B&W Harbour - Please criticise

[Valls]

Hey guys!
I've been idle on the forum for quite a while, but now I'm back in the game.. I own a Nikon Coolpix P500 (superzoom) camera, so don't expect too much of the pic quality! But I'm buying a D5300 just now, soo will have some improvements soon!

I wasn't sure whether I should post the pic here, at Landscape, or at the B&W gallery... I decided for Landscape, since the input I want from you is to criticise the composition itself, rather than the B&W thing...

So here's this pic I took with the P500:

This picture was actually shot quite some time ago, but I just recently processed it and shared it with my social network... I didn't have all the knowledge I have now, back then, but still I like this picture! So I wanted to know from you, more experienced folks, what could be improved there... What would you guys do differently!
No need to be gentle about it, I can take harsh if harsh is needed!

I'll be eager to hear from all of you!

Thanks in advance!

PS: Feel free to crop, edit or do whatever you want with the picture your own way to repost it here! I'll be eager to see what you can make of it!

 

[xenskhe]

IMO, it's pretty good but the lower left area is somewhat empty at the expense of a of rather abrupt cutoff the way the boats on the beach are framed. I would have maybe framed in terms of the left side as close to the summit of the hill across the water (while keeping the tender roped to the boat in shot), allowing for some space on the right beyond the boat on the shore. Maybe there was something you wanted excluded from the shot on the right - who knows?- but the framing looks a bit off as it is.

 

[The_Traveler]

I like the conversion and the picture in general.
It is a bit off balance with a lot of space on the left and the boat on the right clipped off.

I added a bit on the right and it seems to balance better.

 

[Valls]

Thanks for replying so quickly, mates!
About that framing... yeah, the left side is a bit empty indeed! Maybe I should have used a bit more zoom so my angle is not so large... the right of the boat I kinda cropped by mistake.. not sure if I did it trying to align the horizon or what, but here's the original pic:

Kinda has a ... square-ish look to it, and kinda washed out imo... maybe the reason why I made it B&W!

 

[xenskhe]

Oh well, it happens. The angle (wideness) is ok i think. You could dolly rather than zoom; keep the perspective but walk closer to exclude the sand..or just pan slightly right.

 

[Valls]

Ok, the reason why I didn't pan it to the right is right down here...

The right bit of it was a bit too crowded and over distracting, imo... Also, panning that way would cause the two boats on the lower side of the frame to be too centered and not quite appealing unless, ofcourse, I walked left as I panned right... But if my memory serves me right, I didn't have that possibility... Something there kept me from going left (and also from dollying in)... But anyway, I think I get what you meant! If I managed to walk left, pan right and walk in a little bit, keeping those two boats to my right and cutting out that crowded mess, I would get rid of the boring emptyness of the left side and give the photo a little more of a balance, expanding the right side, also framing only half of that big hill across the river...

If all of the above statements are correct, then you have just improved my knowledge and experience! So thanks a lot! I might Post more pictures on other threads soon! Hope to see you there

 

[Ty Sheers]

In honesty I find the scene flat and boring... really needs another element to lift it like maybe a fisherman or some great light...fog etc.
The boats on the beach are square on and just don't work... anyway keen to see your next offering.

 

[xenskhe]

So thanks a lot! I might Post more pictures on other threads soon! Hope to see you there

Thanks for being such a gent about it. I didn't look at any exif but the light looks gone for the day, so that's life. Shoot raw and try to increase the exposure as much you dare.

 

[Valls]

Sorry for the huge delay on answering, mates! I was travelling... Now I'm back and very thankful for your comments! Ty Sheers, your insights are valuable and noted... I'll keep them in mind as I produce my next picture! I actually often find myself spending much time trying to make a picture look interesting, instead of simply finding some interesting subject to shoot! and Xenskhe, unfortunately my superzoom doesn't allow for Raw shooting... I hate that about it! but as soon as I grab my DSLR I'll make it raw and crank that exposure up! But for now, since I shoot JPEG, I'd rather keep it about half stop underexposed to make sure nothing blows up beyond recovery! I get some weird noises when trying to fix exposure/highlights and shadows on lightroom with these jpegs... But yeah, as far as I can remember, sun was already set and the day was pretty cloudy... Clouds make for a nice sky, but with this dark lens can be a pain...

Anyway, thank you for commenting and stay tuned for more

 

[Watchful]

The hill will look better with a little more detail, I think.

 

[Valls]

The hill will look better with a little more detail, I think.

What would you consider a better way of achieving that? (Aside of a better camera that shoots raw and probably some bracketing, and a better lens)
I mean, by more detail you mean making it a bit brighter, right? Would you consider it better increasing the exposure while taking the photo (while risking blowing the sky in some spots) or just a better post-processing?
Thanks for commenting, btw! I love getting comments!

 

[john.margetts]

I would have increased the exposure while taking the photo (the only time you can increase it!) and not worry about a bit of blown highlights in the sky. Blown highlights are not a capital offence.

 

[Valls]

Well noted, "while taking the photo" was a bit redundant hahah I worry about blowing highlights because I don't really know how to deal with them in lightroom.. I mean, the blown areas look awkward when I try turning down the highlights of the whole picture... I'm not sure if that only happens with JPEG, since I never shot raw in life (and I cry as I type this hahaha)... But maybe what I need is to learn how to properly use lightroom! Not all I need, but will help a lot! But still, I will try not to mind too much those possibly blown sky parts... not much detail to see in it, anyway! hahah
Thanks for commenting! Love your blogspot, btw!

 

[bulldurham3]

Rather (and boy will I catch a lot of flack over this) than learning LR better, why not come over to the dark side (we have cookies) and learn Photoshop, specifically luminosity and channel masking techniques which I used to 1. lighten appropriately the darks, 2., drop your "blown" highlights for 254 to 245 with an Ultra Lights Mask painted on with an adjacent other "darker" highlight which for this scene is quite appropriate. I was also able to 3., slightly adjust the horizon line (almost minuscule) which allowed a 4., crop that works off the diagonal of the left side hill. The 5., super darks mask allowed the opening of the shadows in the boats. As well, a 6., Light Lights mask allowed the sky to open and the foreground sand just enough to give it a better lead in, both top and bottom. And 7., Cloning out the bird (an eye distraction) finished the edit.

It is not a particularly well exposed shot, so everyone on here who has commented is essentially trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear, editing wise. That said, given it is shot from a P&S it's not a bad shot either. You have some decent diagonals working the image from left to right and right to left and linearly, left to right and the bottom boat contrasting nicely in an opposing direction as well as a good solid range of gray values

A suggestion with your D5300 (though I would strongly suggest sucking up the extra and getting the D7200) is to shoot in RAW and to set both the camera, the Raw Editor and your editing program to 16 bit. 8 bit just loses so much data. I would also strongly suggest rather than getting the kit lenses which are mediocre at best, buy the body only and one decent piece of glass. I would suggest the 28-300 Nikkor. If your only desire is to shoot landscapes, I can highly recommend the Tokina 17-35 which is under five bills. I love mine and I use it on the D810 but I also used it on my D7000. I shot the 28-300 for two years before getting the "I want more lens" bite and went to far more expensive glass.

Good luck. I see an eye for composition and a desire to improve. Can't go wrong with either.

 

[Valls]

Wow, soooooo much info! I already love you! hahaha thanks for aaaaall this info and for processing the image! I love what I see and read there! I have both the LR and PS installed and try to extract most from both of them, depending on my intentions with the picture... I'm actually not good enough with either of them, but I'm always looking for videos and some tutorials to help me improve... In fact,it seems to me you spoke latin in many of the things you said! But I'm in the process of learning that latin of yours.. hahaha I'm saving what you said and wont rest until I understand every bit of it!

The shot itself was more of a mix of luck and "intuition" (more like good aesthetic sense) than knowledge and theory comprehension, by the time I shot it... Ant that's kinda what I like most of it! I shot it with more feeling than reason and got positively surprised by the result, even though it has many flaws to it... But I can see your point! The lines in the picture seem to guide my eyes in a sort of a zig-zag motion and top to bottom... Specially with your version of it! The crop and the absence of the bird distraction adds to it...

About the D5300, I already bought it (just didn't get it yet... My sister-in-law is bringing it from china to me next month)... I picked it cuz my sister-in-law was going to china and It was the best I could afford by this time... The chinese website she used to buy it, tho, didn't have a body-only option! So I went for a AF-P 18-55mm kit... I actually had to research what the heck was that P version of it... Apparently, it has a stepping motor that makes auto-focusing faster and quieter... But anyway, I actually plan to sell that lens and buy something else, when I get it.. I might look for that 28-300mm (is that a DX or FX lens?) Nikkor! Thanks, btw!

So, not meaning to abuse of your kindness and willingness to explain all that stuff, I've heard people both recommending the Adobe RGB format, for it has more vivid and complex colors or something like that, and the sRGB, for most people use it and if I use Adobe RGB the picture I see will look different for people using the sRGB format... I don't really understand what I'm talking about here, but I believe you might do and since there are many controversial information on that I'd really like your thoughts on it, if you don't mind!

Anyway, I really appreciate all your help with all that info! I feel smarter after every word I read there! hahaha Thank you very very much and thank you for the compliment! Cheers!