A piece of history.....

[Jackel]

You know, there is an abundance of material to photograph here in NE England. I know we have plenty of sea ports obviously, but there are plenty of people subjects, action shots, nightlife, buildings, architecture, wildlife, etc to photograph. However, there is something that keeps me coming back to boats and lighthouses........You work it out??

Anyway, I seen this boat and my mind wandered about the good / bad times the sailors had in it.......

[Fusion]

Thats a winning image IMO. Good exposure and composition and the detail and colour in the boat is cracking, I like old boats as you may have seen in some of my images. Class act. Ian

[New England Moments]

Jackel.... This is unreal... BEAUTIFUL !! aghhh heck, let me use that big word..

STUNNING !!!!

You know what I always say, maybe others don't, so I will repeat... If a photo in my opinion has the look and feel of a canvas, then everything was done RIGHT ON !!

THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE!!!!

Put this into a 16x20 and find a Wall!! better yet sell this baby , and put it on someone else's wall!!

[Stime]

Jackel, I hate to always be this guy... but I can't help it, if I just give you compliments on this image, you're not going to get any better as a photographer.

With that said, the first thing I noticed was the shot looks a little soft... maybe just a quick pass of USM will fix that, I'm not sure.

Next, I find the composition to be boring. There's no leading lines, no rule of thirds, no depth to the image in my opinion. The boat is a very interesting subject and one that I think you can do much better with, I've seen some of your other work so I know that you can do better personally.

Some late or early sidelight I think would be best for this subject, a good hint of color in the sky from sunrise or sunset, and a lower, wider angle would do wonders for this shot. Another idea would be a good low wide-angle with a very strong sky.

There's a lot to this image and location, and like I said, I don't mean this to be a rip... you did well but I want to see you do great. Please take this in stride and keep shooting, I look forward to seeing more from you!

- Scott

[Lionello]

I'm a little on the fence here, I think Stime has a point about the softness, if you crop some of the top and the left that would improve the composition, but it's not that critical to me.
More important for me is that the shot needs some contrast and colour saturation tweaks, that constant overcast wheather of yours does tend to leave things a little flat sometimes.

[Goofup]

Good Ole Stime, leave it to him to keep our feet on the ground.

But he's right. This is really close to being a great picture. As it is it's only Really Good. (And any of us would be happy with a Really Good shot anyday!)

[garrentee]

Agree about the softness but I think the subject and composition are great...I think that the boat being in the middle and being able to only see the edges of the landscape is mysterious...I like it!!

[Padre]

I like the subject and the color. I agree it is a bit out of focus.

[New England Moments]

Wow... tuff crowd.... I to see soft focus , but Feel it just adds to the canvas appearance of the shot for me.. kind of like , hmmmm , well for a photo , it has an overall to much saturation feel., like a over processed photo. The kind of look where one first seeing this might say , hey thats no photo, somebodys' messed with this... lol...

Soooo I kind of figured he gave this pic an overall feel of blur through processing

I don't know, but whatever it is he did, I like it with this pic !! Looks like a Painting for a wall to me !

buttttt understand what everyone is getting at also...

[Jackel]

Originally Posted by Stime

Jackel, I hate to always be this guy... but I can't help it, if I just give you compliments on this image, you're not going to get any better as a photographer. - Scott

Hey Scott, please don't feel like that about giving your honest critique. I'd much rather have an honest opinion than no comment at all. I'm here and posting my work for 2 reasons...a) To learn from your knowledge, skills and advice, b) to share some photo's with you all. Please continue to point out improvements as you see fit.

Now then,,,,on to the techs, I did in fact notice the softness in the pic and did use some USM. However, I have learned to use this sparingly as it is easy to overbake things. I might have done better with some different settings, but as NEM has pointed out, I didn't think the end effect was hurting the shot too much.

I wanted to get the detail of the layers of different paint and let you see how worn this vessel is as it made me think about adventures people may have had in it.......it's a wonderful thing imagination. Most of all, I wanted to try and nail the composition, and walked around the boat several times to eye it up. Whilst I took a couple of others, this was my preferred pic. As Lionello pointed out we sometimes wrestle with he weather and lighting elements in the UK, but the way I look at it, there's plenty other photographers who work with the same elements and make it work, so back to that learning curve, LOL.

Final thought - Whilst I humbly accept your critiques and opinions on the techs (please keep them coming) I really do think interpretation of subject matter is a more individual thing (check my signature), so I'll make no apology if anyone thinks this is weak. It struck a chord for me and thought that moment should be captured.

So there you go, thank you all very much, I'm off to post another now

[garrentee]

Originally Posted by Jackel

Hey Scott, please don't feel like that about giving your honest critique. I'd much rather have an honest opinion than no comment at all. I'm here and posting my work for 2 reasons...a) To learn from your knowledge, skills and advice, b) to share some photo's with you all. Please continue to point out improvements as you see fit.

Now then,,,,on to the techs, I did in fact notice the softness in the pic and did use some USM. However, I have learned to use this sparingly as it is easy to overbake things. I might have done better with some different settings, but as NEM has pointed out, I didn't think the end effect was hurting the shot too much.

I wanted to get the detail of the layers of different paint and let you see how worn this vessel is as it made me think about adventures people may have had in it.......it's a wonderful thing imagination. Most of all, I wanted to try and nail the composition, and walked around the boat several times to eye it up. Whilst I took a couple of others, this was my preferred pic. As Lionello pointed out we sometimes wrestle with he weather and lighting elements in the UK, but the way I look at it, there's plenty other photographers who work with the same elements and make it work, so back to that learning curve, LOL.

Final thought - Whilst I humbly accept your critiques and opinions on the techs (please keep them coming) I really do think interpretation of subject matter is a more individual thing (check my signature), so I'll make no apology if anyone thinks this is weak. It struck a chord for me and thought that moment should be captured.

So there you go, thank you all very much, I'm off to post another now

Well said!!!!

[Stime]

Originally Posted by Jackel

Hey Scott, please don't feel like that about giving your honest critique. I'd much rather have an honest opinion than no comment at all. I'm here and posting my work for 2 reasons...a) To learn from your knowledge, skills and advice, b) to share some photo's with you all. Please continue to point out improvements as you see fit.

Now then,,,,on to the techs, I did in fact notice the softness in the pic and did use some USM. However, I have learned to use this sparingly as it is easy to overbake things. I might have done better with some different settings, but as NEM has pointed out, I didn't think the end effect was hurting the shot too much.

I wanted to get the detail of the layers of different paint and let you see how worn this vessel is as it made me think about adventures people may have had in it.......it's a wonderful thing imagination. Most of all, I wanted to try and nail the composition, and walked around the boat several times to eye it up. Whilst I took a couple of others, this was my preferred pic. As Lionello pointed out we sometimes wrestle with he weather and lighting elements in the UK, but the way I look at it, there's plenty other photographers who work with the same elements and make it work, so back to that learning curve, LOL.

Final thought - Whilst I humbly accept your critiques and opinions on the techs (please keep them coming) I really do think interpretation of subject matter is a more individual thing (check my signature), so I'll make no apology if anyone thinks this is weak. It struck a chord for me and thought that moment should be captured.

So there you go, thank you all very much, I'm off to post another now

Perfect. That's exactly what I wanted to hear from you and you hit the nail on the head about the different interpretations. I just try to walk softly on the internet because no one can hear my tone and I'd hate to come off as completely negative when my whole intention is helping you improve together, much in the same way I'd hope you'd do for me.

- Scott

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by New England Moments

Jackel.... This is unreal... BEAUTIFUL !! aghhh heck, let me use that big word..

STUNNING !!!!

You know what I always say, maybe others don't, so I will repeat... If a photo in my opinion has the look and feel of a canvas, then everything was done RIGHT ON !!

THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE!!!!

Put this into a 16x20 and find a Wall!! better yet sell this baby , and put it on someone else's wall!!

I can certainly see what people are saying with this image but photography is IMO not only about the technically side of things but also about the artistic and to that end a picture does not always have to be technically perfect to be a work of art. I would agree with Tom on this one, I would put this on my wall.... Ian

[Lionello]

I like that attitude, as I said in a post elsewhere (Name of forum omitted to protect the innocent), we sometimes get way to hung up on techs, myself included, that we forget about the emotional and interpretation aspects of our craft.

[Jackel]

OK you good folk, here goes........

No 1 - BIG THANK YOU. I really do appreciate that each and everyone of you took the time to look, thought to make an opinion and effort to back up what you said.

No 2 - This (as a newbie) is turning out to be a great forum. Love the healthy discussion and debate, it's what it should all be about. For those who are admins / moderators, etc, well done.

No 3 - I think we agreed on a balance here........Techs are good, in fact vital, but sometimes a little room and freedom for the softer moods and interpretations....

NEM & Fusion - I got a real kick about the thought of hanging this on a wall thanks. Someone elses wall....... ........I'm gonna practice a bit more but thanks for advice and support, will enjoy this moment for now

[expensive_hobby]

Originally Posted by Jackel

OK you good folk, here goes........

No 1 - BIG THANK YOU. I really do appreciate that each and everyone of you took the time to look, thought to make an opinion and effort to back up what you said.

No 2 - This (as a newbie) is turning out to be a great forum. Love the healthy discussion and debate, it's what it should all be about. For those who are admins / moderators, etc, well done.

No 3 - I think we agreed on a balance here........Techs are good, in fact vital, but sometimes a little room and freedom for the softer moods and interpretations....

NEM & Fusion - I got a real kick about the thought of hanging this on a wall thanks. Someone elses wall....... ........I'm gonna practice a bit more but thanks for advice and support, will enjoy this moment for now

I'd hang it on my wall! Heck, I'd blow it up HUGE and hang it!

I agree this is one fantastic picture. A bit soft yes, but really I was thinking it was due to my contacts and it being late. Apparently that's not the case. But I really think the softness adds to the feel-- almost painted like. I'd say blow it up MEGA HUGE and let everyone drool over it.