Duck Blind

I figured I'd put one up as well.

 

This is a photo of a duck blind in the middle of the Pamlico Sound in North Carolina just hours before we got the call to evacuate pending Hurricane Florence. The intent was to show the solitude in the middle of a calm body of water. Not sure I pulled it off.

 

Anyway, all comments and suggestions appreciated.

 

I often center things just out of habit. I think it currently conveys what you want, but my gut tells me that a wide crop with the blind to the left and the cloud mass emphasized by kicking down the highlights and sliding the exposure a stop or two darker might work. It is also stunning in monochrome, IMO - I can post an edit or send it privately. Nice shot, good eye, in any case!

I think it would benefit from some significant cropping because, I not only cannot tell what the subject is, I don't have any sense of the scale. Is it an oil drilling platform or a duck blind? It needs to more obviously convey the scale so I can imagine myself in the image to make me feel the solitude you want. It looks like you have enough resolution to do some fairly aggressive cropping.

 

Also, I think I get why you centered the subject, for the solitude effect, but I think it would work better slightly off center. Then you could eliminate much of that dark streak in the foreground water, which is kind of distracting from your goal IMO. Plus, being off center I can imagine being in the blind looking into the distance, which gives more of that solitude effect you're after.

 

Hope that's useful. Looks like it was a beautiful day for shooting.

You've got it centered right to left, but are close to the 2:1 on vertical. Such rules are meant to be used skeptically. It does convey the spirit you intended to use 'incorrect' positioning here, in my opinion.

 

Sandy's monochrome (or at least the way I would do it) would be menacing

Yes IMO you have pulled it off with less is more, but for max impact I would like to see the duck blind more off centre. These images always need a perfectly horizontal horizon which you have (if only a tad down on the left) but agree with Sandy ref the positioning of your subject. Like the subtle colours and sky, nice capture.

All good comments above. I don't have anything meaningful to add, just a +1 to the idea of placing the blind at a 1/3 point. B&W might work, but could be menacing, as per JDM, unless carefully managed.

hanks all around. These were very helpful.

 

Unfortunately, I had only gotten back into photography about a month at that point and had had the camera a couple of days. This was #169 on the shutter count. I was still shooting only in jpeg at the time so I don't have something to really edit beyond cropping and color ups and downs which I've done and shown below. I like Sandy's more given the extra contrast.

 

We'll be back next September and will try again, this time in raw.

Frankly, I like Jim's B&W treatment best. The blind is not lost, and the lighter clouds are more true to the original, color image. The framing/composition is better than his original as well. Perhaps just a bit more contrast in the sky, without changing the water and blind (think GNDF), but not too much. Perhaps something like this:

I'm sure there are a variety of other treatments that would also work.

Rules be damned, I like your first composition best. I think that the sky is a little too brilliant and a little too blue. I think that Sandy's interpretation put too much emphasis on the sky. I think that the point of the image is the structure, way out on the horizon. I prefer color, but grey scale does work, just be careful not to0 overemphasize the clouds.

My first thought was WHY? A tiny little structure out in the middle of a body of water. Then, after un-focusing on the duck blind, I get the picture. A tiny little structure taking on the power of Mother Nature. Bring it on.

I think that the balance of half calm water and the other half of the photo the mean looking clouds is a nice balance.