composition critique, san francisco bay

I'm not sure if i like either of these shots. i was trying to get a shot of san francisco, and thought i'd wait for a sailboat to come into the shot to see how it would bring a little more interest to the shot. PP aside, which one would you consider a better composition?

1.

2nd one looks more balanced horizontally in my opinion.

I think the skyline is better in #1 (Coit Tower in in view) but the sailboat is better positioned in #2. Why not reshoot and try for a panorama next time?

#2!

I like #1 better.

Before you call it finished the horizon is not perfectly straight. It's a little higher on the left.

personally, i like #2 as well, but i like the contrast in the buildings on #1. pano is definitely something i should try next time i'm out in that area. I did a pano early in the morning before the sun came up, but those came out darker than i would have liked. right now i'm stitching them together in CS2 and will start processing it to brighten it up a bit. apparently, processing individual pieces separately (even if you just use the same settings) doesn't adjust the exposures equally. i'll post that up sometime after i finish cleaning it up.

thanks!

I Like #1

It reminds me of a postcard image. (hope that's not an insult)

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SwingBopper wrote in post #6723736
I think the skyline is better in #1 (Coit Tower in in view) but the sailboat is better positioned in #2. Why not reshoot and try for a panorama next time?

I agree.

Use a polarizing filter!

Also in the first picture the cloud in the corner is distracting. Also, I would try to frame objects into the photo that makes it more obvious that this is San Fransisco, to me living in Canada this could be any coastal city in the world. If the picture is about San Fransisco, make it about San Fransisco, not about the sky or ocean. Zoom in the lens more maybe, or wait for one of the road trolleys to come sailing by haha.

My two cents.

I like the first one, I just wish you didn't cut the frame in half with the horizon.

Definitely get a polarizer.

after this day of shooting, i did in fact order a polarizer. i have yet to take it outside and put it to use.

juicebox: what might be a better composition in relation to the horizon? more sky? more ocean?

neumanns: no offense taken.

nathan: haha. i have yet to get a trolley shot. sadly, i don't think i've ever seen one actually cruising down the streets of SF. someday i'll walk around in the city and take some shots of those.

thanks all

But...Take the polarizer off if you shot a Pano!

Pano's and polarizers do not play nice together, makes blending near impossable a high percentage of the time.

Not that it cannot be done...But nothing like taking the time to shoot a multi shot pano that you can just visualize the stunning result only to find that the polarizer messed it up and it is unusable.

Let's not go into details on why I offer this advice

Haha.

I would actually just crop some of the sky out; I think more ocean would make it too bland, and since the sky isn't too interesting, more sky would do the same thing. Having an interesting sky and including more of it would be ideal, but we can't control the weather...yet. I heard the Chinese made it snow in Tibet not too long ago.

haha.. gargamel made a rain cloud that flooded the forest. good thing papa smurf has a spell to counteract all of his spells. ok, did i just give away how old i am? :P