[BradleyS]

I made these one week ago roughly 20-40 minutes before sunset. I'm planning to enter one of them into this month's photo contest ("The Outdoors"), but I haven't decided the winner. Which composition you like most and any other comments are appreciated.

First photo: ISO 400, 1/15 sec @ f/7.1
Second photo: ISO 400, 1/60 sec @ f/7.1
Third photo: ISO 160, 1/60 sec @ f/7.1

All handheld with my Pentax K-5 and smc PENTAX DA 16-45mm F4.0 ED AL @ 19mm (28mm equivalent). Circular polarizer attached.

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Last edited by BradleyS; 10-16-2012 at 04:09 PM. Reason: Add white space around images

[tweet25]

I like the first one the best.

[Me&She]

Me says, Definitely the first! better composition, nice pics!

[Me&She]

She says The second, more interesting, better colors.

[causey]

Nice series. Agreeing with her: my favorite is #2.

[dlong417]

I'm torn between 1 and 3 but am leaning toward 1 with some slight cropping off the bottom.
A polarizer filter may have been a good choice for these shots.

[Vindemiatrix]

i like them all 2nd my favourite.

[BradleyS]

Thanks, everybody. I really appreciate the feedback!

I'm still deciding, so feel free to continue...

[Ponosby Britt]

Like this or this. 1&3 have no story.

[BradleyS]

Good idea on the tighter cropping for #2. I see what you did to the sky as well, definitely a distraction removed. I'd probably stick to the original color rendering, however, mostly because I like how the sun setting brings out the warm reds and oranges... autumn colors! Thoughts?

Thanks for your suggestions!

[MSL]

I agree that the second one has the best story, but I'm still leaning to the first image. The streaky nature of some of the clouds gives it a sense of motion, and I can envision as if someone was sitting in a boat and felt like he or she was being called to something inland.

[Ponosby Britt]

Another version of #1. Lots of places print panos.

[BradleyS]

The first photo has received the most attention elsewhere, though I suspect the main reason is because it is the most immediately gratifying "at a glance". The lines and motion in the sky reflected on the water are a quick win. There is of course nothing wrong with that; however, upon deeper consideration most people tend to go with #2. I've been torn myself, but since the latter has been speaking to me since the beginning that's what I'm running with.

All this composition discussion got me thinking about doing a panoramic (2.4:1) version of #2, since the original composition seems to be scoring weaker with the masses than I had hoped. Going cinemascope-wide took longer to get right than I expected but so far I'm liking the look. In the process I tweaked the contrast for a tad more punch and healed a few minor blemishes (a couple black dots in the sky and some hot pixels). I miss the deep blue sky above the clouds but I believe the composition is stronger overall.

Agree or disagree? Any final thoughts?

Thank you all, once again. Feedback really gets the creative juices flowing.

[adelorenzo]

One of the things with #1 and #3 are that the horizons are in the middle of the image... One of those things you are not supposed to do with landscapes and may count against you in a photo contest. Also there is no real foreground element.

#2 is a great composition with the foreground and leading lines. Sidelighting works really well. Love the wide crop version.

[BradleyS]

#2 is a great composition with the foreground and leading lines. Sidelighting works really well. Love the wide crop version.

Thanks, @adelorenzo.

Here is the final crop as submitted for this month's photo contest. Slightly more sky so the lines work a tad better: