A day in a harbour-view - C&C

[DYORD]

Just had a day at a harbour-view and did some photography sessions. Here are my favorites.. still a noob.. so much to learn... so please give me suggestions how to make myself better. 1. http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk291/DYORD/Photography/yhatt.jpg 2. http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk291/DYORD/Photography/yhatt2.jpg 3.Passion of Sailors http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk291/DYORD/Photography/passionofsailors.jpg 4. Cityscape @ afternoon http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk291/DYORD/Photography/cityscape_aft.jpg 5. Cityscape @ evening http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk291/DYORD/Photography/cityscape1of1.jpg

[DYORD]

please also include how i did with the framing, composition, etc..

thanks!

[hawkeye60]

I like your photos. Most people try to not have the horizon divide the picture in half, all of your images are doing just that. Of course all rules are made to be broken, on occasion. I cropped one to demonstrate:

[Sisyphus]

I agree that placing the horizon in the middle is generally not the best. However, in this case, one might argue that the reflections from the water produce a vertical symmetry that is represented rather well with the horizon near the middle.

[DerekSimon]

As the others have said, the horizon normally won't work too well centered as in your shots, but they could still be saved. I think for a newbie, your shots were fairly good, you just need to check out other people's techniques as well as asking questions here.

[LeuceDeuce]

I'm going to go against the trend a bit here, and say that it's not the centered horizon that's the primary issue here. For me it's the amount of negative space in the images. With the quality of reflections you've captured here, you can get away with a centered horizon because of the natural symmetry in the scene. Get rid of all the unnecessary bits.

Well done.
_

[beano]

That last edit has really improved the composition for me. ;)

I think the biggest problem with these shots is that they are soft. All but the last (night scene) at least. I think a smaller aperture would be better in this instance; for landscapes/cityscapes i generally go for between f16 & f22. ;)

[Sisyphus]

...you can get away with a centered horizon because of the natural symmetry in the scene.

Exactly. Nice crop.

[LowSpark420]

I am VERY new to photography (I have taken 1,000's of point-and-click pictures). I am really interested in getting better at shooting various nature/city scenes as well as my son and family.

I just purchased a Canon Rebel XSi - man it's got a lot of things going on with it!

I am interested, in the pictures above, was a tri-pod used or was this all simply handheld? I keep reading a lot about using pod's for better pictures due to camera shake, but again, still learning and not "down" with all the lingo! :)

[DYORD]

Thanks for all your comments.. Low, I wasn't able to use my tripod.. but if i did, it could be a bit better. IS(Image Stabilizer) thing really helped me a lot for these shots.

Thanks for the edit!