sentosa beach

[Zaknafein]

hello. i shot this pic at the sentosa beach. sun was blazing while i took this shot, but the sky became cloudy and started to rain in the late afternoon.
would like to ask if this composition works for u? wat are ur thoughts of this pic or does it just looks like a snapshot?

i took another shot, but with slightly different composition. this time, i took a step forward before shooting. which is better, and why so? or do they both look too similar?

TIA for ur inputs. still got a long way to learn about composition:sweat:

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

i find the 1st shot better as a scenery shot.

2 is neither here nor there, unless a bigger picture.

but overall, i'd like to see more of the lady in bikini.

 

[Zaknafein]

thx for the inputs.
so for the 1st pic, does it work for u? or issit just another snapshot, nothing special?

 

[babykailan]

you took this against the sun, so all the subjects look dark and underexposed. the woman is in shadows. there is nothing to make this photo stand out.

compositionally, the tilted coconut tree in the foreground and its shadow offer some potential of framing. however, there is nothing much to be framed. therein lies the problem.

 

[Zaknafein]

actually, i did a bit of pp to darken the shadows slightly more than the original. i feel this makes the picture less flat and more contrasty in colors. i imagine that the picture would look a little flat if everything is properly exposed. am i wrong?

i was indeed trying to frame the pic using the coconut tree, with the subject being the guard house. but u are right, there seems to be nothing much to be framed. something seems to be missing, but i cant figure out what it is


thanks for ur inputs

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

thx for the inputs.
so for the 1st pic, does it work for u? or issit just another snapshot, nothing special?

just a snapshot. just 1st pic works better than the 2nd.

a potential would be to play with the shadows. and a possible change in angle to allow the shadow from the tree to come into play.

 

[Zaknafein]

ic. so what u mean is, tilt the angle slightly downwards towards ground, so i can include more of the coconut tree shadow and less sky?

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

ic. so what u mean is, tilt the angle slightly downwards towards ground, so i can include more of the coconut tree shadow and less sky?

nope, shift your body+cam rotate around the tree, towards the right. the shadow will look longer, making a triangle frame consisting the shadow of the coconut tree & the trunk. then the subject in the centre of the triangle. (just a thought, physically not sure)

 

[Zaknafein]

ohh ic ic, roughly i get what u mean.
thanks for the suggestion

 

[eikin]

compositionally there are 2 issues

1. the coconut tree in the foreground acts like a frame in the frame. however, it cuts the background cluster. its function in the frame has become quite questionable and even unnecessary.

2. this framing further breaks up the picture into smaller pieces. the sum does not add up to a balanced whole as the top left becomes visually heavy with details while the rest of the frame does not respond to that.

 

[babykailan]

fab analysis eikin.

i think a general rule in taking immediate and attractive pictures is to make them simple - reduce the clutter and stick to some 1/3 rule. that is rudimentary of course but it works almost all the time.

 

[Zaknafein]

thank you, eikin, for ur in-depth analysis. really appreciate effort!
after analyzing the picture further after reading eikin's and babykailan's comments, now, i feel the picture is too complicated, too clustered, too crowded.

i think the picture should look better:
-without the 2 trees near the guard house
or
-without the huge tree trunk as a frame

what do u guys think?