Bermuda Bermuda Bermuda!!! (C&C Please)

[Idahophoto]

I like #3 the best but would clone out the fence at the bottom.

 

[misstwinklytoes]

I think 5 would have been a lot better if you were "sitting" at the picnic table and had an OOF table top looking out onto an focused water. That's just MHO though.

 

[astroskeptic]

One principle I try to follow is simplicity, by which I mean having as little in the shot other than the subject as possible. For example, this can be achieved very effectively in portraits using shallow dof.

When it comes to large-scale objects, simplicity is harder to achieve. The lighthouse shot for example is degraded by the extraneous stuff in the foreground plus the awkward view angle. You could have removed the foreground clutter by getting closer to the base, but then you'd exacerbate the awkward angle problem. I can think of 2 types of good lighthouse compositions: (1) contains the entire LH along with the surrounding area but is shot from a distance long compared with the LH height which gives a view angle close to perpendicular to the subject and (2) contains just the top of the LH.

(1) is a challenge because it only works if there's a lot of area around the LH that is scenic (which is not the case here). LHs on shores with no other structures nearby are examples of this.

(2) is something you might have been able to accomplish with a powerful zoom. The idea is to get just the top part at a good angle (which requires distance) but that by itself isn't enough because you really need something in the foreground to make the shot. What you could do is find some vegetation and compose the shot with the vegetation in the bottom of the frame.

 

[astroskeptic]

Here's an example of what I'm taking about as LH composition approach #2. You may not have vegetation, but there's bound to be something available to use as a foreground. (Yeah, I know it's crooked

 

[gsgary]

I agree with gary's comment about #2 and using the rope to lead into the picture of the boat. You want some sort of foreground to pull the viewer into the photograph. None of your work has this, so that is one area to work on.

I notice that most often in my pictures. I rarely have any foreground, let alone an interesting, leading foreground. That is definitely something I will work on in the future.

Spend more time looking and thinking about the shot, don't just take 1 shot take a few from different angles and different times of the day, waiting 1/2 an hour can make a different to the shot
I took this shot 5 minutes before the shot below it

look at the differencein the light

 

[DanFinePhotography]

these are great photo's love #1,2 and #3 :thumbup:

 

[Polyphony]

I have to agree with astro and gary. The lighthouse, daytime ship, rainbow, and bench were all shot quickly and without much thought. For example, the lighthouse was shot on a tour in which we had about 20 minutes to walk around. 15 of which I spent walking to the top of the lighthouse. I notice after reviewing my other photos (not from this trip) that the shots I spent time on and actually thought about came out much better. The albums in which I went somewhere specifically to shoot have much better composition because I spent more time thinking about it. Thanks for the comments so far.

Also astro, I agree that the angle is awkward in the lighthouse shot. I didn't notice it until you mentioned it. It's a shame really because the sky was such a beautiful shade of blue and that is the only shot I got of the lighthouse itself.

 

[dry3210]

I wish the rainbows around here were like that

 

[mmartin]

Bermuda is such a beautiful place. I recently had the opportunity to vacation there. #3 and #4 are my favorite.