Phuket Fisherman

[40737012 1]

I took both of these pics on a very dull day from a boat. The lighting was as bad as it could be so I tried 2 different styles of processing to salvage them.

The BW was just a straight grey scale + blur everything above the mans head + upped contrast on the boat.



The colour one was use a layer mask to make the foreground stand out a bit.



Comments welcome.

 

[mmaria]

#1

Why not crop to bring the boat closer?

Why did you framed this way? The boat and the fisherman are turned to the left and you cut the frame on the left leaving bunch of (unnecessary) space on the right. You should give the fisherman a bit space to "go where he's planned" and he planned to go to the left

 

[keyseddie]

What the lady from Wonderland makes sense. Despite your difficulties with flat light, the problems start with composition, which can sometimes be fixed with cropping, but that simply means trying to correct a mistake that shouldn't have been made. Without excellent composition, there is no beginning.

Be aware of the psychological triggers that reside in the minds of most viewers. In #1, it's disconcerting to see the boat leaving the frame on the left. Also, his head is cut by the intersection of land and sea. It's not always possible to get a higher camera position, but lower is possible. Look at the difference in that position in #2, better.
In #2, similar situation. Boat is in the "leaving" third, rather than the "entering" third. Hope this helps.

Remember this. Light is never an excuse unless there isn't any. You choose the way you compose according to what the light gives you. Hope this helps.

 

[mmaria]

the lady from Wonderland

Hey!

That sounds nice!

 

[keyseddie]

the lady from Wonderland

Hey!

That sounds nice!

I'm rarely accused of nice.

 

[mmaria]

I'm rarely accused of nice.

yeah... I can tell... that's why I just had to comment and like

wait..... unless you meant it (the quoted part) in some not nice, weird, unpleasant and bad way!?

 

[Designer]

wait..... unless you meant it (the quoted part) in some not nice, weird, unpleasant and bad way!?

 

[40737012 1]

Remember this. Light is never an excuse unless there isn't any. You choose the way you compose according to what the light gives you. Hope this helps.

I dont think this applies when you are on a boat with 15 other people on a tour of the islands. I just took pics of what we passed.

For the BW pic there was nothing to the left except grey sea and I was some distance away so what you see is zoomed in.

The colour one is the same fisherman about 10 minutes later and I had a better vantage point from a framing perspective.



Thanks for the replies.