Channel Marker #6

Just a nice, fog breaking moment. If you look closely there’s a sailboat and two people fishing off a small point to the right. I like it because it shows the coastal structure of the flora ranging from the slash pines, palmettos, grasses and cattails which signify a wetlands area.

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Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
D810, 35-70 2.8 @70mm, f/9, 1/640, +1.67 EV, ISO 125

Mostly processed in ACR with some light and dark TK masking in PS

The delicate nature of the trees is very appealing and the light has a nice quality. The composition could be better. I would crop off the bottom about 3/4 of the land to eliminate that 50/50 composition (the bottom is less interesting than the top). The branch blocking the buoy is also not optimal.

The soft light, and the steel gray color of the sky here are very interesting.

It just feels to me like there is a lot going on in the image, and it would make a stronger statement if it could have been simplified somehow. The viewer almost has too many choices of where to look, there are so many elements in the image. While I like the concept of using the foreground trees as a frame, I think the two along the right edge are slightly distracting in terms of how they exit the frame. I think the image would not have worked as well if you had stepped forward to eliminate those foreground trees, so maybe I would have liked to see a wider view with a bit more breathing room along the left and right edges.

The root issue with this image is that I shouldn’t have tried the framing from that location. I wouldn’t have stepped forward another inch, for love nor money, even though I was wearing high top Wellington’s as this part of the park is littered with rattlesnakes, pygmy rattlers, water moccasins, and the occasional copperhead and coral snake, not to mention the ever present alligators. There is no crop that makes this an interesting shot…best it just fades away as an example of what not to do :upside_down_face:

I agree with both Ed and Igor on the complexity of this image. I think if you combine the suggestions made by Ed and Igor you could wind up with a decent image. Crop from the bottom and eliminate about 75% of the bottom and then crop in from the right and remove the two trees on the right edge and then also crop down from the top and eliminate the small branch on the tree second in from the left side. The branch running across the channel marker is pretty distracting. Don’t be too hard on yourself. I think we all see the intent you were going for here. Just need slightly better execution next time out there…and also avoid all of those poisonous reptiles. Yikes.

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