What makes this a great picture?

[Corker]

This was taken by inlovewithsurfin at the February 3, 2013 Northwest River Yellow Perch/Crappie Bash, held at
Bob's Fishing Hole, Chesapeake, VA. Lots of additional pictures and discussion of this season-opening event can be found
on the Virginia board.

Pictures taken during the "golden hours" are special, but this one is exceptional. What is it that makes this picture so appealing?

[Chasing Ghosts]

The warm tones of the landscape contrasting the cold of the sky. It almost appears as a painting or a litho... there is a graininess / grittiness to it also. The one detractor is the rod tips in the lower left. All in all... peaceful, still, awakening.

There are a few "rule of thirds" points also. The trees on the right (inside of river bend) Draws the eye. The broken line of blue sky also draws the eye.

I would have framed the shot with the fog (horizon line) down in the lower third to really make it pop.

Like this...


Here the eye is drawn to the fog line and the point on the right (an intersection of two individual 1/3 lines).... "What's around the bend"?




Cheers
Doug

[Corker]

I hadn't noticed the rod tips, but that's easy enough to adjust with most graphic editors. As you illustrated, cropping will direct the eye to the foggy waterline. Today's high resolution digital images permit quite a bit of cropping without sacrificing sharpness and clarity.

If I operated Bob's, I'd want a copy of this picture hanging on my wall.

[inlovewithsurfin]

hey guys! thank you for the compliments on the picture! sunday was a beautiful morning out there on the river! my fiance Amanda actually took this picture with her iphone4... edited with the "auto enhance" feature on the phone (which just brightened and maybe sharpened it) and this is how it turned out! amazing what a cell phone can do now days!

[Green Wing]

The warm tones of the landscape contrasting the cold of the sky. It almost appears as a painting or a litho... there is a graininess / grittiness to it also. The one detractor is the rod tips in the lower left. All in all... peaceful, still, awakening.

There are a few "rule of thirds" points also. The trees on the right (inside of river bend) Draws the eye. The broken line of blue sky also draws the eye.

I would have framed the shot with the fog (horizon line) down in the lower third to really make it pop.

Like this...


Here the eye is drawn to the fog line and the point on the right (an intersection of two individual 1/3 lines).... "What's around the bend"?




Cheers
Doug

Usually when you look at a photo your eye is drawn to the whitest part of the photo. By cropping the bottom it helps to simplify the photo as your eye has one less white spot to compete for its attention and brings the rule of thirds into play.

[Corker]

Usually when you look at a photo your eye is drawn to the whitest part of the photo.

Very interesting! I'll keep that in mind when I'm editing photos.

[CDavisLPN]

One of the things about this picture that make it great is the rule of thirds.... It is something that I try and use in most of my pictures.... It would be easier to google then for me to explain since I would just bungle it up.... google Photography rule of thirds.... Cropping your pictures will help a lot but be careful doing this because it can mess up the rule of thirds and make the picture worse not better.... Cody

[CatFan]

I like it. Coloring is unusual. In some ways, there isn't enough color, but that is what makes it catch your eye.

Like others, I'm drawn to the bend and wondering what's there.

I like pictures that have no subject. That might seem strange, but I like pictures that encourage my eyes to explore the scene.

My take on the rods is that there is either too much or not enough of them there. I think the picture could use a bobber out about where the ripples start alternating dark and light. Context.

Those of us that fish get to see scenes like that all the time.

[chaunc]

I think it's the bigfoot standing by the water in the lower left corner by the trees. See him?