My first \"Money Shot\"

Yesterday I snapped a shot that I am really proud of.

It was luck and timing that put me where I needed to be,.. but at one point I said to myself,.

"I need to move HERE to get the perfect shot"

I knew in the few seconds I had to do it, that all was adding up to a great shot!

The first pick below is a sequence that led up to that decisive moment,. I post this just to give you some Idea of the casual shooting I was doing befor I saw my "opening"

"The Money Shot"

Maybe Yes, Maybe No
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I am a boat and water lover and I'd love to support you on this image. But it seems to me that the highly reflective hull does not win the day. Why? Maybe because the composition – on close -- is not really able to integrate its two largely unrelated subjects; the sailing club across the river and the rowing hull/club here. While both are nautical, they are not especially supportive of each other even though the hull’s reflection hides a complex transformation of the scene. Also, there is a lot of image roughage, such as; walkers in the foreground; power lines in the background; and a boat house that aches to be rotated CW abut 1 degree -- even if the distant masts seem vertical. There are also issues related to composition flow and balance.

In general I love great light, shadow, subtle colour and mood. Your first image seems to have these elements. Plus, there is obvious purpose and story in the movement. Indeed, two seconds earlier and the strain would be visible on faces.

So that is my take. Turning to my own shots, I must admit that I have few (e.g.) windsurfing “action� shots. I never brought my SLR into the ocean. What I did get were great parades of colour with sales laid out on shore or drying on balconies after a freshwater hosing. What is worse, I am close to both sailing and rowing clubs. Maybe I should point my camera in that direction.

Hmmm,. this is why I ask the experts. So much I don't see yet.

This is a crop and some "Clone tool" to remove some distractions.

I'm certainly no expert, but I would have to agree. The original shot, which I think is a good shot overall, contains two distinct "areas" if you will, that don't complement each other. However, once cropped, I think you have a winner. I like the feel of solitude it conveys... the anticipation of being alone on the open waters (or maybe the satisfaction of a job well done after returning). It conveys much more feeling and gives the viewer a taste of a pleasant "moment in time."

Like I said, I am far from an expert, but I love the cropped version of this image. Ideally, I would love to see even the reflection of the clubhouse gone from the hull.

Nice job.

I think #1 has more potential if you:
- level the picture
- crop the sky till 1" above the house
- correct lighting on the house
- lone any unwanted thinbgs (like the guys on the left
- boost the colors a little

Good luck!

I agree with Henk. Crop the shot, but leave the house in it. The original looks off balance because half of the photo is a shady area and the other half is lit by bright sun. Your crop balances the photo by taking out the bright parts, but you also lost the horizon. Leave the house in the photo, and use photoshop to darken it. That will give you a horizon. Of course, that is easier said than done. I have trouble changing lighting levels with photoshop and keeping the photo looking realistic.

I was not sure how to darken the one part,. I think this one I maybe went to far eith it,. it looks a little greenish now.

infortunately,.. like a dope I was NOT shooting RAW

Wow I really messed the color up,.. back to the drawing board....

Worked on it for 2 minutes:
- levelled a bit
- selected everything on top of the picture in a seperate layer
- adjusted levels of that part
- selected the darkest parts of the lower part (magic wand tool)
- adjusted levels a bit
- cropped a little more from the top
Obviously it would have been better to work on the original. Remember NEVER work on JPEG and save again as JPEG. You loose information every time!

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OK, so that looks horrible: no details left in the trees. Tried a different approach: select the upper part in a separate layer, select all the lighter colors with the magic wand, adjust levels. Think it looks better.
Didn't bother with cropping and rotation this time.

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