion, another day perhaps.

1 Like

Thanks David, I understand what you are saying and it seems my thoughts are confirmed.

Thanks Tony, I need to go back at high tide and hope for a calm day to get a reflection, sadly the North of Scotland is not known for it’s calm days :slight_smile:

No need to waste this gorgeous sky and light, the chances of getting these conditions on another day are probably not very high. I’d instead suggest a panoramic crop to accentuate the strong features of the image you already have (ie the light on the sky and mountains).

@Ed_McGuirk 's solution works quite well for me. It really tightens up the comp and gives a fine view of the mountain background.

1 Like

Yes that’s an option Ed thanks. I have a few that I took with Letterbox in mind at the time and was fighting hard to try and keep this full frame. I’m a stubborn so and so :slight_smile: I’ll look out the others later. Thanks again and Harley

2 slightly different angles done in Letterbox with different light, thanks for looking

1 Like

Andrew, I prefer the second of these two reworks. I think the quality of light (especially in the foreground) is much stronger in the second rework. While the first rework has a nice lead-in line, the flat dull light in the foreground reduces it’s appeal for me. The quality of light makes the second rework my preferred choice.

The panoramic aspect ratio is definitely the way to approach composition here, it does a better job of showcasing the light on the mountain, and avoiding having the foreground dominate the scene.

1 Like

Thanks Ed, Yes they do work better and just for clarity they are different shots hence the light and cloud not being the same. The last is probably my favourite where I got lower, reducing the angle on the flat to compress it a little. If only I had been there when the light in the first occurred, I’ll try a re-edit to see if I can lift the light a little.