Please critique this image

[jsrockit]

I think it is one of those cliched images that a lot of us make (and we end up liking them) but are not comfortable with liking them because they are so cliche. I shouldn't like it either, but I kind of do.

Don't take this stuff so seriously... let it sit for awhile and if it still holds up after some time goes by, it's a keeper.

 

[ebino]

^ If it works for you, dare I say that's good enough in my book. 😉

ouch! 🙂

nice picture you posted there. i'm a sucker for sunset photos. can't get enough of them.

i could hang a sunset shot any day in the house but i can't do that with a street photo.

 

[ebino]

^ That shot is spectacular. All the colors match and flow. The shapely legs of the woman just adds to it all. Keep shooting what pleases you. street is always 'there'. these sort of moments are far in between and very few.

 

[ebino]

Excellent work. I really like the colors, and how effectively you use the vertical framing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Richard G]

I like the water that looks like it was painted with dabs of a brush. To me the subtle key to the whole picture is that wonderfully calligraphic curve of the sail of the second last boat, perfectly placed.

 

[swoop]

I hate when people tear down every nuance of a picture. 80% of my pictures are just grabs of what's right in front of me. It's rare I actually have the luxury to frame and be where I want to compose the image I'm looking for.

I think technically it's a good photo. It's exposed well and in focus. And my favorite part is that you got the texture of the cloud.

 

[jsrockit]

It's easier for most people to say what is wrong with a picture than what is right with one IMO.

 

[ederek]

ebino - thanks for putting up your image for critique, I learned quite a bit from the comments.

 

[Turtle]

I find it pleasant enough but lacking enough of anything in particular to make me feel inclined to keep looking or come back. The boats don't seem prominent enough to catch your attention and are spread in a quite linear way. The sky is nice but no more than that - its not spectacular.

Personally, boat images I like the most have been in amongst the action where masts and sails form pleasing lines within the composition, or where from an elevated position, the boats themselves form attractive distributions across the sea (which dominates more of the frame by virtue of the elevation). In both of these types of image, 'something' is being played to by the photographer, but in your image, there is nothing about the sea, boats or sky that stands out as visually exciting.

Not easy shooting boats. Unless you have a boat, can walk on water, or happen to have access to the mountains surrounding a bay.

 

[back alley]

is this your photo?
you don't really say who shot it...

 

[Alberti]

I just like to mention that it is a seascape. For that, artists have standardised so to say on a special format, not 2:3 but more elongated, such as 1,5:4.
If you apply that, the clouds get more emphasis, and the detraction from the high sky moves away.
I see the main cloud on the left as the real subject. The boats just add to that, not detract. The grain is too much indeed; but most oil-painting have been made with some kind of visible brush strokes. So why bother? It would be nicer though if the grain conveyed form.
albert