I don’t find the background boats particularly distracting, since it’s a harbor scene, it’s what one would expect. I like the composition and I’ve always been a big fan of fog, so that’s a definite plus for me. I find myself wondering about the dinghy. Do they tie it to the buoy and leave it, or drag it around all day? It doesn’t look as if there’s room to take it aboard.
I like the overall effect of this shot Huw, to allow the boat in colour to stand out in contrast to the foggy B/W background. However I’m not too sure if the contrast is possibly too much.I wonder what it would look like with the colour saturation taken down a touch.
One of the background boats does keep tugging my eye away, it’s the one to the right with the bird on top. It’s just a bit too dominant in the frame for me. Not sure what you could do about that.
(you don’t want to be dragging that little thing around with you all day)
Huw: I’ve never been into sailing but I do like hanging around harbors so this does have a lot of appeal for me. Your combination of fog and desaturated BG is a real winner IMO. Did you suggest the red sail or was that just serendipity? >=))>
I think the composition is spot on. So how do you direct the eye. Colour as you have done here. I agree with a desaturated look. How would a brighter subject and a darker BG look as a monochrome. Your choice I guess.
thanks @mark28
Mono def works with the tweaks you suggest
I will play with desaturated look as well - of course the boat disappears a little which helps moves the focus away from boat to the whole scene.
