[Kozlok]

Here's a shot I really like, but I'm wondering about the crop. I've made a second copy with the foreground cropped off. What I'm wondering is if that makes the shot better, or is it better in the traditional aspect ratio? Any other critique? The last time I posted something for critique, I got so much useful advice, so please help out!

[wildman]

The first one.
The play of light on the water adds a lot.

[ivantan55]

Agreed. Would be better with a bit of enhancement using Totally Rad..

[Gregory_51]

Hello
Personally I like the second one better. I don't find the lower part of the water really adds anything. The crop tightens up the image and takes the horizon off the center line of the photo and puts it near the lower third. This was taken either really early before dawn or really late after the sunset so the boats are quite dark. I find the boats rather murky and I think it would be improved by adding some brightness to them and contrast. I did a quick edit to show what I mean. http://www.flickr.com/photos/69407470@N06/8198055695/in/photostream
Cheers
Greg

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Last edited by Gregory_51; 11-18-2012 at 10:04 PM.

[Kozlok]

Agreed. Would be better with a bit of enhancement using Totally Rad..

Never used it. Would you be willing to show me what you'd do? I'm pretty weak in PP.

Click on the pic to take you to my Flickr stream, and you can D/L the full size jpg there, or pm me and I'll e-mail the RAW file.

[kaiserz]

I like the second one better. (Maybe add a tad more foreground, just a lil)

[twilhelm]

My thoughts: The first one gives us a nice view of the entire scene and the water becomes the center. The crop, although non-traditional really puts emphasis on the boats and reflection.
A little PP work on brightness would make both better, but I personally like the second one.

[Culture]

I like the second one better too. IMO the subject are the boats and having that much water is distracting. But I agree to just add a little foreground to it.

[BigDave]

To me, the subject is the play of light on the water, so I like the first one better. The image is a bit flat and needs more "life" in it, which some brightness will bring out.

Cropping a bit of the water, increasing the saturation and adjusting the color balance to make the image warmer gave this:

Image1.jpg

[wildman]

For what it's worth -
I think the banding in the sky is just a limitation of the file I had to work with. Probably would be OK with original RAW file.
To me it's a mood shot and would work just as well, if not better, if instead of a boat pier a little wooded park was there.

[smf]

I like both of the originally posted versions. frequently recommend cropping, but in this case the cropped version in the original post is a bit too shallow for my taste. I prefer the less severe cropping (from the bottom) of BigDave's version, but I prefer the color in the original post. Also, I like the slight crop from the left in BigDave's version.
Best wishes, and I hope to see more of Kozlok's photography.

[VTerlakyPhoto]

I vote for the cropped version. The reflections in the water are nice and all, but to make the water the main theme this should've been shot portrait, not landscape. As shot there is tension between topics: the water or the boats. You can't add, but you can subtract by cropping, and so you're left with the boat theme.